Read our top social commerce tips and download our guide
The peak holiday season shopping digital gold rush is about to kick off again with what is set to be another record-breaking year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. It’s been twelve months since US online shoppers splurged around 18 billion dollars on the biggest ever online shopping days in US history. The global trend was no different, with a massive 139% increase in Black Friday ecommerce sales being recorded across the planet.
What began as an offline shopping day to revive Turkey-stuffed Thanksgiving revelers, Black Friday is now the officially-unofficial start to global holiday season online spending. Three days later, Cyber Monday ecommerce trumps the previous year’s sales superlatives as online buyers across the globe empty the digital bargain shelves. And 2021 promises to be no exception - sales records will be broken.
Smart social commerce strategy vital to combat commerce anarchy
There is no doubt that the gradual ecommerce shift to social commerce will be a massive contributing factor to this season’s projected record-breaking sales. Quick checkouts used by armies of readily-segmented buyers eager to shop on the channels they love and trust will mean full carts and baskets for the sellers who implemented or are implementing smart social commerce strategies. Creating an overview and escape route from the current commerce anarchy is this season’s number 1 ‘to do’.
With billions and billions and billions of dollars at stake, vendors are scrambling to add their products to all of the social media shopping markets in time for the Black Friday ecommerce kick-off. It won't come as a surprise that so many companies are struggling to meet the gazillions of platform-specific feed requirements.
The big social hitters either already have or are soon implementing in-app checkouts, which means it’s never been more important to draw up and execute smart social commerce marketing plans. As the current kings and queens of the social mediaverse Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest are increasingly ring fencing their communities, keeping up-to-date with the latest specs and requirements is now a do-or-die mission for vendors on these platforms.
Dynamic ads demand perfect product feeds
Don’t forget, feeding these platforms with the perfect product information feeds isn’t just about nailing each platform's myriad data requirements. Dynamic ads require the best images and video content to entice the social media shoppers to fill their carts. Take TikTok’s Showcase Ads for example. TikTok can take your perfectly formatted images and, with some magic from TikTok creators, place your brand in their community - but the content can only be as good as the data and images that feed it.
Social commerce is now both the fastest growing ecommerce channel as well as one of the biggest contributors to commerce anarchy. The key to grow brands or sell more items in these new retail spaces is to master commerce anarchy by implementing a smart social commerce strategy.
Top tips for your social commerce strategy
1. Know your audience
Social media environments give marketers a unique opportunity to get granular with their segmentation. Do your homework on your potential buyers and feed the platforms with the data those shoppers are looking for.
2. Update, refresh, reboot
Update social media profile descriptions and call-to-actions with info that reflects the current or upcoming season.
3. Always think performance AND branding
Wow the window shoppers and browsers, don’t just speak to your current customers. Always ensure the individual platform’s content will highlight your products’ features and help you close sales, all the time.
4. Influence the influencers
Think about talking to influencers and content creators to use your brand. The combination of influencer marketing with social commerce offers a more organic and creative brand exposure to users.
5. Tease them and they’ll come
Tease your customers and potential buyers with whatever deals you are setting up for peak shopping season. Tell them what you’re doing on Black Friday and Cyber Monday before they happen.
6. Channel your channels
Tweak your product information and media assets to suit each channel, they are not all the same and the devil is in the detail. Insta users love colored backgrounds and carousel images, with other channels white backgrounds are preferred.
7. Perfect your listings
Commerce anarchy means that perfecting your listings is not just a goal, but a requirement. Your product information has to be up-to-date, accurate, and contextualized for each channel. It’s time to think about using a product-to-consumer solutions platform that will enable you to advertise and sell across all social commerce channels.
8. Think P2C
You need to think beyond channels, regions and granular optimization. Getting products to consumers in the current climate, demands a smart product-to-consumer (P2C) strategy.