Social commerce, in recent years, has been an excellent possibility for online sales: this is certainly due to the’immediacy of the purchasing process by potential customers, who can purchase their desired product with a simple click.
If you have a business that is involved in selling products or services, social commerce is a tool you cannot do without, especially because of the opportunities it offers in terms of business. Before embarking on this new adventure, however, you need to be in possession of all the knowledge and all the tools you need to start selling via social commerce and - we have to admit - this requires a number of sacrifices in terms of designing a strategy, which must be well thought out and functional. However, we are certain that these sacrifices will be amply rewarded!
So, sit back and dedicate yourself to reading this comprehensive guide to social commerce!
What is social commerce
The first natural question, when discussing topics like this, concerns precisely what social commerce is.
To define social commerce, we could say that it is the natural evolution of online commerce, which has a number of optimal features, including interaction with customers, especially through the blog, within which quality content can be shared. In addition, social commerce is developed through the pages of social networks, which we all potentially use on a daily basis and which, therefore, represent an excellent showcase for various products and services.
The most popular and developed social commerce platforms are, not surprisingly, related to two very popular social networks, namely Facebook and Instagram.
- Facebook Shop is of course the social commerce platform linked to Facebook. Within this social commerce, creating one's own shop is very easy and, above all, is free. Through Facebook Shop, you can create a catalogue of the products you want to offer for sale, which must be linked to the company's main page, so that potential customers can find it quickly. Other ways to make yourself known on Facebook Shop are, for example, stories or sponsored ads.
- Instagram shopping is, trivially, the social commerce platform linked to Instagram. Instagram shopping, according to many, is even more intuitive than Facebook Shopping, especially from the customer's point of view, since it is able to make the transition from knowing about a product to buying it extremely smooth and simple.
Regardless of the platform on which one decides to proceed with one's social commerce, it is important - as mentioned above - to set up a functional strategy. This strategy must include several steps, including the following.
- Creating quality content, that stimulate the interest of potential customers and help create a relationship with them.
- Providing a present and quality support service. The best method to offer this service is to set up a chat room, through which the customer can conveniently contact the support service, which must be able to answer any doubts promptly.
- Leaning on influencers, which can help in the advertising and dissemination of a particular product.
- Studying promotions, competitions or free products, which attract the attention of customers and succeed in retaining them.
- Organising shipmentsselling online also means taking care of the parcel shipments, through a service of reliable express courier and fast, ensuring total customer satisfaction.
Why social commerce is so successful
As a business owner, it is fair to ask why social commerce has been - and still is - so successful.
As mentioned earlier, a large part of this success is certainly due to the immediacy with which customers can purchase the product or service they want. This immediacy, however, is also the result of the familiarity that all customers now have towards social platforms, which are user-friendly for most users.
Moreover, the shopping experience on social commerce platforms is a smooth and uninterrupted experienceBeing able to buy directly from social commerce allows customers to reduce the steps separating them from the product or service they want to purchase. In fact, it is not necessary, in order to complete a purchase on a social commerce site, for the customer to leave the social network and arrive at the site where the product is on sale: the customer can purchase that product or service directly from the page they were already browsing.
The benefits of social commerce for companies
Among the advantages of social commerce, there is certainly that of being able to sell one's products not only in one's own city, but also throughout Italy o worldwide, through a service of international shipping (taken care of by many couriers, such as the UPS courier). But this, of course, is only one of the many advantages of social commerce.
Through a social commerce platform, in fact, it is also possible to have a highly interested audience to the products offered for sale. This is due to the fact that, through these platforms, which exploit the promotion of sales advertisements, the users reached are only users who might actually be interested in that particular product or purchase and who, therefore, are easily converted into customers.
Another interesting aspect that should not be underestimated and which is to all intents and purposes a considerable advantage is the’increased traffic. Almost everyone now has an account on the various social networks: this ensures that companies can reach many more people and many more potential customers than a physical shop or an online shop, structured solely through its website.
This increase in traffic and this highly interested public lead us to the last of the advantages we want to expose: the customer loyalty, who are very often interested in more than just one product or service, and who will therefore certainly return to purchase again and again. These same customers are also well prepared to leave excellent reviews, which are very useful in order to attract the attention of a new clientele.
