Is Social Commerce a Leading Payment Trend? 5 Ways To Adapt Strategy

Thanks to the rapidly increasing popularity of smartphones and platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, social commerce has quickly become part of our everyday lives. 

Social commerce unlocks a limitless shopping experience. As customers swap brick-and-mortar stores for social crossling and in-app purchases, brands must adapt if they want to improve their ecommerce conversion rates.

In 2023, social commerce sales accounted for around 18.5% of total online sales, and this figure is expected to continue rising.

With this in mind, let's explore five ways to adapt your social commerce strategy and start selling more of your products or services to highly engaged audiences on social media.

5 Ways To Adapt Your Social Commerce Strategy 

Social commerce is a leading payment trend that allows today's consumers to buy products or services from their favorite brands without leaving their chosen social media platform. 

As a business owner, you should consistently adapt your platform-specific social commerce strategies to boost eCommerce sales. 

Here are five ways to adapt and enhance your social commerce strategy in 2024 and beyond:

1. Focus on the channels where your customers are

With the ever-growing number of social media platforms, you need to choose which platforms are best for your business by identifying where your target audience spends the most time. This will increase your chances of reaching them. 

You can research what your competitors are doing and where they are most active, or you can look at data to see which demographics are drawn to which platforms.

For example, if your target audience is men between 25 and 34, Facebook is your best platform. However, if you want to reach young women between 18 and 24, you want to focus on your Instagram strategy. 

Additionally, if your products or services appeal to multiple target audiences, you can tailor your social commerce strategy to cater to the specific audiences on each social media platform.

2. Encourage UGC

As part of your social commerce strategy, you should encourage your customers to give feedback about your products or services through user-generated content (UGC). UGC are the images, videos, audio, testimonials, and captions posted by users—in this case, your customers—on social media. 

Allowing real-life customers to promote your products or services is a great way to establish your brand's trustworthiness and persuade customers to make a purchase. 

3. Collaborate with influencers

Collaborating with influencers who already have a loyal following can help you reach new audiences. You can leverage their credibility to drive sales and brand awareness. 

Either ask them to use your products or services and post their experience on social media with credit to your brand, or work alongside them to create content that both parties can post.

It's crucial to ensure that you only partner with influencers who are relevant to your brand's niche and your products or services.

4. Introduce livestream shopping

Coresight Research estimates that by 2026, livestream shopping will account for over 5% of total eCommerce sales in the US.

Livestream shopping involves brands promoting and selling products through live streams on social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok. This encourages shoppers to make purchases on the spot, helping businesses succeed in a competitive marketplace.

In addition, livestream shopping addresses the common eCommerce issue of abandoned carts—the average rate is now over 70%—by creating a simplified and instant checkout process.

5. Make your content shoppable

Encourage your followers to 'buy now' by creating shoppable social media content. This includes adding product tags to your posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. That way, customers can learn more about your product and its price with just one click, improving their shopping experience.

Instagram Shop allows business owners to create a product catalog with pricing, images, descriptions, and other details. Considering that 44% of Instagram users use the app to shop on a weekly basis, tags are a great way to attract buyers.

Following The Trend

Social media has become one of the most important marketing and communication mediums worldwide, so social commerce is a payment trend that brands can't overlook in 2024 and beyond. 

In a competitive eCommerce landscape, social commerce allows online store owners to attract highly engaged shoppers as they browse Instagram stories or scroll through TikTok videos. This enhances the shopping experience, which, in turn, increases sales and reduces cart abandonment.