Social media has long been an integral part of every online marketing strategy. The primary goal: to promote awareness of the company and its own image. In recent years the focus has shifted significantly: away from classic followers and likes, towards more consumption.
Today around 38 percent of all online shoppers learn about new products through social media. And customers are increasingly ordering when they come across an article for the first time.
That’s why social networks now offer you various options to advertise your products directly on their platform – keyword social commerce. This also has a positive effect on your sales figures and revenue. So it’s no surprise that many online retailers now use multiple social media platforms as an additional sales channel, in addition to their online shop.
What is social commerce?
Social commerce is the promotion and direct sale of products via social media platforms. The users can interact directly with your company – for example via comments, likes, private messages or taking part in surveys. That is why the engagement rate is one of the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in social commerce: For example, if you started a survey in a story or a post on packaging design before your product launch, this would give your users the feeling of having participated in the decision-making process for the product design – and you can win them over more easily as a buyer.
Through such relationships with your products as well as regular interactions on your social media channels, your customers build a personal relationship with your brand and tend to order products more often through social media posts/ads. This sustainably promotes your customer loyalty!
Increased conversion rate through direct product links
In addition to the already established influencer marketing, there are numerous other ways to market your products on your social media channels. For example, the video-only platform “Tik Tok” has the option of integrating a clickable link and a “Swipe Up” button in your profile. With the Instagram shop function, you can also offer your followers an optimal, mobile shopping experience. The advantage: a reduced bounce rate. Because your followers stay in the app while they scroll through your product range. And through the shop link, you can display your prices on normal postings. This takes the user directly to your product page. These functions support you in offering your customers an optimal user journey.
You also have the option of using paid advertising to upload your catalog information to Facebook and use it to create dynamic product ads. With various cross-selling and upselling campaigns, you can target shopping cart abandoners and existing customers with the products with which they have previously interacted. That really boosts your conversion rate!
Instagram check-out: improved completion rate thanks to a shortened user journey
With the “Instagram Check-out”, Instagram will soon be launching a new feature to further expand social commerce. So far, the check-out is only available in the USA – but in Germany, companies are already testing the beta version. The check-out should offer your potential customers a holistic buying experience on just one platform – from inspiration to buying in one place. In this way, the user journey will be significantly shortened, the completion rate improved, and your conversion rate increased again.
Personalized advertising for more traffic
With personalized advertising, you also achieve more traffic – while at the same time reducing advertising costs: Advertising that is precisely tailored to the potential customer increases the likelihood that they will interact with the content. How does it work? Using pixel-based or server-based tracking, you can view the user’s behavior on your website and use this knowledge directly to display your ads. This way, you can narrow down those users from a broad target group who are about to complete a purchase.
Exciting trend for your social commerce strategy: chatbots
There are also exciting developments in conversational commerce that are interesting for your social commerce strategy. In general, conversational commerce is understood to mean any conversation that a user has with a company – for example via the website, the device (web, mobile, app), or even in social networks. There is particularly great potential in chatbots, which can be used as the first point of contact in the customer journey. By quickly answering ready-made questions, chatbots increase customer satisfaction – especially for advice-intensive purchase processes or general questions about delivery and shipping.
With the help of chatbots, you can have many service questions about products, ranges or processes answered automatically right at the beginning of the user journey. This simplifies and shortens the work for your customer service enormously! Because with the information that is already available, your employees can further process individual inquiries. In online marketing, you can ideally use the chatbot for discount campaigns or customer loyalty. With Facebook, in particular, it makes sense to use messenger bots in your paid marketing strategy.
Augmented Reality ensures an extraordinary customer experience
The boom in online retail has increased sharply again due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, advice on online shopping should not be neglected. Augmented Reality fills this gap: Thanks to this technology, customers can, for example, virtually test the make-up on their face through your website or on your app, see the sneakers in a 360-degree view or place the new furniture in a virtual living room. Augmented Reality is no longer a dream of the future, but is already a common practice in many online shops. And the trend shows that augmented reality technology will continue to improve. You can already use this technology in your marketing mix: with branded AR filters. This allows you to creatively stage your products as part of your content strategy and offer your customers an exceptional customer experience.
Next steps: check your funnel strategy now!
As an online retailer, you actively sell your products via social networks with social commerce – and at the same time sustainably strengthen your relationship with your customers. That’s why it’s important to add social commerce to your social media strategy. But before you knock your funnel over from the ground up, you should answer these questions:
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Which platforms do you already use for online marketing?
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At which phase of your funnel concept is the user addressed with which message?
These answers will help you to add social commerce to your funnel in a meaningful way. You can also use the inbound marketing method to provide your customers with the right information at all times and, in addition, win over loyal existing customers through convincing added value.
As an online retailer, do you want to get as much as you can from your social media strategy – more sales and more conversions? Then contact us! Our digital marketing experts will be happy to advise you without obligation on your funnel strategy and the subject of social commerce.
