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For years, consumers have had the option of buying in stores, online, via mobile apps or (in some rare cases) mail-order catalog.
Meanwhile at my house, we’re excitedly looking forward to the Zingerman’s Mail Order summer sale and our annual order of Ortiz tuna by the case. https://t.co/sJCHshzPqa — meredith kahn (@m_kahn) June 14, 2021
Meanwhile at my house, we’re excitedly looking forward to the Zingerman’s Mail Order summer sale and our annual order of Ortiz tuna by the case. https://t.co/sJCHshzPqa
— meredith kahn (@m_kahn) June 14, 2021
The latest option in the mix? Social commerce.
Numbers show 43% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials have purchased products or services directly from social media platforms. This is big for brands vying for the attention of younger consumers. And they’re taking heed: Research conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Sprout Social found that 73% of businesses are currently selling on social media platforms, and another 79% plan to within the next three years.
How are they doing it? By turning social posts into shoppable content. Doing so shortens the sales funnel and converts customers right when they’re inspired to make a purchase.
Let’s explore this more.
Shoppable content is a digital asset, such as a social media post, image, video or ad, that consumers can click through to make a purchase.
There are instances where the customer has to complete their checkout process on the brand’s website, but some shoppable content enables transactions all in one place. Shoppable content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram or TikTok that lets users buy without leaving the app is the backbone of social commerce.
The shift away from physical stores to social shopping was always coming. But thanks to the pandemic, it accelerated by roughly five years. In the US, the volume of social commerce sales is expected to reach over $100 million by 2023.
This is a grand opportunity for brands to capitalize on these emerging trends. But be careful: Millennials and Gen Z only want to buy from brands that are authentic and transparent.
As you would with your campaigns, website or physical locations, be sure your shoppable content demonstrates your brand’s values and humanity. If you can create content that connects with your audience, it will become easier to attract and convert them.
Integrating shoppable content into your digital marketing strategy can yield numerous benefits:
With shoppable videos, social posts and ads, you help buyers get what they want when they want it. No hiccups or delays to extend the sales funnel.
Millennials and Gen Z already use social media to search for products. So why not meet them where they are?By creating content that is not only discoverable, but shoppable, you minimize the disruptions that lead to an abandoned shopping cart. In other words, an enhanced customer experience.
The best way to build trust and loyalty today? Storytelling.
Shoppable content is an opportunity to showcase real stories about real people who’ve used your product. The goal is to show off your product’s value while educating potential customers.
Being in the right place at the right time is what marketing and advertising are all about. With targeted and personalized shoppable ads, you can increase the odds of a conversion.
But how do you make the most of your shoppable content campaigns? There are three key techniques brands can use to get better ROI:
Tommy Hilfiger and a few others are capitalizing on live streaming shopping events (especially since the pandemic). The brand partnered with celebrities and social influencers, including model Elias Riadi. During the event, viewers could add items to their carts for checkout after.
Walmart has gone all-in with live shopping events, hosted on their Walmart Live platform, YouTube channel and TikTok account. The retail giant regularly partners with influencers and celebrities to showcase new product lines and seasonal favorites.
The takeaway: Team up with relevant influencers, host a live event and make the checkout process seamless to maximize ROI.
The best way to start building shoppable content is to study what works. You do this by analyzing your past campaigns, along with those of your competitors. With Social Sprout, you can identify what posts, hashtags and topics resonate with your audience (based on historical performance).
This performance data, combined with social listening insights, can give you the context needed to build higher-converting social commerce campaigns.
It’s time to build a shoppable media campaign. Which formats are the best to use?
As with most things in marketing, it depends.Who’s your target customer? What are you selling and in what industry? For example, a video may be better if you’re looking to entertain (while subtly showcasing products). And an Instagram carousel post is ideal if you want to make a collection of outfits or accessories front and center.
There are four common types of shoppable media. Consider testing a mix of each to see what resonates with your audience.
You can publish shoppable posts on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest. It’s an excellent way to offer a product without disrupting their browsing session.
These posts contain shoppable images, similar to a product catalog—except clickable and immediately obtainable.
But the question is: Do they work? Simple answer…yes. Already today, at least one in four consumers uses social media to purchase products or services. More than half (54%) of Facebook IQ survey respondents said they bought items in the moment or sometime after seeing a product or service on Instagram.
