Get to Know Social Commerce

Learning Objectives 

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe what social commerce is and some of its benefits.
• Define shoppable content and explain its importance.
• Explain why companies should create a social commerce strategy.

Social Commerce Defined

Today, shoppers can find new brands to follow on social media, and they can buy products and services directly through social media platforms with just a few clicks. Social commerce is the activity of selling products through a social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), or TikTok. With social commerce, online brands can promote their products and services on social media. Shoppers can engage with brands and buy their products directly on their favorite social media sites.

Here are some key benefits of incorporating social commerce into your ecommerce marketing strategy. 

• Sell products and services on a new channel: social media.
• Build brand partnerships.
• Accelerate the click-to-close journey.
• Personalize the shopping experience with social data.
• Get ahead of trends, seasons, current events, and holidays.
• Grow your community.
• Maintain customer loyalty.

Ready to learn more? Let's look at shoppable content. 

What Is Shoppable Content? 

Shoppable content is digital social content, such as a post, video, or advertisement, where consumers can purchase featured products without leaving the platform. Shoppable content makes buying products and services on social media platforms easier than ever.

Thanks to social media marketing, customers often discover products as they scroll through their social feeds. Closing the deal is much easier if a shopper never has to leave that platform to make their purchase. Shoppable content pairs marketing and social commerce strategies to seamlessly turn a browsing moment into a closed deal. 

Stay Competitive with a Social Commerce Strategy

Shoppable content allows brands to be where their shoppers are and offers them a seamless purchasing experience that increases their likelihood to buy. It’s truly a boon for brands around the world. 

More than half of the global population uses social media, so channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook represent a huge opportunity for growth. But with such a large opportunity, a digital space with over 4 billion active users, there’s bound to be competition. For businesses, navigating the ever-changing world of social media and driving sustained success requires a clear vision, a plan for handling crises, and a strategy to showcase your values.

So how does this look when it comes to shoppable content? Let’s see an example.

Cloud Kicks, a fictional retailer of custom sneakers, has a large social media presence. As part of its social commerce strategy, it maintains social profiles for individual countries and individual pages for different products. The company’s social game is strong, and it’s showing in its overall growth throughout any economic climate. 

Today, its AI-powered Design Kicks tool lets shoppers design custom sneakers wherever they are. Shoppers can access the virtual design room on their social accounts for a truly individualized purchasing experience. As a bonus, shoppers can easily share their creative designs on their social platforms. 

To see a real-world example of shoppable content, check out how L'Oréal creates unique beauty experiences with a data-driven approach.

Wrap Up

In this unit, you discovered what social commerce and shoppable content are and why they matter. In the next unit, you learn how to build brand value through your social media channels. 

Resources 

• Salesforce Article: Social Commerce: How to Drive Online Sales with Social Shopping
• Salesforce Product Page: Social Commerce Platform
• Salesforce: Commerce Cloud FAQ
• Salesforce Customer Story: L'Oréal creates unique beauty experiences with a data-driven approach
• Statistica Report: Number of Social Media Users Worldwide