Social shopping is expected to hit an all time high as we approach Christmas time. I have discussed the phrase “Social Commerce” in various online articles but only now, does it really mean more than ever.
Matt from Digital Third Coast reached out to me, to share an infographic they had developed with Slant Marketingthat provides and introduction to how e-commerce is being integrated into social media platforms, to give us Social Commerce.
For Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube, Digital Third Coast and Slant Marketing looked at the following data;
- Availability: The type of native e-commerce shopping that exists on social media along with case studies.
- Opportunity: Who is using social media and what they are using the platform for
- Limitations: What are e-commerce brands most afraid of?
All of the major social networks are updating their advertising platforms and native shopping features to increase revenue not only for themselves, but their users too.
Pinterest introduced “buyable pins” earlier this year where online retailers could add a blue “buy it” button to their pins, allowing their community to buy a product/service through Pinterest. This payment is taken through either Apple Pay, or Credit Card.
Did you know that 93% of Pinterest users use the platform to research products and a further 87% have completed a purchase inside of Pinterest? Social shopping on Pinterest is at an all time high, with studies showing “buyable pins” perform two times better than general pins.
When Instagram added direct-response functionality in early 2015, they saw an increase in advertisement revenue. Direct-response functionality allows businesses to add call-to-action buttons like “buy now”, “download now”, or “learn more”.
Instagram have 400 million active monthly users and studies show that engagement on Instagram is 58x higher than on Facebook, and 120x higher than Twitter.
YouTube
As of May 2015, YouTube started to roll out dynamic ads in TrueView pre-roll videos. These advertisements are used to showcase products/services related to the video being watched.
Google shared that product review videos have increased by 50% since 2014, and revenue per impression had tripled compared to campaigns in 2014.
Twitter have tried and mostly failed in the advertisement side of the business, attempting to roll out partnerships with Amazon Cart and American Express. In the summer of 2015, Twitter launched a buy button along with product collection options from well known brands and industry influencers.
Twitter currently holds the largest income demographic for social media, and also the largest age demographic for the 18-34yr olds.
Facebook have been the leader in Social Commerce integration, introducing social selling in 2010. Facebook have generated over £6 billion in mobile advertisement revenue in the last year. Facebook have recently launched dedicated shopping feeds, and immersive ads.
Facebook is still the most popular app for the average smartphone user and accounts for 10% of total usage time. Studies show that Facebook accounts for 50% of all social referrals and 64% of total social revenue.
To see the full infographic, and all of the statistics see here.
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