What is Social Commerce? What are Shoppable Posts on Social Media? How Can my Brand Implement These Strategies?
By John Quinn Hardy and Sydney Rikk
Social Commerce is a convenient tool that allows businesses to sell their products directly from their social media posts.
With the accessibility and convenience of completing the entire transaction process on the social media platform, from discovering the product to purchasing it, the consumer no longer needs to hunt down the product from the retailer’s website. Social media apps that grant companies access to this tool include Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. The elimination of the hassle to travel from app to website to cart to profile information set up can be fixed with an easy solution, social commerce. It’s as easy as “See it, click it, buy it.”*
How do these shoppable posts work?
As you are scrolling through your Instagram feed, you come across a post where a family is sitting under a beach umbrella you’ve been needing to buy for vacation. When you tap on the post, a tag on the picture directs you to a shoppable page in the app. You click “add to cart”, go to your shopping cart, and check out. The entire process took place in the app without having to be directed to numerous web pages or having to manually search for the item on their website. The process is very similar on Facebook and Pinterest where a “buy” button is clearly displayed on the post.
The social media one stop shop creates a seamless experience for the consumer and allows businesses to directly target their audience all in one platform.
Implementation Strategies
Understanding new avenues of exposure of your brand to the consumer is essential to growing business. Taking advantage of this new form of publication allows insight into what consumers are searching for in your products, and what areas are in need of some adjustments. The social media marketplace is a booming industry, and taking advantage of this gateway is essential to exposure.
This tool can be used to sell products directly to the consumer, regardless of if they are specifically searching for this item or not. It can also be used to “test the waters” of your brand’s consumer-response. Understanding how your product appeals/what it’s missing is better understood with realistic examples. If one product has a high click-rate response a brand might expect to tailor other products to that style.
What Does This All Mean For You?
This relatively new technology is an open-market for brands to expand their income areas and gain attraction on platforms they might be struggling with. Whether you’re looking for increased viewing of your product or increased sales, social commerce and shoppable posts are an essential step in boosting the brands notoriety. No brands have a specific foothold on this new market, and getting ahead of the curve might just be the essential step your brand is looking for.
Want to learn more about 270M’s content management and creation? Check out our social media services!