Social Commerce - What it means for your brand?
Posted Oct 19, 2019 01:56 PM
Every day we see social media platform developing and lately, they're looking to integrate on-platform selling tools which definitely make selling much easier for businesses. Looks like social commerce is the next big thing in the retail business but we still have a long way to go before this becomes a major shopping trend.
In this blog post, I will talk about how can you prepare your business for this major upcoming trend, and how to align with customer's expectations when it comes to easy and immediate connection and purchasing.
So, what is social commerce? There's no specific definition but it would be the way of using social media network sites as a mechanism to sell your products and services.
WHY SOCIAL COMMERCE MATTERS?
Social referrals to retail eCommerce sites have grown 110% in two years.
U.S retailers adopting social commerce nearly doubled from 2017 to 2018.
58% of people say that social media is influencing their purchasing decisions.
HOW TO LEVERAGE SOCIAL COMMERCE?
USE OF CHATBOTS
Provide audience-focused information
72% of people who have used chatbots find them useful and informative
Offer product recommendations
74% of shoppers are open to making a purchase through a chatbot
Sell directly through the bot
You can use a chatbot to get the customer directly to the checkout, for example, Marvel does that with their tickets. They bring the customer directly from a social media post to the checkout through the chatbot.
FOCUS ON MOBILE USERS
Keep a strong Social presence
45% of in-store consumers turn to mobile social platforms to influence their purchasing decisions
Optimize for mobile devices
Abandonment rates are 3x higher on mobile devices, likely due to lack of optimization
Offer deals exclusive to a mobile platform
Jordans sold out in 23 minutes when Nike leveraged Snapchat codes at an NBA all-star afterparty
MONITOR REVIEWS AND OFFER SUPPORT
Build a collection of positive reviews
Customer reviews are trusted 12 times more than marketing descriptions
Reach out to commenters
After seeing a brand response to a review, 71% of consumers change their perception of the brand
Create a support account
Nike created a separate Twitter account called @NikeSupport just for responding to customer issues
CONNECT DIRECTLY WITH CUSTOMERS
Keep up your response rate
90% of consumers expect an immediate response to customer service questions
Leverage Facebook messenger
Facebook Messenger is the most downloaded app, yet only 31% of businesses use it
Upsell with recommendations
LEGO replies to their Facebook Messenger using their gift bot to offer gift recommendations
UTILIZE INFLUENCER CAMPAIGNS
Find the right influencers
23% of shoppers are influenced by what they see on social media
Hire micro-influencers
Influencers with less than 35,000 followers get the highest engagement rate at 5.3%
