How to Get Started with Social Selling in 3 Steps

Right now, the direct-to-consumer (D2C) marketplace is on fire. For consumer brands that have traditionally sold through retailers, the race to meet consumers where they are online and sell to them directly is on.

Even unexpected players are cashing in on e-commerce. Take Netflix. The streaming giant launched an online shop powered by Shopify to leverage its binge-worthy shows’ popularity with branded apparel and lifestyle goods.

We’re also seeing this with clients like Sweet Baby Ray’s and Panda Express. Both have successfully launched online pop-up shops that sell everything from sauces and t-shirts to adult onesies and sunnies. And Catch Co. has grown with its impressive Karl’s Bait & Tackle e-commerce shop and marketing across its social channels that drives to the digital storefront.

Brands that get e-commerce right can enjoy higher-margin sales, a brand visibility boost or both. And, it’s easier than ever to achieve online sales success. There are lots of easy-to-use options for building e-commerce websites. And, the major social apps are all building shopping into their platforms.

This last point is super important. Social commerce – using social media to sell your products – boomed during the pandemic. Shopping from our phones became the norm, and new tools like Facebook Stores and Instagram Live Shopping made it easy to discover products and purchase right from our social feeds. And it’s not just Gen Z—across generations social shopping is on the rise.  

My point in all of this: If you’re a brand that sells to consumers, you need to be selling on social. As you begin to develop a social selling marketing strategy, here are the top three things to consider. 

1.     Connect your e-commerce site to your social accounts.

E-commerce platforms offer integrations that make it easy to create a seamless browse-and-buy experience within social apps. For example, with Shopify, brands can sell directly on Pinterest using Buyable Pins, or link to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. These integrations allow you to keep the look and feel of your Shopify store within your Facebook or Instagram Shop.

Turning on these integrations is the easy part. Before that, you need to know where and how your customers use social media. We’re finding that every generation has its preferred social shopping channel.

Research from Adweek-Morning Consult shows that Millennials prefer to shop Facebook and Instagram, while Gen Z is all about TikTok. In fact, nearly half (49 percent) of all TikTokers report buying from brands they see on the app, whereas Gen X and boomers lean toward Facebook. 

If you primarily sell through third-party retailers, you can still benefit from social commerce. Grocery brands, for example, can utilize new platforms like Basketful and MikMak to create shoppable landing pages that integrate with social apps and allow customers to add items to their cart. When customers view their cart, the retailer app opens for seamless checkout.

2.     Create a shopping experience.

Once you’re shoppable on social, think about the channel-specific experiences you can create that will help people discover, explore and even test drive your product. A good starting point is to think about what happens during an in-store experience to help nurture a sale—things like dressing rooms, tester stations and salespeople, for example—and how to recreate that virtually.

Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and machine learning (ML) are all big players in accomplishing this. AR makes it possible to “try on” clothes at home, or see furniture in your space. It powers Snapchat Lenses, which allow users to test everything from sunglasses to lipstick colors—then share how they look with friends for real-time validation.  

AI chatbots are a great way to provide in-the-moment responses to shopping questions, or to help guide customers through the checkout process.  

If you’re launching a new product, consider hosting a live shopping event. Instagram recently added this feature (called Instagram Live Shopping), which allows creators and brands to sell products during an Instagram Live broadcast. It’s an intimate and interactive way to get customers excited about your brand.

To get started, you’ll need to have your Instagram Shop set up. (If you followed step 1 above, you’re all set.) Once you hit go on your live broadcast, you can select one product at a time from your Shop to pin to the bottom of your livestream. 

3.     Tap online authorities for credibility.

Lots of brands utilize social media influencers to expand their reach and provide social proof for their brand. It’s no different with social selling. Influencers’ third-party credibility and authentic content have the power to inspire in-app sales. And, if you take the time to knock out steps 1 and 2 above, influencer partners can seamlessly integrate with your larger social commerce strategy.

While many marketers understand how to leverage influencers to drive awareness and even traffic to your site, there are also some very powerful (and trackable) ways to drive online sales. One of the simplest ways is to leverage custom discount codes (e.g. 10% off for fans with code FAITH10). Even a small discount gives influencers an incentive for their followers and with custom codes, you quickly learn which partners drive the most sales for your brand. Affiliate marketing is another way to optimize your influencer program for sales.  By tapping platforms like RewardStyle, LikeToKnow.It and ShareASale, brands can offer influencers a commission on sales resulting from their posts. These platforms leverage unique and trackable links to track how many clicks and sales are made from each post.

A thoughtful influencer program can help alleviate steps in a customer’s path to purchase. So, while these programs require a heftier investment of time and marketing dollars, there’s value in ongoing influencer campaigns. When benchmarking campaign success, keep in mind the average ROI of influencer marketing per dollar spent is $5.78.

Media like CNN Underscored and Reviewed.com, which feeds into the USA Today network, are also getting into the game and opening the door to earned opportunities when affiliate links are available. Pro tip: In the quest to keep content fresh, some sites rotate products in and out of their articles, so remember to capture them as soon as they publish and merchandise the mention in as many places as you can.

Social commerce is quickly emerging as a player to watch in the race for online sales. If your brand has an e-commerce site but isn’t yet harnessing the power of social selling, let’s talk.