Blog.

Hannah Reed
13 May 2022
Industrial News

Social commerce is one of the fastest-growing online shopping trends. And, while it’s part of the eCommerce umbrella, you’ll see in the social commerce guide that it is its own thing. In this guide, we’ll cover important questions like what is social commerce, what are the benefits of social commerce, which platforms support social commerce, and more. We’re also going to include social commerce tips and tactics you need, social commerce trends, and even share a few examples of social commerce from brands who implemented it with great success. Let’s dig in!

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is the buying and selling of goods or services directly within a social media platform. This model moves social media beyond its traditional role in the discovery process by encouraging users to complete the entire purchase process without leaving their preferred apps. 

Benefits of Social Commerce

  • Grow your audience
  • Increase traffic and engagement
  • Builds trust
  • Tracks and improves ROI

Platforms that Support Social Commerce

Instagram

You can sell on Instagram in several different ways including:

  • Shoppable posts
  • Shoppable stories
  • Product stickers
  • Explore tab shopping
  • Instagram reel shopping
  • IGTV shopping
Facebook
TikTok
Snapchat
Twitter
Pinterest
shutterstock_1775443379-scaled-1 - Island Digital Marketing

Social Commerce Tips

Start by optimizing your content. If you’ve done any marketing, you already know the importance of optimizing your content. This is vitally important for social commerce where you’re competing with hundreds of thousands of other creators on social media platforms for the attention of consumers. There are several things you’ll want to do to ensure that your content is optimized for the platform and audience you’re targeting:

  • Images
  • Videos
  • Text
  • Captions
  • Logos
  • Filters
  • Location

Next, extend your reach. Social media is excellent in terms of the number of people you can reach. And, the more people you reach, the more people become aware of your brand and your products. Extend your reach by:

  • Growing your social media followers
  • Optimizing your content
  • Promote your content

When you consider that 90% of consumers will buy products from a brand they follow on social media, your brand really can’t afford not to engage with social commerce. With the information in this social commerce guide, you have everything you need to build a solid social commerce strategy that you can then tweak and adjust to ensure the best ROI.

Feel free to introduce yourself!