Maddie Raedts is Founder & CCO at IMA || Global Head of Social for Fashion & Luxury at MediaMonks || Forbes 30 Under 30.
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We’ve all been there: You take a few minutes out of the day to scroll through TikTok, only to become lost in its hypnotic pull. Suddenly you’re watching a woman showing off her bedazzled tissue holder designed to cover the sun visor in her car. It’s gaudy and it’s extra, but you can’t argue that it doesn’t look useful. Before you know it, you’re unboxing the product at home (and maybe filming it to share to your own feed).
Okay, maybe we haven’t all been there, but you’ve certainly been tempted by products discovered on social media, often touted by influencers we trust or fellow shoppers whose needs match our own. This is social commerce at work—and it has significantly picked up steam in recent years. In fact, e-commerce penetration enjoyed over 10 years’ growth in just three months at the dawn of the pandemic, with social media playing a significant role as consumers sought connection online.
But if micro trends fueled by social media—here one day, gone the next—teach us anything, it’s that needs and values shift at a rapid pace on social. This means the brands that are best positioned to benefit from the social commerce phenomena are those that are always on and ready to continually adapt as new platforms and behaviors emerge.
An Era Of Virtualization Demands Reactive, Always-On Brands
The rapid rise of social commerce is a byproduct of virtualization. Over the last decade, digital was seen as a support layer—in the context of e-commerce, that meant you might have only shopped online for things you weren’t likely to find nearby in person. But now, you might order your groceries online and have them delivered to your door in just a matter of hours. Digital has become the primary space where culture happens.
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Often, emerging user behaviors are the catalyst to this change, and social media is the space that amplifies them, encouraging brands to recognize new opportunities to react and build relationships. When millions of people sought ways to protect their skin after frequent handwashing and mask-wearing, for instance, they turned to social to share skincare tips and the products that worked best for them—causing CeraVe products to sell out everywhere.
The average brand might have enjoyed the sales bump and called it a day, but CeraVe responded to all the word-of-mouth testimonials by inviting creators—ranging from top “skinfluencers” to dermatologists—to share their skincare routines on the platform, further catapulting the brand’s success. This is the spirit of always-on commerce: being able to adapt in response to cultural moments and platform features as soon as they happen.
This is important because once new user behaviors emerge, consumer expectations begin to rise. Retailers, platforms and algorithms adapt to meet those growing expectations, which in turn opens up new ways for brands to support their customers. For example, many retailers have found opened direct messages on social channels to serve as a 24/7 support channel, thereby meeting the expectation of always-on availability. Meanwhile, social platforms are introducing new shoppable formats, like Instagram Shops or Pinterest’s Product Pins. Of course, agility is key to evolving to support rising expectations through new formats and features.
4 Ways Always-On Brands Can Adapt
Each of the forces discussed above intersects and builds on the others to generate new trust triggers for the social economy. It used to be that brand trust was built on the product’s intrinsic quality alone. But now influencer endorsements, product reviews and trust in algorithms to surface the best product work in concert to situate moments of truth across the consumer journey. Is your brand poised to benefit from them?
Here are four initial steps to take:
Make meaningful moments. More than making “engaging content,” social commerce opens the possibility of a more rewarding relationship with audiences. Look for ways beyond the trigger of buying to add meaningful moments to the shopping experience. Transparency goes a long way here, like answering people’s questions in video or stories, or inviting them into the brand process by sharing an inside look at the packaging of orders.
Engage with communities. A general concern in digital marketing is that new privacy restrictions and the deprecation of third-party data—not to mention more channels and walled gardens—will make the shopping journey increasingly challenging to follow. In response, insight into subcultures, fandoms and other digital communities will prove valuable to design new business, marketing and communication strategies. Niche businesses and communities can often inspire one another, making community investment a powerful focus for always-on brands.
Experiment with new platforms. As consumers began to rely on e-commerce for everyday purchases, flagship stores became less of a place to shop and more of an environment to build a relationship with the brand. Now, the new flagship experience is taking place in environments like the metaverse (branded virtual worlds) and gaming. Awareness of new formats and technologies will further build a shopping experience that best meets new needs as they emerge.
Look at what’s worked in China. The good news about all the change and disruption in social commerce: It’s a well-tread territory in China. Chinese e-commerce transactions accounted for nearly 45% of global retail sales in 2020, with that number projected to rise by eMarketer. Live commerce, short video platforms and chat programs like WeChat are all spaces to build relationships and sell—and brands in the west can learn a thing or two from Chinese brands’ success.
Social media has quickly become the entry point into everything we do online, commerce included. With social media platforms dethroning search giants, social commerce presents powerful new opportunities for brands to adapt to further meet the needs of consumers.
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Author: Maddie Raedts, Forbes Councils Member
