3 Reasons Why Businesses Must Focus on Social Commerce

As a dropshipping business owner, I found social media platforms to be very effective in helping me engage and develop lifelong connections with my target audience and also in selling my products or services.

The selling power of these platforms is the driving force behind social commerce, which is the direct selling of products and services on social media. In fact, this industry is projected to be worth roughly $8.5 trillion by 2030.

The numbers speak for themselves in proving how important it is for e-commerce businesses to incorporate social commerce into their strategies. But if that isn’t enough, I’m going to share 3 more reasons why your e-commerce business can benefit from social commerce.

Let’s begin!

1. Easier Lead Generation and Nurturing

Lead generation is the process of identifying and guiding customers through each phase of the purchase process. These phases typically include:

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

Customers will be at one of these different buying stages when they come across your business, and it is up to you to relevantly and effectively enhance their experience depending on which one they’re in.

How to do that? Data! You’ll need to know your target customer’s spending habits, budget limits, as well as their interests and preferences. Unfortunately, gathering this data traditionally is next to impossible.

This is where social media platforms can help you by providing a detailed insight into valuable customer data like their thoughts, preferences, and even problems they’re seeking answers for.

This data helps you understand who your customers are and tailor your organic content and ads around them. You can also target customers based on criteria like their demographics, behaviors, and interests, increasing your chances of converting them into lifelong advocates.

Social media platforms can also be an indirect source of data beyond the analytical one they provide. You can use social listening tools like Brandwatch to gain a better understanding of how customers feel about your products and services, and to engage leads as needed.

Here’s a quick pro tip for you: you might want to integrate your social media channels with customer relationship management software to track and manage interactions with leads, and consider implementing loyalty solutions to strengthen long-term customer relationships.

2. Efficient and Cost-Effective Marketing & Sales

Traditional marketing, while still effective, is focused on higher reach and can be quite an expensive and lengthy process. Digital marketing, on the other hand, focuses highly on relevancy and precise targeting while being much more cost-effective and efficient.

This means you don’t have to spend extensively just to get your brand name out there through billboards or TV ads. You can simply create a social media page and grow organically from there. Isn’t that just amazing?

Social media also has a huge potential for overnight brand recognition, and I mean literally. Depending on how unique, creative, and engaging your content is, there is a high chance of it going viral.

This is because social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram, for example, allow people to share or repost content on their profiles or stories. So, if users like what they see, they’re going to share it, growing your organic reach profoundly.

You can also use the built-in selling features that social media platforms offer to make the sales process much easier and quicker. Two of the most effective ones include shoppable posts and tags, and in-app checkout.

Shoppable posts and tags allow customers to view and purchase products while interacting with a social media post, without ever leaving the app. How it works is that you or the influencers you’ve partnered with simply tag the products featured in the content, and viewers can tap and purchase them.

In-app checkout allows customers to complete a sale on the social media platform they’re using without being redirected to an external checkout page. Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest offer in-app checkout, making the sales process easier and quicker for customers and minimizing cart abandonment.

3. Higher Conversion Rates

Using the detailed customer insights that social media platforms provide, you can personalize and tailor your content based on your customers’ needs, the buying stage they’re in, and your goals.

This higher level of personalization can significantly enhance trust and brand loyalty, and even result in a greater chance of customers converting across different phases of the buying journey.

These platforms also have numerous opportunities for you to create and share user-generated content (UGC), that is, content created by your existing customers.

User-generated content can take many forms, such as a product review, a testimonial, challenges, and more. This content by similar individuals can also foster a sense of trust and authenticity in the brand.

Social media platforms are also home to a wide range of influencers across different niches. People follow influencers because they trust them, and partnering up with them strategically can help boost your conversion rates across each buying phase.

Finally, the chance to quickly and easily make purchases with social selling features like in-app checkout and shoppable posts discussed earlier also helps drive up those conversion rates.

Tips to Make the Most of Social Commerce

Social commerce is promising for e-commerce businesses everywhere. However, there are some precautions you must take to ensure you get the return you deserve after all this effort. Let’s quickly take a look.

Invest in a Fast and Reliable Internet Provider: It goes without saying that internet speed and reliability are very important to process transactions and resolve customer concerns efficiently. Most businesses, especially home-based ones, go for providers with flexible pricing – Spectrum Internet prices are a good example to check out.

Focus on UGC: By increasing the participation level of your current customers and showing real people using your products, you can increase customer trust in your brand. This also increases your chances of people engaging with your content as they are more likely to relate and share experiences with people they perceive as similar.

Partner with Influencers: If you want to tap into a whole new fan following and maybe even bring in new customers for your brand, influencers can do the trick. Just make sure to research the most successful influencers in your niche and make the effort to create long-lasting partnerships with them.

Social Commerce – A Win-Win for Customers and Businesses

Social commerce creates a win-win scenario for both businesses like yours and your customers. Customers can enjoy quick, easy, and personalized shopping without ever leaving the platform they’re using.

For you, implementing a social commerce strategy can translate to diversified revenue streams with a higher chance of conversions, customer engagement, and long-term loyalty. What more do you need?