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Top 5 Factors for Social Commerce Success

5 min read by tom 13 Jul 2018

|Social Success

E-commerce has rapidly progressed to become a dominant aspect of the social sphere with people utilising Facebook, Instagram and Twitter more and more for online purchases. In 2017, nearly 1.8 billion people around the world bought something online with the UK being one of the biggest e-commerce spenders according to We Are Social’s Global Digital Report 2018.

With this in mind, individuals or brands that plan to generate revenue from social media networks need to take into consideration how the competitive market has transformed. When developing a social media commerce campaign, the below five factors should act as a guide on how to generate successful results.

Utilise Key Messages

Key messages generate interest and should be the basis of your overall marketing strategy to ensure you are promoting your business and products in a clear and concise way. When organising your content calendar, it is advised that these messages be conveyed throughout all posts to guarantee a consistent brand image that is necessary for successful campaigns and seasonal projects.

They are also tailored to allow audiences to familiarise themselves with what followers can gain from following a social commerce post. For example: Will they be shown promotional offers that are only available through social posts? or Does following a brand on Facebook expose them to exclusive imagery of new products/ services? Both of these examples are incentives for consumers to keep following and could lead to them purchasing.

Choose Best Ad Type & Design With Mobile

According to research conducted by Hootsuite, although there are many different advertising options on social media, ad performance is dependent on the ad type and platform. This is because each ad type addresses a different campaign objective and is suitable for a different audience. For instance, photo, video, carousel and collection ads on Facebook are all used differently and you can see how here.

In addition to this, you should also design your ads with mobile and responsiveness in mind and be in the mobile-first mindset. Per the Ofcom International Benchmark, globally, a large percentage of the world uses mobile phones over desktop in their daily activity.

Stand Out in the News Feed

Brands should take into account different ways in which to capture the audience’s attention in social feeds and the more creative the better. Thinking outside the box and using themes such as humour, puzzles, polls or exclusivity can be essential ingredients for social commerce success.

Researching relevant competitors also provides a good indication of what companies may be up against by observing how their customers react to certain techniques. According to Statista, social media advertising spend in the United Kingdom in 2017 was £2.39 billion. So, in order to progress in a competitive industry, a plan should be developed for how to set the brand apart from the rest. All these aspects will encourage users to interact and share, ensuring maximum exposure.

Keep An Eye On Your Metrics

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time. The same can be said with social content. Identifying which posts resonate well with your audience and finding patterns in the result metrics of your content can help form the basis of your content ideation. Do you receive more leads in the AM as opposed to the PM? Adjust your scheduling times. Are more women clicking on your content than men? Consider adjusting your audience targeting. There’s a reason it works, so stick at it or perhaps try an A/B split test.

Recommendation

Finally, brands should encourage open recommendation. According to ConversionXL, people tend to turn to social media for product recommendations and reviews. In a study of social shoppers conducted by All Facebook, 75% said they would be more likely to purchase a product via a social network that a friend had recommended rather than an item the brand itself had recommended.

The Facebook Insights tab now gives page admins the access to see page recommendations over a 28 day period. Here, they can view how many times their page has been included in a reply to a Facebook users status.

For information on how a social media presence can encourage sales, contact us today.

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