eCommerce and Social Media: A Look to the Future of Social Shopping

November 1, 2021 Marius Platt eCommerce, Insights, Paid Media, Small business, Social Media  

Hello everyone, my name is Marius and I’m the paid media manager here at Pilot Fish Media. Having worked on marketing campaigns around the world, I’ve found that my passion lies in eCommerce and driving sales through the use of paid ads. eCommerce brands and social media platforms are inherently intertwined. You’d be hard pushed to find any, new or old, who aren’t on social media in some capacity. I’m going to break down why this is the case, and why social media platforms are all moving towards an eCommerce approach.

 

What is an eCommerce brand?

An eCommerce brand is any company that is involved in the buying or selling of products, services, or experiences over the internet. Whenever individuals or companies are buying/selling products, services, or experiences online, they’re engaging in e-commerce. 

 

Why do eCommerce brands use social media?

Social media is an incredibly powerful marketing tool for eCommerce brands to utilise. It not only allows them to send direct traffic to their website, but it also gives them the opportunity to create and foster a community, which they can nurture in order to encourage returning custom. Whether it’s through paid social ads, organic content or influencer marketing, social media is the most important marketing tool currently available to drive sales online.

 

What is social shopping?

Social shopping or social eCommerce is when social media platforms and eCommerce platforms become one. Certain social media platforms have direct integrations with eCommerce sites such as Shopify, which allows a customer to buy products directly from their feed/shopping section. Essentially, social shopping enables social media users to shop for and purchase products on social media.

 

Which social media platforms currently have shopping tools?

Social Shopping is already a popular feature on a range of social platforms and is expected to grow rapidly. But why?

Simply put, it reduces the purchase journey for a customer to 2 steps. They engage with the product on your social media feed and then begin the checkout process. This is now possible on the below platforms who all currently use social shopping in some capacity:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Whatsapp
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • TikTok
  • WeChat

 

What does the future hold for social commerce?

Social commerce is the future and we expect it to be adopted by more platforms going forward. There will be a time in the not-so-distant future when customers in the UK can click on a product on Instagram and purchase directly within the platform. This feature currently only exists in the USA.

If you assume social media is where your target audience spends the majority of their time, then it only makes sense to sell products to them then and there. They’re already engaging actively with your brand, so there will be a sense of trust and you won’t have to move them off the platform onto a separate website. Furthermore, with all of the privacy changes (iOS14.5/death of the cookie) and the shift to ‘walled gardens’ it makes sense for platforms to keep users on the platform. They are unable to track them effectively when they leave and go to a website, and as such, if they keep users on the platform, they can collect first-party data and information.  With one of the main struggles for eCommerce brands being the streamlining of the shopping process, social media and eCommerce integration should help combat that.

China has been the country at the forefront of social commerce through WeChat. WeChat originated as a messaging app and has developed into a unique hybrid platform. Users can do everything from calling a client, or their family group chat, to paying for their taxi or weekly shop. In China where services like Facebook are banned, WeChat is the standard platform for all business and communication. When we look at how important WeChat is, it’s no surprise that such a high percentage of products purchased in China are sold through social media. In fact, in 2019, 11.6% of eCommerce sales came through social commerce.

While China is a very different market to the UK, we can clearly see some similar patterns. There’s a history of copying what works in China: FB Messenger and Whatsapp have already adopted plenty of the features as seen in the chart below on WeChat.

*

It’s clear to see then why the UK and other countries in the West would adopt social commerce going forward. It allows for a streamlined shopping experience, which is beneficial to both the customer and seller. In addition, social platforms keep users on their app and try to keep their attention there, which is every platform’s ultimate aim. They’re trading in attention. Customers will expect to be able to purchase your products on social media with a couple of clicks very soon. So get ahead of the curve and prepare your platforms for social commerce now!  

 

If you’re looking for help moving forward with social commerce, please get in touch with me at [email protected]!

