Last year, most consumers began their holiday shopping in early November. However, this year, due to worries about delays with supply chains, people are getting a jump start on their gift buying and are exploring TikTok & Instagram for products. 59% of customers started shopping for the festivities earlier than ever before.
According to data from Facebook, around half of people who found a product online last holiday bought it as a present for another person.
According to Grand View Research, social commerce accounted for 11 percent of the total global eCommerce market in 2020, resulting in an impressive $474 billion in revenue. With the upcoming holiday season likely one of the busiest, now is the time to capitalize on social commerce and ensure your 2021 sales are maximized.
As people devote an increasing amount of time to their beloved social media networks and take advantage of the ease of in-app purchases, the major players in this space are rolling out new solutions to help eCommerce stores maximize their holiday sales. Here are seven innovative social commerce features that can help you reach more potential customers
- TikTok Shoppable Ads
- Instagram Drops
- Pinterest Shopping list
- FAcebook live Shopping
- Reddit Ad Bid Recommendations
- Twitter Shop Module
- Whatsapp Business Profile
If you want to take advantage of the holiday season and increase your sales through social media, Shopiroller can enable you to link your online store with platforms like Facebook.
TikTok Shoppable Ads
TikTok has experienced immense growth since 2021, reaching an impressive 1 billion active users worldwide and 80 million monthly users in the U.S. alone. With its increasing popularity, the hashtag “#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt” has garnered over 4.6 billion views, demonstrating the platform’s power in social commerce.
Consider leveraging the TikTok trend this holiday season with a Hashtag Challenge Plus ad campaign. This ad promotes specific products and links them to an engaging hashtag, connecting customers to a `Shop Now` button for in-app purchases. Moreover, retailers can upload their entire product catalogs directly into Shoppable Ads.
Create a Shoppable Ad to get user-generated content and make your product go viral over the holidays on TikTok. Additionally, TikTok has launched two additional advertisement options for businesses during this festive season: Collection Ads that enable companies to create dynamic galleries – known as cards – of products within the feed, and Dynamic Showcase Ads which help businesses promote multiple products and generate revenue from users’ interactions and activities.
Instagram Drops
Instagram is a popular platform for social commerce, and Instagram Drops help retailers showcase their most sought-after products. By creating limited-time offerings with limited quantities, retailers can generate anticipation and excitement for holiday items. This is an effective way to increase sales for the season.
Instagram Drops lets users explore and purchase the newest merchandise within the app from the top of the Shop tab. Furthermore, customers may register for notifications about items they are interested in. Shopping can be done directly inside the application.
Pinterest Shopping List
Advertise your products on Pinterest this season and they might appear in a user’s wish list. Pinterest has recently released its new feature, the Shopping List, available in the U.S. and U.K. It will soon be available in Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. This feature helps users quickly find their desired items quicker than ever before.
Pinterest Shopping Lists bring together all of the products a user has pinned in one convenient spot, allowing them to revisit and buy when they are ready quickly. Additionally, users can register for price-drop alerts, encouraging them to purchase when the cost is correct.
Do you doubt the effectiveness of advertising on Pinterest? Think again! Ranking 14th in terms of user numbers, it’s quickly becoming popular with international markets (146% rise from 2019 to 2020), Gen Z groups (40%), and men (50%) – a demographic that was once mainly women-dominated. Plus, its shopping ad revenue growth exceeds that of its overall business. 92% of social ad marketers rate Pinterest number one in terms of reputation. It’s an excellent choice for successful marketing campaigns!
Facebook Live Shopping
To get a sense of the enormous potential of live streaming for eCommerce, consider this: within 30 minutes during China’s famous Singles’ Day event, transactions sold on Taobao Live amounted to an astonishing $7.5 billion. This demonstrates just how influential live streaming is in the world of eCommerce.
You can capitalize on the trend of live shopping by hosting Facebook Live Shopping events for the holiday season. Consumers enjoy seeing products displayed in physical stores, as evidenced by the huge sales on Taobao. By using Facebook Live Shopping, you can answer questions and address concerns from shoppers instantly and enable them to purchase items directly from the stream.
Before you can start streaming live shopping, you need to create your own Facebook Shop. Fortunately, Shopiroller merchants can link their eCommerce store with a Facebook Shop and make it easier to manage their product offerings across different platforms. With preparation, marketing, and some special holiday offers, you’ll be ready for your very own Live Shopping broadcast.
Reddit Ad Bid Recommendations
Many brands are aware of the potential TikTok offers as an eCommerce platform, yet only a few merchants opt to promote their products on Reddit.
Social media ad platforms become highly competitive during the holiday, increasing ad costs. Reddit offers a less crowded space for eCommerce marketers and provides access to an audience they would not be able to target on popular social networks like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. Reddit boasts 430 monthly active users based mainly in the U.S., most of them aged 18-34, who spend an incredible 34 minutes daily exploring memes and other content. This is an excellent opportunity for emerging retailers to promote product demos that may be overlooked on more popular social media platforms.
