The rise in eCommerce along with the continued year-over-year growth of social media usage, has birthed a subset of eCommerce known as Social Commerce. Many businesses now leverage social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to promote and sell their goods and services.
Social Commerce Marketing Tactics
Creating ads on social media platforms can be as simple as writing a few words of copy and attaching a photo to a social post. But that might not get you very much traction. Social Commerce professionals employ some of the following tactics to create interactive posts that generate clicks:
- Apply attractive, eye-popping graphics to entice viewer clicks.
- Encourage users to submit photos, commentary, or feedback.
- Include user calls-to-action like “swipe up to purchase now”.
- Invite users to vote on a product color, style, or type.
- Offer promotions and giveaways for sharing product posts on their feeds.
- Use video to demonstrate product in use from multiple perspectives.
- Use celebrity endorsements and influencer marketing to promote their products and services.
A social commerce campaign’s success is determined by the degree to which consumers interact with the company’s marketing through likes, shares and retweets.
Successfully Incorporating User Generated Content (UGC) to Increase Engagement
When businesses invite users to share photos, video and/or feedback it is usually with the intention to utilize these assets in an upcoming marketing campaign. Consumers trust other consumers more than the companies they do business with. Product reviews are available on most eCommerce sites and there are a litany of business directories with ratings and reviews for consumers to visit and help them make informed buying decisions. Therefore, it is understandable to see why so many successful businesses include UGC in their advertising campaigns. Simply put, they are building consumer trust in their products and services by utilizing their customer testimonials.
One study conducted by TurnTo Networks showed that consumers were willing to spend more and wait longer for products paired with UGC. In their study they found that more than 90% of consumers reported UGC influenced their buying decisions. Consumers believe UGC such as product reviews, Instagram photos and “unboxing” videos create a more authentic buying experience.
As is the case with any new marketing strategy, it is important to have a plan for collecting and using your UGC in your campaign. First you will need a goal for your UGC campaign. For example, if you are building brand awareness a hashtag campaign on Instagram utilizing customer use photos may work well. If your goal is to boost website conversions, a campaign to solicit customer reviews can provide social proof of products and/or services. Remember the main goal of any UGC campaign is to generate content that your prospective customers will use to make their buying decisions.
If you run a campaign to collect UGC, be sure that the rules are made clear to your audience and that you offer a reward proportional to the effort involved in creating the content. All rules and prize information should be written in plain language that any audience member can easily comprehend. Rules for giveaways can be complex. Before utilizing any UTC in a marketing campaign be sure to consult a legal specialist to be sure you have covered all bases, including rules concerning location and the use of likeness of persons in the UTC collected.
Remember you always have the option of hiring a creative agency, like us here at IGM Creative Group to produce your eye-popping graphics or to help you plan and implement your next Social Commerce campaign.
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