Social e-commerce a gold mine behind a like?
Social e-commerce is becoming one of the most widely used means of online sales by those who want to increase their customers. But what is e-commerce? What are its advantages?
You will get all the answers in this article! Appvizer explains what it is, its advantages and which are the best platforms for doing social e-commerce.
What is social e-commerce?
Social e-commerce is nothing more than a recent evolution of e-commerce, which consists of selling products or services on social networks.
This form of online commerce involves social media and all other digital media, and is used by sellers but also by companies.
This term was defined by Yahoo in November 2005, to give a name to sales made on social networks.
In this type of e-commerce, consumers who have previously purchased a product write a comment to give their opinion.
In recent years, social e-commerce plays a very important role for both users and brands, because while users are able to take advantage of comments left by people who have previously purchased the product, brands are able to increase their turnover.
What are the advantages of social e-commerce?
Social ecommerce has numerous advantages, among which we indicate the most important ones:
- E-commerce does not only promote a product as in e-commerce platforms, but also builds customer loyalty and improves the product through the comments left by customers who have previously purchased the product.
- You give customers a lot of importance, as you give them the word by engaging them on social networks. In this way you will be able to analyse your customers' behaviour, their preferences and identify elements that should be improved on your product. This way you will be able to connect with your customers and adapt your marketing strategy.
- Through the use of images, videos and collaborations with influencers, you can increase your notoriety and steer your marketing strategy.
- Sharing posts on the part of users can increase your brand credibility and your positioning compared to your competitors.
- Users will be able to make purchases quickly, this could be an advantage, as the speed of purchase can push a user to make a purchase.
- Beautiful and attractive images can push a user to purchase.
- Everyone has at least one social network so selling on social could open new doors and lead to new customers.
- Increased sales on smartphones: Social commerce was also created in response to the growing use of social platforms on smartphones. People use their phones by the thousand.
- If you choose influencers who have followers from the same target group as you, you can increase your sales.
- If you have a high number of shares, likes and positive comments you can acquire a lot of customers and grow your 'brand awareness'.
Social e-commerce and shoptainment
Shoptainment is a word made up of shopping and entertainment. The latter originated from the phenomenon of experiential selling. Shoptainment is a way of retailing by engaging customers and offering them interactive activities.
The main objective is to attract customers by differentiating and offering a different sales approach.This sales technique is highly developed in China, but is also starting to develop in Europe and America. An example is Alibaba, which allows its premium customers to attend dynamic and entertaining Live events to see the latest news.
What is the difference between social e-commerce and social shopping?
We tend to think that social e-commerce and social shopping are the same thing. In reality, social shopping is the set of all digital environments where users have the opportunity to share their purchases. Social e-commerce, on the other hand, is one form of e-commerce.
What are the best social platforms to increase your e-commerce sales?
The best social networks to sell directly to your customers are:
Facebook does not only use classic pages or Messenger with targeted advertisements, but also uses Facebook Marketplace, which is mostly used for selling used items among users, and Facebook Shops, which helps retailers connect and do business.
One of the advantages of Instagram is the fact that it allows you to create photo galleries, videos and save stories. Also, thanks to Reels that last 15 minutes, you can reach a larger audience.
If you have a business account that is linked to Facebook, you can easily create a Shopping Post, thanks to the synchronisation of the two platforms.
YouTube
Opening a YouTube channel could be a good idea to create a branded channel to showcase your e-commerce business. In this channel you could present the latest news about your catalogue or collaborate with influencers and publicise your product, even showing how to use it.
Snapchat
Snapchat is one of the most widely used social media and from a social point of view, by collaborating with influencers who can share your products you can increase your turnover and notoriety.
Like Instagram, Pinterest is also a social network with images as its strong point. A Pinterest account allows you to create images and allow other users to share.In recent years, Pinterest has started social e-commerce: users simply find a pin of an item and tap on it to access the e-commerce that sells it.
TikTok
TikTok is not yet widely used for social e-commerce. However, the platform is working on new features to make this social network useful for social e-commerce and allow influencers to redirect users to the e-commerce site.
Social e-commerce is a popular sales method and could certainly allow you to increase your turnover and make your brand known. Beware of competitors! Work on your image to make yourself better known!
Article translated from Italian