Video is one of the top ways we consume online information. And marketers rank video as the most valuable content type for meeting their goals on social media. So why not turn your video posts into an immersive shopping event?
A recent report found that 84% of people have been convinced to buy a product after watching a brand video.
So imagine the conversion rate if you made it possible for viewers to buy right away. But what makes a good shoppable video? Here are two tips to help you get started:
People don’t watch long-form videos unless they’re relevant and timely. Consumers need context before they’ll invest any amount of time. This is where storytelling comes in handy. You should be able to tell a complete story within 10 minutes. If you can’t, consider breaking it up into a series.
If you have too much going on, viewers will lose interest quickly—69% prefer to watch a short video. So keep it simple. Focus on a single topic and break up your message using multiple calls to action throughout the video.
If you haven’t seen one, here’s an example of a YouTube video from Milk Makeup.
With more people consuming video content daily, it’s no surprise more businesses are investing in production. Especially when people are twice as likely to share videos with their family and friends than other forms of content.
With 40% of marketers already using shoppable video ads, now is the perfect time to build out your video strategy.
What’s the key to gaining your audience’s trust? Earning social proof. This can be in the form of reviews, or in this case, an influencer’s post. We’re not talking large-scale influencers—anyone with a following (or visibility) can influence another user’s purchase.
In fact, consumers say user-generated posts are 76% more trustworthy than branded ads.
This is what makes social media the powerhouse it is today. Users jump on their platform of choice and read posts and comments from others. Some inspire and others promote action. And the most powerful for brands is shoppable user-generated content.
There are two ways to use user-generated content for social commerce:
Here’s an example of how Grove Collaborative elevates a user-generated photo with product information and real customer reviews:
Afraid consumers are turning a blind eye to your ads? You should be, especially with more users adopting ad blockers. But there’s a better way to advertise: Shoppable ads.
These can be a mix of video and images to gain attention and even entice buyers. That’s because they resemble content on their social media feed. And like a shoppable post, consumers can make a purchase directly through the ad.
There are several types of shoppable ads:
These are just some of the ways you can design your ads. Get creative and test variations to see which works the best for your brand and audience.
Shoppable content works for businesses of all sizes. Here’s a look at several real-world examples to inspire your next campaign.
Barbour proved you don’t have to be a newcomer to make a splash on social media. The 125-year-old manufacturer started out selling outerwear for fishermen but now sells apparel for everyone (land and sea).
The brand used Instagram to connect with its audience and later decided to use shoppable Instagram posts to help customers find items to buy. It cut down the customer journey tremendously and increased their traffic by nearly 100% and sales by 42%.
COVID-19 stopped consumers from visiting stores, but it couldn’t stop them from shopping online. And it panned out well for Jane, a boutique fashion shop for women and children.
Their marketing team used a mix of:
Using these methods, Jane saw $419,762 in incremental sales and more than 680,618 new visitors between July 2020 and April 2021.
YouTube is no longer just a social media platform. It’s now one of several sales channels brands can use to promote their products. One way they’re achieving this is by using interactive video ads (with shopping features). Aerie, the apparel retail giant, is one of them.
The company wanted to simultaneously build brand love and omnichannel apparel sales for a Spring 2020 campaign, and decided YouTube would be the perfect platform to do it. The brand used YouTube video ads to connect with potential shoppers and showcase their latest products. The campaign resulted in:
What makes this setup genius is that many users switch between YouTube and search to find information that influences their purchase. So by using YouTube shoppable ads, your customer’s path to purchase is more transparent (thanks to the father-child relationship between Google and YouTube).
It’s not too late to adopt social commerce into your digital marketing (and sales) strategy. In fact, YouTube is a newcomer, releasing its own version of shoppable video ads in 2020. And platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Instagram are continuously evolving their e-commerce features.
Social shopping is still fresh, which means there’s plenty of room to stake your claim.
Just make sure you have the right tools in place. Thanks to our integrations with Shopify and Facebook Shops, Sprout helps brands seamlessly publish, track and manage shoppable content, so you can draw a direct line between social and your bottom line.
Ready to make shoppable content a core component of your social strategy? Sign up for a free, 30-day trial today.
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