Not so long ago, offering an omnichannel customer experience was a luxury reserved only for tech companies and rich multinationals. But the rapid rise of e-commerce means that, according to McKinsey, it’s now a ‘requirement for survival’.
Today, customers expect the ability to browse an item on a retailer’s Instagram account, add it to the basket on their app, purchase it on their website, and return it to their brick-and-mortar store, as standard. And with 98% of consumers making at least one purchase through social commerce in 2022, social media is becoming an increasingly lucrative part of that journey— soon to be worth $1.2 trillion. So, it’s important that your business is ready for this next great retail revolution.
The rise of social commerce
Discovering, browsing, and buying on social media is often an everyday experience for today's internet users. But if you or your business are still unfamiliar with social commerce, it simply means using your social media accounts, like Instagram, Twitter, or Tik Tok, to seamlessly sell your products and services.
It could involve employing a sponsored post that tracked a user’s search history to serve them a personalised social media ad. Other instances include brands that directly engage influencers to sell products on their behalf, and individuals who sell products through their networks but may not necessarily have brand relationships. Plus, it also encompasses simpler, cheaper methods, such as the creation of effective organic content.
Today, social commerce is a flourishing space, creating numerous opportunities for marketers to harness, particularly in the apparel, consumer electronics, groceries, and home décor markets. But why is it growing so rapidly now?
One reason is rule changes. Ever since recent privacy restrictions, such as Apple’s 2021 App Tracking Transparency feature, allowed more users to opt out of app-tracking, the ROI of traditional online advertising has decreased by as much as 38%. Meanwhile, the impact of friends on our purchase decisions is growing. 83% of us share our favourite brands with friends, while over half (53%) send them photos of clothes to ascertain their opinions before we buy. As more consumers promote via digital word-of-mouth, this customer-based marketing engine means organisations must continue to invest in the most effective ad spaces, and the quality of their products, services, and experiences, to remain on top.
How Tik Tok is changing digital marketing
Since its international launch in 2017, TikTok has fast become one of the world’s most popular social platforms. It’s particularly favoured by Gen Z, who on average spend over 1.5 hours per day browsing the app—more than four times that of Snapchat and almost twice that of Instagram. And as Gen Z’s purchasing power and social capital increase, TikTok has also become one of the most powerful spaces for digital marketing and social commerce.
In fact, one of the platform’s most popular hashtags is simply ‘#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt’. It features a variety of influencers and brands showing and talking their viewers through a product and, with over 37.1bn views, often translates to a direct sales lift. TikTok has also introduced an Ads Manager tool, an objectives-driven Promote feature, and a Shop platform that allows merchants, brands, and creators to sell products directly on the app.
The company is leveraging its unique word-of-mouth capabilities to strengthen its advertisers’ customer satisfaction, loyalty, advocacy, and relationships. As a result, ad revenue is booming—with TikTok set to overtake YouTube and Meta by 2027. So, it’s no surprise to see traditional players like Google attempting to regain their crown.
Google’s determination to reconquer eCommerce
Google’s advertising arm generates $147bn per year, contributing more than 80% of parent company Alphabet’s revenue. Over a billion people shop on its properties every day, using services like Google Search and YouTube to research products, check prices, and place orders. However, unlike TikTok, Google’s retailer-friendly approach to eCommerce doesn’t always attract a significant number of new shoppers. In the face of this rising competition, Google recently tweaked its ad business approach to help turn searchers into buyers.
In 2021, the company opened up its Shopping search results to include free, organic listings. It’s also expanded its integration with PayPal to make online payments easier, partnered with Shopify to incorporate its 1.7m retailers into Google Search, and even unveiled a ‘Shopping Graph’ tool that tells shoppers everything they need to know about a product—where to buy it, how much it costs, customers reviews, and more. The company is now emphasising the creation of a free and open commerce ecosystem that helps advertisers to boost engagement, reach customers in multiple stages of the buying process, and enjoy higher-quality leads.
Building your own social commerce strategy
If you’re an organisation looking to harness social commerce, the choice between successful incumbents, like Google, and lucrative newcomers, like TikTok, can make it difficult to decide where to focus. So, it’s important to consider three ‘Ps’ when establishing your social commerce strategy: programme, platform, and partnerships.
‘Programme’ involves thinking about the best model for engaging and converting customers. There’s a wide range of possibilities, from influencer marketing and content creators to community-driven approaches. Some businesses that work with partners even run ‘shoppable media’ campaigns, where they post ads on Google and social media platforms that link through to a landing page listing all the partners that customers can choose to purchase from. The key question to ask is, what programme will best serve your customer’s needs whilst achieving your business objectives?
‘Platform’ requires you to consider the optimal routes to market and channels. Again, the key to this is understanding the needs and location of your brand’s target audiences, and then combining them with the most relevant channels to achieve your goals. Then, ‘Partnerships’ means assessing the partners that your brand can work with to best realise your objectives—from influencer and platform partnerships to technologies and tools.
Finally, it’s important to remember social commerce best practices. Ads that incorporate simple ‘Shop Now’ calls to action must link the user to the product or category page that’s most relevant to the ad’s content. Plus, shoppable formats, like carousels, can showcase a range of individual products and lead to a much lower bounce rate and higher conversion.
By combining all these factors, you can create a watertight commerce strategy that successfully converts your social media into supercharged sales. However, there’s no longer much time left to lose. As more businesses begin to realise the retail potential of social media, the tougher it becomes to build your online brand and capture the eyeballs of users. Simply, the faster you can start, the faster you can scale. Start exploring your strategy today.