Social commerce is a relatively new type of eCommerce that is making headlines in the world of online retail. Social commerce involves selling products directly through social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Most social media platforms have adopted this form of commerce, and many businesses are realizing the potential of creating their own social commerce strategies. The following are 5 top benefits that social commerce provides for businesses.
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1. Increased exposure and customer base
This is the most obvious benefit, but it is tangible and a great reason for a business to invest in social commerce. Consider how many people use social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest daily. Where else could you get that kind of exposure? By using social commerce and selling your products and services through social media, you expose your business to a whole new set of customers and a captive audience that is available 24/7. Amazon is a great example of using social media to increase exposure. You pretty much can’t go a day without coming across some special Amazon deal on their social media page. In other words, they use social media for advertising their promotions to many people that they would never be able to reach using their website alone.
2. Improved customer loyalty and brand awareness
People use social media networks to stay connected and share information with friends and families. It makes then that social commerce can help improve customer loyalty and brand awareness. As social commerce is conducted through networks such as Facebook and Twitter, customers become invested in your business at a personal level – this doesn’t happen as easily through traditional eCommerce websites. For example, customers can share their purchases with friends, like a company’s status and updates on social media channels, and even provide product reviews.
3. Improved search engine rankings
Search engines have evolved in today’s modern world – sites such as Google and Bing now consider a greater variety of factors when ranking websites. Social media is often analyzed in search engine algorithms. Therefore social commerce can help improve your search rankings. If you create regular engaging content, it will be picked up on and look favorable to search engines.
4. Greater variety of statistical data to analyze
Data analytics is an important part of online business. We can learn a great deal from analytics and tailor our products and services to improve the end-customer’s experience. Social commerce presents a whole host of analytical data that a business can use to its advantage. For example, a business could look at paid social media adverts and analyze stats such as the click-through rate and the customers’ demographic.
5. Inexpensive compared to some forms of traditional commerce
Social commerce is possibly one of the cheapest forms of retail available. The costs involved with implementing a social commerce strategy are minimal. Generally speaking, all required is the cost of labor involved in creating and updating the social media content and potentially transaction or hosting fees from the social media platforms. There are no overheads, no storefront costs – it really is a form of commerce that can provide a great ROI.
As you can see, social commerce is here to stay and can present a business with a plethora of new marketing and retail opportunities. The infographic below provides additional information about social commerce and how social media platforms are currently implementing this type of eCommerce:
