How to turn your followers into customers in the social commerce era

Social commerce is the act of capturing, nurturing and converting customers, all on their favorite app. Plainly, social commerce is commerce that happens on social media.With more and more platforms encouraging this kind of behavior through their algorithm and features, brands are having to ditch the traditional journey of always driving people off apps and onto your site. A headless, omni-channel structure keeps interested parties right where they feel most comfortable. It's frictionless, relevant and most of all instant.Also, it's the future. Whether you jump on the bandwagon now as a pioneer or as a rookie later in the game. Social commerce is predicted to grow 3X as fast as traditional eCommerce, more than doubling from $492 billion worldwide in 2021 to $1.2 trillion in 2025.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, you name it, if it’s a social or even a messaging platform (cough WhatsApp), they are integrating and releasing features that allow you to sell without having to send off-app. This trend is a win-win-win for everyone involved, you - the customer -and the platforms. Customer’s want a shortened journey. You want more conversion. The apps want more time spent on their platforms. And guess what? Everyone get’s just that.

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It’s not all about creating shoppable posts though! Social commerce is rooted in socializing and is all about growing and maintaining community. From hosting live events to user-generated content, if the end-goal is making a sale than it’s social commerce. One of the most overlooked aspects of social commerce are the conversational aspects. Specifically, the DM. It’s where all your audiences spend most of their time connecting to their own community, why not start there? Facebook long ago opened up their Messenger API to allow automations. This sprung a whole slew of features from booking appointments to personalized mental health care. It’s younger sibling, Instagram, has done the same, but it’s ecosystem and audience have a different set of behavior and habits. With brands so focused on their Instagram output, it’s only natural that they are taking their followers to the DM for a personalized, conversational and 1:1 brand experience. From sharing behind the scenes content to early collection releases, capturing your audience in your Direct Messaging list grows community, connection, and loyalty, while never having to move off-app.

Taking it a step further, how do you make that conversion with social commerce? No matter your industry, Live Events, Luxury, Design, etc, your end goals are similar, and can all be completed on social. By adding this element of conversation, within Direct Messaging, brands can personalize their offerings to exactly what each consumer is looking for, creating an instant and frictionless experience. If someone expresses interest in the VIP tickets for your festival, send them an early access code through DM. If someone expresses interest in your collaborative drop with Stranger Things, give them first dibs on the drop. The list goes on and on, but you get the idea!