Here’s how social commerce may increase your sales opportunities 

No matter how hard you may have tried to resist social media, it’s taking over. That doesn’t have to be a negative thing. In fact, it’s a positive development. Social media can be a powerful tool for your business to help you bring your product or service directly to the consumer much faster. 

Social commerce is e-commerce that leverages social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and more. All these platforms have “shop now” features that allow the user to make a purchase directly through the app. This increases the likelihood of making a sale because it eliminates the additional step of driving a potential client to your website, which could result in extra clicks on their end and the possibility of abandoning the purchase.

The potential benefits of social commerce 

LinkedIn reports that $60 billion was spent on retail e-commerce across Canada in 2021. They also further elaborate that “Canada is the 4th largest market for social buyers with 32 million active Canadian social media users,” with 75% using Facebook daily, 69% using Instagram daily and 8 million users estimated to be social buyers.¹

Tapping into this domestic market would allow businesses to substantially expand their potential customer base and their potential to generate sales revenue. In fact, Business Wire reports that the “social commerce industry in Canada is expected to grow by 16.1% on annual basis to reach US$5784.1 million in 2023.”²

How to leverage social commerce

One of the most important first steps to kickstart your company’s social commerce journey is to establish your brand’s presence on social media. We’ve created a Digital Marketing Toolkit that outlines key terms and best practices to help you to build your brand using some of the most popular social media platforms. When selecting a platform, you’ll need to have a strong understanding of your target market and the most effective ways to market product or services to them that will encourage sales. 

Once you’ve started, there are multiple ways to use social media for the purpose of selling goods. For example, you can create a storefront on your preferred social media application to let users shop directly on the app for goods or services. You can also add a “shop now” tag to posts that feature specific products or services. Once again, a potential customer would be able to follow the tag on a given post to complete their purchase on the app. Finally, you can create a livestreaming shopping experience using social media. LinkedIn explains that “with livestreaming, consumers can get more details about a featured product, ask questions about the products using live chat features, and add those items directly to their cart for purchase.”¹

As well, here are some valuable tips to consider to create a positive social media experience: 

• Be responsive to questions via direct messages from clients. A quick reply may encourage a potential customer to complete their sale. Many AI tools or pre-set responses can be leveraged to assist with getting back to messages in a timely manner.
• Be yourself online. Show your followers who you are and give a glimpse of your day-to-day experiences to incorporate a human element and foster the connection they feel to you and your brand. This will help keep your brand in their mind for themselves or when making recommendations to friends. 
• Follow up with your customers for reviews. Positive reviews help to validate your brand and build its reputation.