Win Holiday Shopping Season With Social Commerce

Pumpkin flavored goodies seem to come around earlier and earlier every year. Starbucks released their famous pumpkin spice lattes at the end of August this year, marking the earliest release of the pumpkin spice latte ever, and one that many people look forward to every year. 

Another typical of the fall season’s early rush to festivities is the holiday shopping season. It may seem early to be discussing holiday doorbusters, but the season is upon us, and Black Friday won’t mark the start of the season anymore. 

The Black Friday tradition isn’t exactly social-distancing friendly, and brick and mortar stores are likely going to suffer from reduced foot traffic. Retailers must turn to channels outside their normal ones to boost sales during a holiday season that will make or break a difficult year. Social commerce must play a large role this year to keep brands afloat, but many may feel overwhelmed when making decisions about which to use and how to go about doing so. Omnichannel selling must be brands’ top priority this season, and social should be one of the first channels brands target to win over customers. 

How to Win on Facebook

Facebook is the father of social media commerce. The company boasts that 20% of all mobile screen time in the United States is spent on Facebook or Instagram. With the right strategy, Facebook can be an incredibly effective marketing tool for brands large or small. 

One of the most important strategies with social commerce is optimizing your ads for your target audience. Choosing which channel to focus on is one of the most important facets of your strategy. Of course each social media platform will allow personalization to help you hone in on your demographic, but knowing who’s there in the first place is paramount. When it comes to Facebook, people of all demographics are on the social media site, and with over 2 billion users that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Young, old, men, women, teens, parents — everyone is on Facebook. Facebook offers a plethora of options to locate and target your target market — the abundance of Facebook data is no secret, and you should use that to your advantage by targeting consumers based on gender, work life, relationship status, language spoken, location, home town, favorite sports team, and whatever else you know about your ideal consumers.   

Facebook’s Commerce Manager is one of the most effective tools for marketers and product teams to sell on Facebook. Within Commerce Manager, brands can set up Facebook Shops, allowing brands to sell directly on Facebook, adding another layer to the brand’s digital shelf. Building out another digital shop during a holiday shopping season where in-person shopping will be heavily reduced will benefit brands in this holiday season and beyond.

How to Win on Instagram

While Facebook may be the largest social media platform in the world, Instagram is certainly one of the hottest social media sites today. Instagram surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in 2018 and hasn’t slowed down since, and that user base has captured the attention of businesses around the world. Instagram has become such a powerful medium that businesses will pay street artists to create public art on the walls of their business to attract the instagram-obsessed consumer looking for their next shot — and maybe stop in to their shop along their way. 

To sell on Instagram, brands must find the best strategies that work for them. Each product is different, and obviously Instagram is set up to work best for products that photograph or video well, especially with Millennials and Gen Z, Instagram’s prime market. If your product does well with these options and audiences, your product will likely fare well on Instagram. 

Also within Commerce Manager, Facebook has beefed up Instagram’s shopability with a litany of options. Instagram Shops is another digital shop where consumers can purchase a brand’s products directly from the brand through Instagram. The benefits of using Instagram Shops are similar to that of Facebook Shops — an added digital channel, advanced targeting, etc. But one of Instagram’s finest options is shoppable posts. Instagram offers business users the option to tag products within the photos and videos of their posts, allowing users to simply tap on an item in a picture to see the name of the product and the price. They can then click through directly to an Instagram Shop to purchase the product if they want to. This can be an effective channel for brands to drive conversion this holiday season. 

How to Win on Snapchat

Snapchat, the app founded on disappearing photos, is one of the newest shoppable social media platforms today and is quickly becoming incredibly effective. Their daily active users rose 17% year-over-year with over 218 million daily active users. Snapchat is home to the youngest audience of these three platforms, with 13 to 29 year olds being Snapchat’s key market. Posting on Snapchat is no longer a disappearing act; they have created lasting products for brands to take advantage of to drive another digital channel. These new products include Brand Profiles, Dynamic Snap Ads, and AR. 

Brand profiles offer a permanent home where users can learn about brands and what products they offer on Snapchat. Constant awareness can be a powerful tool. Dynamic Snap Ads are a new product in which advertisers can sync product catalogues with Snapchat to create dynamic ad content — ad
vertise in real time with the use of Snapchat’s templates instead of manually creating Snapchat-specific ads. AR is a tool where brands can create custom lenses to allow users to see products in “real life” through Snapchat’s camera — try products on, see products in the home, and test them out, all virtually done through Snapchat. 

These virtual tools can help brands create engaging content quicker and at scale to drive more and more conversions through digital channels that aren’t just their own website. In a holiday shopping season that is bound to take place earlier than ever, and more online than ever, it’s imperative that brands utilize every channel at their disposal. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are three effective social commerce channels that can create a holiday shopping sales boost many brands desperately need.