Social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram, being the top websites getting used by global users, have boosted the online shopping experience.
The facts such as Instagram in the 4th position with the largest number of users on its mobile app and Facebook having 2.74 billion active users in a month shows how engaged users are with these platforms.
This engagement of users with social media is what the brand takes advantage of. Brands and marketers use social media platforms to display user-generated content on their websites to give their customers social proof.
This builds the trust among the users for the brand, and then the brand leverages it to enhance its sales through social shopping. How? Let’s understand in the next section.
What is Social Shopping?
Social Shopping is the integration of e-commerce and social media sites. To encourage social shopping, marketers use social content posted by users and use it on their website to inspire visitors to make purchase decisions because they find it authentic.
Most people call social shopping Social commerce because it also gives the brands the authority to let users buy directly through their social media handles.
Now the next thing that pops up is, why do you think a brand needs social shopping? Let’s find out.
Benefits of Social Shopping for a Brand
With the rising popularity of social media websites, people use them to connect with new people and share life experiences online.
The brands also optimize these social platforms to attract new customers, create awareness, and enhance their digital presence.
Not to forget, it also increases the credibility of the brand. Hang in there as there are more advantages of social commerce. Come, let’s have a look.
Concept of Purchasing Within an App:
The definition of social commerce says that the users should have the control to stay on their social media account while having an online shopping experience, which is what in-app purchases mean.
It saves the customers’ time as they can shop directly from their social media account without any hassle. Users have to tap on the tagged icons to view more information and then make a purchase without disappearing from the network.
As more users are growing on social media sites, brands need to update their marketing strategies and use features like in-app purchases to make the most of it.
Customers Acknowledging Social Proof:
No one likes to see traditional advertising while operating their social media account. Customers will use the brand and its services only if they find it credible enough. And to make that possible, brands utilize user-generated content as their promotional tool.
With the rising popularity of social media platforms, users like to share their feedback and reviews with other users. They scroll down their social media accounts and find reliable information about a specific product or service, but they only intend to purchase it if it’s social proof.
Trust Building Through UGC:
When brands chase user-generated content posted day and night on their social media accounts, they then attach the link for the potential customers to purchase without leaving the network.
In the world of marketing, these curators are known as nano-influencers as they use the product, click their picture and post it tagging the brand’s official account without getting paid.
Brands display this UGC on their social media account to build trust among the users, and when they find it authentic, they tend to bring in a newer audience.
Therefore, this strategy is economical and is an organic way to promote your brand and services.
To Boost Conversions:
It is easier to understand that when the user trusts the brand, he might turn into a potential customer. Adding the shopping link on the content curated by the users is a great way to generate conversions.
Nowadays, users intentionally browse over social media platforms to research their next purchase or see what other users have to say about the brand’s particular product.
Top Social Shopping Platforms
Like all other marketing methods, social shoppings seems to be effective when we encounter the facts such as 130 million users click on Instagram’s multiple shopping posts every month. These facts are not just restricted to Instagram, but there are many others.
That’s why it’s important to be aware of the brands’ popular social commerce platforms.
Now that you know why you should leverage social shopping for your business let’s look at the best social shopping platforms.
How is Facebook used as a social shopping platform? An example of Lenskart is discussed below.
In the spare time at your office, you pull out your mobile from your pocket and scroll through your Facebook feed. Suddenly you stop and stare at the beautiful pair of Lenskart optical polaroid frames, which protect your eye from the light glare.
You avoided the ad and moved on, but the next day, you find the same advertisement displaying polaroid glasses saying that it also protects your eye from the glare on your laptop screen.
Now you find it pretty useful; you give that post a minute, and you tap on the product. Did you see what just happened here?
Lenskart influenced your purchasing decision without making you log out of your Facebook account, and this is what customers need.
Now that you know the concept of selling your product on Facebook, it’s easier to talk about Instagram business. Instagram has tried a new strategy where they have come up with a feature of social commerce, which means now users can shop online and buy products directly from their Instagram account.
Here, they can avoid the toil of logging out from their account and going through merchandise’s website to purchase online.
It is a shred of evidence that 200 million users visit at least one business profile daily on Instagram, proving how popular these brands are and how engaging users find them on social media sites.
That is why brands add shoppable links to user-generated content so that their users can experience seamless shopping. In turn, it amplifies the number of conversions and helps the brand to grow.
How exciting it is when you can imitate the style and buy the product in the image you have saved! Yes! Using Pinterest, you can receive recommendations related to your pinned images through its ‘Shop the Look’ feature.
Users can then see similar items in the variety of products, which will encourage their purchasing decision as they will get to experience faster browsing and matched searches.
This results in favor of the brands, as they happen to win new users, and there is an increment in the conversions.
Taggbox Commerce
Taggbox commerce is the advanced marketing tool that helps the brand convert their social feeds into shoppable content.
This can be achieved by embedding social media feeds on your website, in the stores, or in emails to let the users interact with your brand and shop without leaving their social accounts.
To make most user-generated content posted on social media platforms, you can even turn it into shoppable UGC. This will let the users have a complete shopping experience.
Epilogue
People generally look for other users’ experiences with the product they are going to purchase. With the increase in the demand for user-generated content, brands leverage this as their marketing strategy to increase their sales. With the enhancement in online shopping, customers ask for the control to not leave their social media account while purchasing online.
Brands must see this as the opportunity to expand their business by giving the users what they want. Giving them a seamless shopping experience and adapting social shopping as the marketing tool, brands can increase their revenue in no time.
