Not so long ago, consumer patterns were restricted to consideration and discovery, with the actual sale happening off-platform, on a third-party site. That, however, is yesterday’s news. Today’s social platforms are set to ‘close the loop’, with shoppers able to both window shop and purchase within one frictionless, joined-up social media experience. An evolution that, unquestionably, brings the ability to revolutionise how shoppers purchase online.
Previously, social was regarded as a brand recognition channel, with an ROI that was difficult to measure. Today, social has the capacity to bring an immediate effect to bear on your profit margins. To bring you up to speed, I’m going to present a keynote summary of the ten “commandments” essential for any successful social commerce campaign – full details of which can be found here in our Microguide to Social Commerce.
1. Audit First
Our tried and tested the first commandment is a digital audit of your extant tech stack so that existing capacities can be examined prior to any upgrades or add-ons.
2. Establishing Campaign Objectives
This covers areas such as promoting business values, together with the end target of sales and profit. Having a full handle on the target demographic is essential to understanding which social media platform would be optimal for this purpose.
3. Investing In Social Ads
It’s beneficial to serve ads to existing customers or those who have engaged with your channel(s) before. Make absolutely sure that hashtags are unchanging across all content – organic or paid so that followers know exactly which tags to use when talking about a product.
4. Awareness-Driven Social Commerce
Brands must also consider the platforms that are likely to embrace social commerce in the future, such as Twitch, Reddit and Clubhouse. They are useful platforms for engaging with the shopper right now and afford further insights into how to test sales models in readiness for when they do embrace social commerce.
5. Countdown Posts and Promotions
To heighten engagement with your existing follower and contact bases, use posts and stories that foster interest and conversation. These can also be used in conjunction with ‘countdowns’ to add further hype.
6. Audience Engagement
Posing germane or conversation-starter questions is a guaranteed method to heighten engagement. Making sure that any queries from customers are addressed swiftly, individually, and relevantly will increase interaction.
7. Nano Influencers
Since Covid, the rise of nano influencers has aided the creation of more bespoke spaces to exhibit products. They may have fewer followers than their mainstream counterparts but have a far richer level of engagement.
8. Content Remains King, But Context Is Queen
Brands must be aware of when to entertain and when to sell, relative to the state of engagement in the sales funnel. Laying out a visible brand purpose and a well thought out social strategy that does both simultaneously is essential to not only pique but hold onto the shopper’s interest.
9. Performance and Data For ROI
Each metric should be comprehensively reviewed to investigate how campaigns have performed and tied back to performance and conversion KPIs and objectives.
10. The Right Tech
Ultimately, automation through judicious use of technology will save time, which can therefore be used elsewhere to generate more value. There are many products that can automate content, some even track performance.
Since COVID, brands capable of direct-to-consumer (D2C) commerce have reaped the immediate benefits of social commerce, while those that weren’t prepared have been losing out. With the number of social media users globally predicted to grow from 4.48 billion in July 2020 to over 5.3 billion by 2025, no one should ignore these audiences. Employing a structured approach, as per our ten “commandments”, is fundamental to assuring social commerce success for your brand.
This article has been written with the help of Dominic Murray, Director of Digital, Initials