Franchise PowerUp 
If you have a business and social media accounts, you are most likely involved in social commerce. This term refers to buying and selling of products and services in social media accounts. Social commerce takes place at big social marketplaces and connects potential customers to businesses selling their products and services worldwide.
Some popular examples of social commerce are:
- Facebook Marketplace – the online application working as an online shop for its users
- “Buy button” in Twitter – any product that you tweet includes the buy button for the customers to make their purchases from Twitter directly
- Buyable pins on Pinterest – direct purchase from favorite pins without leaving Pinterest
- Coupon codes in Instagram
The major goal of social commerce is to make your potential customers get acquainted with your products and finally to make a purchase. In addition, its role is to offer expert advice to the people searching for a specific product on social media. When you try to understand what social commerce is, think of it as a field that is situated in-between online shopping and social media marketing.
Benefits and Tactics of Social Commerce
The most popular marketing tactics applied in social commerce are:
- Direct messages to users asking to buy a certain product with personalized prepositions
- Videos presenting certain products or the launch of their new features
- Celebrity endorsements of the products
- Links from posts to the online shop
- Promotions to users for the shares or comments on certain product
In the modern world, social commerce replaces traditional eCommerce. More and more people each year look for the products and services found in social networks. They read reviews by other users; ask for advice and recommendations online. Many customers look for the companies they purchase from in social networks. They also become active participants of giveaways and other contests the company performs on its social pages.
This sales channel can help you attract customers whom you could never reach the other way, as they shop online. The other important thing here is that social commerce has to be done in a way to allow shopping directly from social network. In such a case the customer gets exactly what he wants.
Some other benefits of social commerce are listed below:
- Effective product development – if you ask your potential customers to vote or/and share their impressions about various product features, you can understand in what direction it has to develop in future
- Growth in conversions – the new sales channel raises the possibility of the final purchase
- Better targeting of potential customers – social media has many customer data. You can target your potential audience in a more effective way, knowing their shopping preferences.
- Higher engagement – when your social commerce activities bring new customers and they are satisfied with your product, it is time to ask them for recommendations. In this way you raise the engagement among your followers who get recommendations from real people in the social network.