Now, Reddit has made it simpler for retailers to gauge their level of social commerce expenditure. With the Ad Bid Recommendations feature embedded in the platform’s ad creation tool, you can obtain an automated estimation for bidding on marketing campaigns. Just enter the target audience you want to reach, and Reddit will offer a slider with a recommended bid range. This can control your cost-per-click on Reddit ads and create a budget-friendly, effective campaign to advertise your top holiday products.
The truth is that the user base of Reddit—with its highly skeptical and ad-averse members—can be intimidating to marketers. However, many trends popular on Tiktok, Twitter, or Facebook were initially found on Reddit. If marketers understand the language and sensibilities of Reddit users, they can effectively use the social platform to promote their products.
Twitter Shop Module
Twitter is making a significant move into eCommerce with the full launch of its Shop Module. Businesses that adopt this feature on their Professional Accounts can give holiday shoppers an easy way to find and purchase their products this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The Shop Module allows users to view product images at the top of their Twitter page, tap to learn more, and buy in-app. Take advantage of the opportunity to get ahead of your competition this season!
WhatsApp Business Profile
The popular instant messaging platform is beginning to explore the social commerce domain. In September of 2021, a trial in Brazil allowed users to locate stores and services within the app. It is predicted that India and Indonesia will have access to this feature soon. To benefit from it, retailers should ensure that their WhatsApp Business Profile presents an extensive array of items, particularly those related to the holiday season. Here is an excellent video to get you started.
Considering that WhatsApp is the world’s third most popular social media platform, this development can have a transformative impact on eCommerce. As it is free to install and doesn’t include the charges often connected with SMS messaging, WhatsApp has become a widely used social messaging platform across many foreign markets. Now, it has the potential to become an influential force in social commerce.
This remarkable growth of WhatsApp indicates how quickly eCommerce technology is changing and the potential for new digital opportunities. With its user base expanding rapidly, this opens the door to a whole range of possibilities that will revolutionize our online business.
Using first-party data for social commerce campaign optimization
The holiday season brings heightened competition for ad placements, so merchants must ensure their social media campaigns are finely tuned. One way of doing this is by enriching the customer profiles with first-party data to improve audience segmentation, create more engaging ad creatives, and bolster personalization efforts. Despite this, understanding target audiences and managing increasing ad costs remain two of the biggest challenges in social media marketing.
As Google eliminates third-party cookies from Chrome by the end of 2023, eCommerce businesses must actively focus on collecting and using first-party data for a successful marketing strategy. Collecting and enriching first-party data is essential for future success.
Ascend by Shopiroller is a comprehensive marketing and customer management package that captures first-party data, builds customer loyalty, and optimizes using new tools from TikTok. Shopiroller forms make it possible to acquire relevant shopper details, which can then be utilized for personalization and budgeting.
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Q: What is WhatsApp Business Profile?
A: WhatsApp Business Profile is a feature that allows users to locate stores and services within the app. It was first trialed in Brazil and is predicted to soon be available in India and Indonesia.
Q: How can retailers benefit from this development?
A: Retailers should ensure that their WhatsApp Business Profile presents an extensive array of items, particularly those related to the holiday season. This will enable them to benefit from this development by reaching a larger audience and increasing their sales.
Q: How can eCommerce businesses use first-party data for campaign optimization?
A: First-party data can improve audience segmentation, create more engaging ad creatives, and bolster personalization efforts. Additionally, businesses should focus on collecting and using first-party data for a successful marketing strategy, as Google is eliminating third-party cookies from Chrome by the end of 2023.
Q: What is Ascend by Shopiroller?
A: Ascend by Shopiroller is a comprehensive marketing and customer management package that captures first-party data, builds customer loyalty, and optimizes the use of new tools from TikTok. It allows businesses to acquire relevant shopper details, which can then be utilized for personalization and budgeting.
Q: What are the advantages of using Shopiroller?
A: Shopiroller can help connect stores to relevant platforms, acquire customer details for personalization, and optimize Facebook ads for platforms like Facebook. It also allows users to design and launch social ads straight from its dashboard, making it easier to reach customers. Additionally, with the help of a machine-learning algorithm, businesses can maximize their sales potential. Try it now!
Q: What should businesses do to ensure success with their holiday marketing campaigns?
A: Businesses should ensure that they have a well-structured holiday marketing plan that includes targeted ads and special offers. They should also focus on collecting first-party data, building customer loyalty, and utilizing new tools like TikTok.
CONCLUSION
This holiday season, let Shopiroller take care of your social media marketing so you can focus on more important things. With the right eCommerce platform, you can sell your products as desired on all the channels you prefer. Shopiroller is a platform that allows you to design and launch social ads straight from its dashboard. Furthermore, its machine-learning algorithm will optimize your Facebook ads for platforms like Facebook, making it easier to reach customers. If you need to sell on social media this holiday season, Shopiroller can help connect your store to the relevant platforms. Shopiroller can help you get more customers and increase your sales – Try it now!