 

Sources:

* https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/blog/social-commerce/#what-does-the-future-hold-for-social-commerce

 

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In Other News: Instagram Kids Gets Shelved, Influencer Marketing Keeps Growing, and Consumer Confidence Tumbles

September 29, 2021 Maya Benabdelhadi Business, In other news, Industry, Influencer Marketing, Insights, Instagram, Social Media, Uncategorized  

Welcome back to our weekly update, deciphering the latest digital marketing news for you! This week, we take you through the pausing of Instagram Kids, how influencer marketing is here to stay and the latest consumer confidence outlook.

 

Instagram Kids Debacle

A little while ago, the Facebook Group started working on Instagram Kids, a platform specifically designed for tweens (10 to 13 years old). The aim of this new platform was to safeguard against kids misrepresenting their age and using the wider Instagram app, were the content is not age-appropriate.

“We firmly believe that it’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them – where parents can supervise and control their experience – than relying on an app’s ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID.” (Instagram)

However, this decision was met with growing suspicion from child safety collectives and, most recently, sparked a scathing expose from the Wall Street Journal. The main concerns about this project are the following:

  • Instagram Kids would push induce a constant focus on appearance and personal branding from a young age
  • Negative impact on mental health
  • Privacy issues

While the Facebook group denied these claims, it has decided to pause Instagram Kids while it consults parents and governmental bodies alike so as to be able to design a safer and positive platform.

 

Influencer Marketing: Big and Getting Bigger

Even though it already was an incredibly profitable industry, influencer marketing keeps getting bigger! It has proven as particularly effective for brands, especially when it comes to building and consolidating brand awareness and strength. In spite of the pandemic, influencer marketing has established itself as a relatively safe marketing tactic. As such, brands have overall increased their share of budget allocated to influencer marketing in 2020 and 2021.

But what makes influencer marketing so resilient?

  • Distrust of hard-selling tactics coming directly from marketers
  • Rising importance of social proof
  • Taste for authentic content (recommendations)

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.” (Scott Cook, Inuit CEO)

As influencers represent what customers aspire to, they remain a good way for brands to subtly influence consumer perceptions while still meeting the mark of authentic customer-made content.

 

Stormy Consumer Confidence Outlook

In September, the general consumer confidence has degraded in anticipation of impaired personal finances and economic hardship. The main sources of worry that led to this drop in confidence are the following:

  • Expectation of rising tax
  • End of furlough
  • Fuel crisis
  • Brexit collateral damage (e.g. shortages)

So what does this mean for digital marketers? When consumers are worried about their disposable income (the amount of money they have left to spend after paying their taxes), they are more likely to be sensitive to price. As such, they may turn to off-brand products, limit spending on higher-end products, prioritise favourite hobbies over passing interests… and be more responsive to sales.

But it’s not all doom and gloom! This suggests that Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be even more important to consumers than in previous years. It is highly likely that they will concentrate the bulk of their “interests and treats” shopping to such big sales to maximise the bang for their hard-earned buck. So there’s no time to waste, it’s now time to prepare your BFCM game plan…

 

Do you need help making influencer marketing work for your brand or preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Get in touch with us at [email protected]!

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In Other News: Twitter and Pinterest introduce new features, and LinkedIn streamlines its business tools

September 24, 2021 Gra Gareth In other news, Industry, Insights, Social Media, Twitter  

Another weekly round-up has landed! Here you can catch up on what’s going on in the digital space. This week, we’re sharing the latest goings on with Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. 

 

Twitter introduces the ‘Communities’ feature

 

First appearing on iOS and the Web, Twitter has introduced Communities, a user-maintained spaces for discussion, sharing and connecting with other users who share a similar interest.

“Some conversations aren’t for everyone, just the people who want to talk about the thing you want to talk about. When you join a Community, you can Tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join the conversation so it stays intimate and relevant.” (from Twitter)

 

Tweets shared with a community are public, but only users within the community can like, respond, retweet… Communities are moderated by users within that community, who can invite users and manage memberships.

