Up until recently, shopper behaviours were limited to discovery and consideration, with purchase taking place off-platform, on a brand or retailer website. But all that has changed. Today’s social platforms are poised to ‘close the loop’, with users able to browse and shop seamlessly within one connected social media experience. A development that, undoubtedly, has the potential to transform the way people buy online forever.
Once upon a time, social media was seen as a hard-to-quantify awareness channel. Now, it has the potential to deliver a direct impact to your bottom line. In order to help you get there I’m going to give a quick snapshot of the ten key components needed to launch a successful social commerce campaign – as outlined fully in our Microguide to Social Commerce.
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Audit First
In our experience, the first step starts with a digital audit of your existing tech stack, so that current capabilities can be assessed before any upgrades or add-ons are initiated.
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Establishing Campaign Objectives
This includes things like promoting business values, alongside the ultimate goal of sales and profit. Understanding the target demographic is key to knowing which social media platform would be best suited to deliver this.
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Investing In Social Ads
It’s worthwhile targeting ads at former customers, or those who have engaged with your content previously. Ensure that hashtag usage is consistent across all posts and ads, so that followers know exactly which tags to use when talking about a product.
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Awareness-Driven Social Commerce
Brands must also look ahead to the social platforms that will embrace social commerce in the future, such as Twitch, Reddit and Clubhouse. They are useful platforms for connecting with the consumer now, and enable you to gain further insight into how to optimize future sales models in preparation for when they launch social commerce further down the line.
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Countdown Posts and Promotions
To build anticipation amongst your current follower and contact bases, choose posts and stories that encourage interest and discussion. These can also be followed by ‘countdowns’ to build added hype.
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Audience Engagement
Asking relevant or open-ended questions is a sure-fire way to get greater interaction. Making sure that any questions from customers are addressed promptly, personally, and informatively will help build engagement further.
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Nano Influencers
Since the pandemic, the rise of nano influencers has helped create more intimate environments to showcase products. They have lower numbers of followers than mainstream counterparts, but far greater influence over them.
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Content Remains King, But Context Is Queen
Brands must understand when to entertain and when to sell, relative to the state of engagement in the customer journey. Setting out a clear brand purpose and well thought out social strategy that does both at the right time is vital to both grab and retain customer attention.
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Performance and Data For ROI
Every available metric should be systematically reviewed to see how campaigns have performed and tied back to performance and conversion KPIs and objectives.
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The Right Tech
Ultimately, automation through good use of technology will save time, which can therefore be used elsewhere to generate more value. There are many products that can automate content, some even track performance.
Previously published in Performance Marketing World
