Infographic: A History of Social Commerce and Its Uses
In recent years — and especially within the last decade — we have seen a huge increase in the number of social media platforms which are taking over our daily lives and the internet. From popular names such as Facebook and Twitter to less popular but still relevant platforms such as Pinterest, these networks have a huge audience and worldwide reach. They are truly revolutionary means of communication.
We live in interesting times and thanks to our massive scale of interactive networks, social media and eCommerce are coming together like never before in the form of social commerce.
Online marketers have used social media to reach consumers almost since the first social platforms were launched. In recent times however, business and social media have also integrated through the development of:
- Social product stores
- Chatbots that facilitate purchase decisions
- Review platforms built into social media sites
This high level of integration allows customers to enter and exit the sales funnel entirely within the context of a brand’s social media presence. For this reason, social media has become one of the most valuable commodities for eCommerce: consumers are always looking for the next best thing and social commerce ticks this box.
Now is the right time to get your brand on social media if it isn’t already, and many eCommerce companies have already been doing this for quite some time. eBay, for example, is known for the discounts and sales that it advertises on social media, and in doing so does wonders for their overall customer reach.
Due to the aforementioned integration features, social media also allows you to turn people from all over the world into paying customers with the use of social media marketing. Simple but highly effective ideas include
- Advertising discount codes and offers
- Displaying new products to followers
- Engaging with customers
- Refining your target market through analytics tools
Gone are the days when you needed to redirect a potential customer to your website, simply hoping that they would spend time browsing and filling out their payment information.
Thanks to our reliance on social media platforms in today’s modern world, the world of eCommerce has been changing right before our eyes and it is now more social than ever. Today, approximately 3 out of 4 shoppers rely on social media to guide their purchasing decisions.
All things considered, there has never been a better time to take user trends seriously by integrating social media into your company’s marketing efforts.
To download the full infographic and learn more about any of these subjects, visit 16best where a version of this article was first published.
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