 

Pinterest introduces Idea Pin resharing

 

Pinterest’s story-like feature “Idea Pins” has received a new quality-of-life improvement, allowing Pinterest users to reshare their idea pins to Facebook and Instagram stories. Idea Pins differ slightly from stories on other platforms, allowing for rudimentary animation, voice over, and stock music that plays across stories natively. This requested feature could prove vital to eCommerce brands wanting to leverage greater followings on Facebook and Instagram, as well as using those platforms’ native shopping tools.

 

LinkedIn launches new business features

 

Launching on 4 October 2021, LinkedIn has announced three new features to help businesses on their platform engage with their followers and other LinkedIn users. The three new features being introduced are as follows:

 

Articles For Pages

Pages can now publish long-form “blog-like” content natively, a feature previously reserved only for users. This also includes a variety of audience insight tools applied to those reading the content.

 

Live Events

Combining their native LinkedIn Live and Scheduled LinkedIn Events tools, the new platform allows pages to promote streams, users to pre-register their attendance, notifications to registered attendees/page followers, and event replay. In addition, a page/user now only needs >150 followers to schedule a live stream.

 

Measure and Optimise Brand Awareness

This feature includes “Brand Lift Testing” – a baseline of brand-awareness is taken, allowing pages to measure change in brand awareness vs. these established metrics.

“Reach Optimisation” – Maximising the number of unique users seeing ads, improving exposure to relevant audiences

and “Reach/Frequency Forecasting and Reporting” – pages can now view a campaign’s predicted reach (the number of accounts having seen a post from their page) and frequency with their forecasting tool. It then measures these results in the campaign manager.

Need some help optimising your LinkedIn presence or leveraging your brand’s Idea Pins across platforms? To get a free audit of your current social strategy, get in touch at [email protected].

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In Other News: What will the future Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest look like?

September 15, 2021 Rachel Fox Business, In other news, Industry, Insights, Social Media  

Welcome back to another weekly round-up where you can catch up on what’s going on in the digital space! This week we’re sharing what our world of social media could look like going forward, featuring Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest. 

 

Instagram’s new ‘Montage’ feature

 

It’s no secret that TikTok is killing it in the social space at the moment, taking the top place for most downloaded app for over a year now. According to Instagram, due to their reels continuing to grow in popularity, they are now keen to keep up momentum with users using reels to compete with TikTok, while also aligning with rising usage trends. 

 

Their latest development comes in the form of a ‘Montage’ option which is currently being tested internally. This feature allows users to convert Instagram Stories frames into short Reels video clips which will all be automatically generated by the app. This will then be followed with the option to add suggested music, similar to TikTok. 

 

Although there is no date for if and when this will be rolled out, this tool seems straightforward and a logical next step for Instagram to promote video content on their app, which currently generates the most engagement. 

 

LinkedIn has hopped on board

 

Joining all of the other major social media platforms on the market right now, LinkedIn has finally launched ‘Dark Mode’ which allows users to choose from an alternate display option on both desktop and mobile.

 

Originally dark mode tools were released to limit exposure to blue light and to be easier on the eye for users when using devices in low light. Research has shown that “blue light can cause your brain to stop producing melatonin, which can then lead to disrupted sleep cycles, making it harder to fall asleep”.

 

As well as this LinkedIn hopes in ‘Dark Mode’ will allow it’s platform to become more inclusive and accessible to its users, helping reduce eye strain and keeping in mind light sensitivities. 

 

Pinterest introduce ‘Watch Mode

 

Another platform following in the footsteps of TikTok is Pinterest. They are the newest app looking to release ‘Watch’ mode, which is a scrolling, vertical feed of content currently being tested for pin discovery.

 

Although this feature has not yet launched (currently there is no information on how many users can access this test), it seems you will be able to switch from ‘Browse’ mode which is what you currently know as the traditional Pinterest search field, to ‘Watch’ mode. Unlike TikTok, it seems you will be able to flick through both video and still image pins. 

 

After releasing ‘Story Pins’ in September of last year, this next step of launching ‘Watch’ mode fits in well with the app’s progressive approach to development and we’re excited to see if this takes off in the near future!

 

Need some inspiration for your social media marketing? To get a free audit of your current social strategy, get in touch at [email protected]. 

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