Social Commerce as Brand Experience
As social commerce continues to grow and evolve in the West, one critical consideration for those who are leading the charge in developing this new capability is what the right goal and corresponding approach is for employing social commerce.
For the sake of clarity, what do we mean by social commerce? Social commerce, at a high level, is a form of commerce in which the transaction starts or is completed within social media. Social commerce channels include social shops, shoppable livestreams, shoppable ad units, group buying functionality, mini apps and transactional messaging.
Contrary to what many think, the main goal of social commerce right now should not be to drive immediate online sales: the goal should be to build brand and product awareness, consideration, preference and/or affinity, leading to omnichannel sales in the both the short and long run.
That’s not to say that driving immediate sales is not possible via social commerce; however, achieving that goal relies on the same promotional tactics that drive temporary uplift in other channels, such as offering deals and exclusives, so having that focus does not take advantage of the strengths of social commerce.
Executed correctly, social commerce drives a high level of consumer engagement through brand touchpoints such as direct interaction, live events and community participation, making it an impactful way of reinforcing your brand. In this regard, social commerce also fills the gap between one-way, static brand communications, such as an ad campaign, and more interactive, real-time brand experiences, for example at the point of sale, making it a valuable tactic for moving people along the path to purchase.
What, then, are the keys to delivering an effective brand experience through social commerce?
Social commerce should:
Have goals and KPIs based on your brand strategy, not just on revenue targets. This will ensure social commerce efforts are focused on brand impact; however, it is still advisable to measure revenue impact through a mechanism that captures omnichannel sales, such as Marketing Mix Modeling, to be able to evaluate the ROI on social commerce and inform future planning.
Provide value to consumers that is not readily available in your other channels. Relevant incentives, such as access to new or exclusive products, information and content, will motivate them to explore and engage the brand within social commerce channels.
Foster and involve the customer community. Enabling and promoting customer participation within the social commerce channel will amplify the social aspect of social commerce, contributing value to the experience through, for example, timely and relevant user-generated content.
Deliver entertainment, education and interactivity. Consumers that chose to engage with a brand in social commerce do so with many of the same needs they seek to meet from social media in general, so the brand experience must meet the expectations of the medium.
Be supported with media. As with other digital properties, promotion is required to drive awareness and usage of your social commerce channels, particularly with livestream shopping, which has a limited window in which to engage your audience.
Be aligned across social channels. As with other brand brand-building efforts, a brand’s presence across social commerce channels should feel relevant and consistent to the consumer.
Whether applied to strategic or tactical efforts, brands that can tick the box on each of these success factors will have laid a foundation for success in social commerce effort. Note that there is room for creativity and decision-making within this framework, enabling the delivery of a wide range of unique experiences tailored to the brand and business goals.
As social commerce evolves in the West, more consumers will engage social commerce specifically with the intent to buy, and there will be additional use cases for social commerce within a marketing strategy. In the meantime, marketers that want to employ social commerce to grow their business will find the most success by treating it first as brand experience.
If you are interested accelerating your growth in social commerce, or other drivers of ecommerce, feel free to schedule a free consultation or else contact us.