In simple terms, social commerce is the ability to make a purchase from an online brand through
Social media collage
a social media platform. A good example of this is Facebook Marketplace. There you can browse through products, and if you find something that you like make a purchase directly through Facebook itself, rather than the brand’s site.
At the moment, there are a few major players in the social commerce space. These are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. You can find more details about these four platforms below and see how ecommerce giants like eBay use hem to gather customer information, display promotions and turn online shopping into a more social activity.
- Facebook - On Facebook companies can create entire stores where the consumer can ‘shop now’. These online retailers are making use of the Facebook messaging feature to interact with customers for customer service reasons and to boost sales. Retailers can upload product pictures and description, customise a product catalogue, sell directly from the page, manage orders, run Facebook ads, get insights and much more. A comprehensive solution for direct online marketing.
- Twitter - It is now possible to sell directly through Twitter, as every product that a company tweets can also include a buy button, so the consumer never has to leave the site. Promoted tweets are an added benefit of this service and can help expand the targeted audience.
- Pinterest - June 2015 saw the release of buyable pins. If the Pinterest visitor likes what they see, they can press the ‘Buy it’ button there and then. That’s particularly good for the growing number of mobile shoppers.
- Instagram - This social media site is great for the visual shopper. Instagram visitors can browse brands’ products and then click on the images to find out more about the product and potentially make a purchase.
Social networks have changed and continue to change the way business is done around the world. Since the beginning of the internet, businesses have used this new tool to their advantage. Once people realized the internet can be used as free advertising, that they can post and share their content with few restrictions and that money could be made doing these things, it has become a cornerstone and necessity of world wide business today.
16Best's blog, Social Networks and Their Importance in Ecommerce Gateways, illustrates how social networks have evolved into the multi-billion dollar businesses they are today.