Social Media and Ecommerce: The Current Trends and Opportunities
Social Media and Ecommerce are a perfect match.
They are like a match made in heaven!
Social Media has revolutionized the way consumers shop in 2022. With 3.96 billion people using social media on a daily basis, social media is a perfect place for businesses to sell products.
76% of consumers buy products seen in social media posts. (WoW!)
Social media is a powerful tool to thrive your e-commerce store online.
One of the things that always fascinated me about social media is its ability to adapt and evolve with ever-changing consumer trends.
Social media educates marketers about consumer behavior analytics and trends, which allow them to make informed decisions.
With the rise of ecommerce on social media, it is evident for a businessman’s mind to boggle with questions. On which trend should I focus? Which is the best practice?
In this article, we will be covering the significant trends shaping the perfect collaboration of social media and ecommerce.
Along with the trends, we will ponder upon the upcoming opportunities to ensure that you approach better strategies for the success of your business.
Let’s get started.
Why are social media and e-commerce powerful? [ Getting to know the power of the duo]
Social Media allows the audience to discover new brands/products while they are surfing across the social platforms.
This ‘discovery’ through social media is the ultimate reason why more and more ecommerce site owners are willing to create more social content.
However, customer acquisition, a unique shopping experience, and a robust brand identity benefit the brands in the longer run.
The ‘S-O-C-I-A-L’ element of the social media platforms is what makes it convenient for the brands to create an interactive and user-friendly shopping experience.
From shareable campaigns to irresistible contests, the social media and e-commerce duo is here to take the burden off the shoulders of the business owners.
Social Media and E-commerce trends & opportunities to win more customers in 2022
Facebook Shops
Facebook has nearly 2.9 billion active users.
With the home to a large number of active users, Facebook is one of the best social channels to showcase your products/services.
However, FaceBook rolls out FaceBook shops for a user-friendly shopping experience. They are here to deliver a seamless shopping experience to its extensively engaged audience.
Facebook has a more remarkable ability to create an effective product catalog and the opportunity to run ROI driven ads.
Messaging Apps are new chatbots
Whatsapp Business, FaceBook, and Instagram serve the audience with automated DMs.
Let your audience know that you are away and will be right back to serve them.
Businesses are now able to connect with consumers directly.
The end reason why businesses prefer them is to deliver a highly personalized user experience and keep communication seamless.
Price Tags on Instagram
As per Instagram, 60% of the people discover new products on their platform.
Instagram gives your ecommerce business a more effective platform to be explored in front of a new audience.
With Instagram’s shopping tag feature, you can add pierce tags directly to the image posts and reels.
This feature by Instagram has made the life of e-commerce store owners a lot better as consumers can directly visit the website. Many big brands are leveraging instagram automation tools to manage their inbound leads.
Influencer Marketing is the key
Influencer marketing is the non-ignorant player in the online shopping environment.
Audiences look up to the influencers in the various niches before they buy something.
Partnering with the influencers can be the best way to reach out to the untapped audience and grab their attention.
Without any doubt, social media reach and followers are the pivotal features brands look for before they choose an influencer.
Collaborating with gigantic industry-dominating influencers is natural, but working with micro-influencers is also not a bad idea.
Nearly 82% of shoppers purchase products recommended by micro-influencers. Thus, in 2022 and beyond, you will see big organizations collaborating with micro-influencers.
Generate user-friendly content
A major drawback with online shopping is that users don’t get to try the product in person before they make a purchase.
Therefore it becomes more crucial for the ecommerce business owners to create content that is visually more appealing and interactive.
An authentic visual will give an insight into what the product appears like and create ‘I want to buy this factor.’
YouTube featuring the ‘Buy’ button
YouTube advertisements come with ‘click to shop’ CTAs at the end of the AD video.
However, if you have noticed recently, YouTube is now featuring the website products in the video so that the user can make the purchase directly.
This fantastic feature by YouTube will allow the viewers to see a list of products and navigate seamlessly to discover the new product page.
Isn’t it the best time to run YouTube Ads to promote your online business?
Well, yeah!!! (Duh..)
Whatsapp as a new communication channel
For more than 2 billion people, whatsapp is their primary communication channel.
Various e-commerce owners have integrated whatsapp into their online stores.
We know it is a messaging platform, but with the benefit of attaching images or videos and adding the catalog feature, whatsapp is not your ordinary messaging app.
Whatsapp for business allows the business owners to display their information, including logos, product categories, descriptions, working hours etc.
SnapChat for interactive user session
Snapchat is a leading platform that has introduced interactive features.
As an ecommerce business owner, you can use these features to directly get in touch with your audience by running advertisements in the user’s stories.
Also, the tradition of sharing snap codes is another way to connect with the audience and showcase your products/services.
Live streaming shopping
Live streaming shopping is relatively a new concept, but it promises to stay in the market.
With it, users get a real-time experience while shopping for a product. The user gets to see how the person feels when they see the product and then makes the decision instantly.
Recently Facebook introduced a running series called Live Shopping Fridays, where big brands sold products on live stream via streaming online or a pre-recorded webinar.
This is a trend you can watch out for yourself and curate an effective strategy for your business.
Augmented reality
When ecommerce and social media came together, they saw great results. (That were beyond expectations)
Nowadays, businesses are creating a flawlessly interactive shopping experience by following the trend of Augmented reality.
For instance, various social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have AR filters that allow businesses to create highly customizable products that will help them to showcase their products/services.
Creating filters on these platforms allows the business owners to engage with the audience and create a crystal clear competitor strategy to stay ahead of their competitors.
Social media is the future of ecommerce
Social Media continues to grow exponentially, and with explosive growth in the e-commerce segment this year, you can create more opportunities for your business in 2022.
Social Media reaches out to the consumers in the places that matter but to succeed in this vertical; you need to make edge-cutting strategies.
Popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram are great to get started with if you are new to this domain.
As an ecommerce retailer, your goal should be to become a sales magnet, and social media is one of the prominent channels that can deliver you both: sales and customer loyalty.
