We are living in a time where it’s easier than ever to live smarter, thanks to technology. You can order a taxi with an app, identify a song with Shazam and deposit cheques – all with a swipe of your finger.
Technology should be secondary to user values and behaviour
Social Commerce is expanding at pace, allowing consumers to browse, checkout and purchase without leaving the social media platform. But are brands delivering the kind of content and experience consumers want?
Initials, a customer and brand experience agency in the UK, has recently polled a nationally representative audience to assess whether the brands they engage with (post-pandemic) have created social experiences that seamlessly align with their needs and values.
A staggering 46% of consumers find “brands could do more to improve” and 10% reported they are “disappointed with how brands have responded.”
Businesses should make customer behaviour paramount when designing their content. The key to success is to create immersive and relevant experiences if they want to win in this space.
The rapid adoption of ‘digital’, triggered by the pandemic, has resulted in traditional marketing methods being deprioritised by market leaders, while mobile shopping continues to skyrocket.
Businesses should transition to Social Commerce by integrating digital tools into their existing business models. Rather than re-inventing their organisation, they should focus on enabling external consumer behaviour.
A recent study found that nearly three-quarters of consumers have said that brands they engage with on social platforms “don’t always deliver relevant content” and “often create experiences that are irrelevant to me.”
To realise the new kinds of business value that relationships can generate, brands need to re-prioritise. Brands should understand their target audiences first, before considering technology.
When considering social media, we must remember the needs and preferences of specific audiences. When we take a look at Instagram’s success and try to understand its popularity, we start to see what people want: aesthetic and engaging posts and brands that talk to their priorities and passions.
Companies must be mindful of their target audience in order to confidently implement the best customer experiences that will keep them engaged.
Social Commerce – think like a shopper
Start with a shopper mindset when using social media for your business in order to harness the full potential of the platform.
Social commerce is about focusing on user behaviours, values, and preferences to help determine which social channels are most suitable to engage with. Brands that take this into account can then maximise the potential of social commerce features.
Social commerce begins with a deeper understanding of the post-pandemic consumer. One way to create an authentic sense of community, spark interaction and discovery, build a frictionless experience, or drive conversion of branded products and services, is by creating content that puts the shopper first.
Data shows that 52% of consumers have a passive interaction with brands on social media and, in turn, it is important for brands to create engaging and personal content.
Brands that change to social media marketing approaches and include precision marketing and social media in their strategy, will be successful in the future. Shoppers are more likely to buy from brands they follow on social media and the popularity of these posts continue to rise.
Brands are no longer throwing random things at the wall to see what sticks. The science of behavioural economics and methodologies for precision marketing helps them solve any audience problem that comes their way via precision advertising.
Brands need to think about their social commerce journey as a shopper’s first-hand experience, because this will give them an advantage over their competition.
Social Media Marketing Secrets: tips on how to activate with shopper marketing intent
Social Commerce is changing the way brands interact and market their products. To win with social commerce and generate sales, brands need to first know what their target audience wants and which social media platform they prefer for the decision-making process.
By using existing techniques from behavioural science, brands can choose better channels through which they target an audience. With a deep understanding of how consumers browse, as well as understanding the extent to which different channels directly connect to targeted audiences, brands can use social commerce techniques to create memorable experiences and develop loyalty.
Brands must fight for social commerce. Unique subsets make up social commerce users, so brands need to tailor their content and advertisements to them if they want success.
Social commerce is a model that has been seen to have the effect of increasing market share. It plays an important role in creating two-way conversations that allow buyers to learn about product benefits, resolves queries, and read reviews.
To succeed in the social media world, brands must figure out how to intersect with their followers during dull moments of scrolling. These idle moments hold the power to create a lasting impression on a consumer that can be amplified into shares and likes later. Successful social commerce utilises interactive features that keep the customer engaged and looking for more information.
As the rapid evolution of social commerce continues, brands turn to creative agencies for efficient, timely solutions to business challenges. Like many digital developments, this will come at the cost of a steep learning curve, so we’re here to support you in creating an attractive social commerce experience for your customers.