Features
Why Sked?
Sked Social is a third party app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any social network platforms.
See our Terms & Privacy Policy.
See our Terms & Privacy Policy.
© 2024 Sked Social. All rights reserved.
Looking to make more bang for your buck in 2022? Check out the latest social commerce trends!
Over the last few years retailers have developed a greater dependence on social media as a channel where users discover and shop new items and get inspired to make a purchase by both their peers and influencers. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest that offer social commerce functionality have put resources into innovative features that enable brands to effectively insert their products into consumers’ feeds.
From customizable shopping tools to voice commerce, we’ve collected the top five social commerce trends for 2022 to help anyone looking to convert potential followers into paying customers.
Now, you’re probably wondering how social commerce works and why should your brand care about it? Social commerce refers to when a buyer's shopping experience happens directly within a social media platform. Previously social media users may have done research and gained inspiration from social media, but now the whole process, from discovery to purchase is possible within the app.
Social commerce has enjoyed a massive boom over the last two years, as lockdowns kept people at home during the pandemic, spending more of their lives online. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest among others, launched shopping features in an attempt to stake their claim in the social commerce market and diversify their revenue streams.
Instagram, for example, launched Instagram Shops in May 2020, an online store within the app that allows businesses to sell their products hassle-free. The company later released Shopping in Reels which opened its shopping features to a wider range of businesses and creators.
Here are the biggest developments in social commerce and how platforms are enabling in-app sales:
While brands adjust to change, consumers are settling into new patterns and habits too. The online shopping experience has undergone a whole transformation thanks to social media, and users are coming to expect certain shopping features when they interact with brands in the app:
You can make sure that your social channels are ready to start enticing users and converting them into customers with the right assets. Everything from Instagram story templates to attention-grabbing posts with clear CTAs should be considered in your social commerce toolkit.
Voice shopping is exactly what the word itself implies: using a voice-powered device to purchase an item or to add items to your virtual shopping list or cart. Voice-assisted devices like Alexa enable you to order or reorder items by simply giving a command such as “Order [item]”.
According to the 2018 study on Voice Shopping, the main reasons why consumers like to use Voice Commerce are:
The advancement of technology in this area has also brought many benefits for companies too:
The impact of voice search on how people search and shop, as well as the advancement of the underlying technologies, have a big impact on SEO and content marketing too. If you’re looking to improve customer experience and ensure prospective buyers find you, make sure you’re considering the following elements in your content and on your website:
Chances are that if you've done any online shopping in the last year, you've probably engaged with a virtual shopping assistant. These are the AI-powered chatbots that appear as an on-site widget to help you make buying decisions by providing you with the answers to your questions.
With personalization, automation, and better efficiency, artificial intelligence is already revolutionizing the traditional retail experience.
You can benefit from AI-assisted purchases by implementing the following tools to your social commerce strategy:
As its name suggests, contactless payment allows any user to make a payment by simply holding their card or smart device close to a terminal, all without having to use the magnetic stripe reader or the chip reader. And, after the 2020 worldwide health pandemic and the trend towards cashless shopping, fully contactless checkout systems are gaining further momentum.
There are other contactless payment methods that are also being pushed forward by the rise of social commerce too:
With all this new technology available to supposedly simplify digital payments, it’s important that brands know how to take advantage of them. Here are the two main things to consider:
Now that nearly everyone has the power to capture quality content on their smartphones, people are generating their own content and sharing it with others with a single tap or swipe of a finger. This is where the concept of User-Generated Content (UGC) derives from - any content including text, videos, images, reviews that is created and shared by individuals, rather than brands.
Shoppers say that user-generated content helps them in making purchasing decisions. For brands, UGC offers a way of demonstrating social proof. Instead of placing items on a product page, they’re instead displayed “in the real world” with “real people”. This is a win-win situation, as they’re relying on user-generated images as the main content, while simultaneously placing the spotlight on their current customers.
Like other marketing tactics, executing UGC effectively requires specific goals and objectives to be successful:
The future always promises uncertainty, but for social commerce there are some key things to keep in mind. Contactless payments are becoming the norm, AI shopping assistants are becoming smarter, and as customers have more online shopping options to choose from, brands that want to grow their business need to create a social commerce experience that sets them apart.
Whether you are encouraging the display of user-generated content or providing the users with eye-catching offers to choose your brand, social commerce is the key to expand your brand beyond the established e-commerce channels and enhance customer’s experience.
Why settle for a lackluster social media management tool when you could be using Sked Social? With unlimited collaborator access, streamlined approvals and advanced auto-post technology that lets you schedule to all major platforms, Sked Social offers everything you need.
Get Started for FREEThis article has been reviewed and updated to ensure the information provided is accurate and up to date.