The Impact of Social Media Shoppable Posts on eCommerce

Online shopping started as a mere hobby for people.

But now, it has become one of the most significant sources of income for many businesses.

When we talk about online shopping, the first thing that comes to mind is a marketplace like Amazon.

But recently, the eCommerce industry has witnessed a significant change through social commerce.

It is a term used to define revenues earned from shoppable posts on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and many more.

In 2022, global social commerce revenue was valued at $724 billion.

The latest forecast reports show that the market valuation will cross $6 trillion by 2030. Given these incredible numbers, the impact of social media on e-commerce cannot be denied any longer.

So, let’s discuss why this is and the justification behind it!

We have highlighted social media shoppable posts and their effects on the eCommerce industry.

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Why Shoppable Posts are Important for eCommerce

Integrating shoppable posts in social media marketing and content optimization, strategies open a host of benefits for your business that you might not have explored yet, including:

1. Shortens the Sales Funnel

Typically, the sales funnel is quite long and encompasses multiple steps in eCommerce.

Here’s an example to understand this in phases:

• Phase 1: Your ad audience was 50 people
• Phase 2: Of the 50 people, 35 clicked “learn more” on your ad.
• Phase 3: Now, from the 35, about 26 people added your product to the cart.
• Phase 4: Only 10 people proceeded with the payment and completed the purchase in the last phase.

So, from here, you can see that your business received 10 customers from 50 initial people in your ad audience.

Here, the sales funnel is lengthy and causes a substantial decrease in overall sales and revenue.

Using social media shoppable posts sounds more feasible if you want to increase your conversion rate.

To effectively use shoppable posts, you post an advertisement for a new product while describing it and the offers (if any) in a few words.

You then link it directly to the purchase page instead of your website.

Therefore, your target audience will be led directly to the payment page, where a single confirmation click will confirm the purchase.

Here, the sales funnel gets shortened, which allows you to generate leads, and higher revenue without investing much.

2. Enhances Customer Experience

Suppose you have an online fashion store with approximately 650 products under activewear for women.

Now, if someone wants to buy a sports bra, they must scroll through hundreds of products before they find one.

This is a time-consuming process and degrades the customer experience.

So, here you can leverage the shoppable posts to improve the customer experience.

The question is how?

Well, first of all, you can group two to three pieces of activewear on the shoppable post while describing their features.

At the bottom, add a "Buy Now" button.

Once visitors scroll through the social media feed and come across your post, they will click on the button.

As a result, they will be redirected to the purchase page.

This way, they will not have to scroll through 650 products or leave your website halfway due to frustration and irritation.

Once your customers are happy, they will start having a more immersive experience with your business.

3. Increases Brand Loyalty

Shoppable posts aren’t just pictures.

You can find several videos on YouTube and Facebook advertising certain products.

Now here, you will get to leverage video marketing to drive conversions and brand loyalty.

But how?

First, understand that most customers nowadays want a reliable and trustworthy brand. So they seek sources to explain what goes on behind the scenes.

In other words, they like to know more about packaging, manufacturing, shipping options, etc.

So, you can use the shoppable videos to record an explainer video where you tell your audience what is going on with your product or brand.

This will establish trust with your customers and enhance brand loyalty.

Types of Shoppable Posts for eCommerce

You can create shoppable posts for your eCommerce business in four ways.

Below, we have described each category briefly for your better understanding.

1. Shoppable Social Media Post

Shoppable social media posts are the most effective way to drive maximum revenue for your eCommerce business.

A shoppable social media post is an image or video posted on a social media platform that contains product details and a link to purchase the product, like a "Shop Here" or "Buy Now" button.

When users click on the product, they are redirected to the brand's website or eCommerce store to complete the purchase.

Shoppable posts can help improve your discoverability on social media platforms, as they are often given preference in users' feeds.

You can also use these posts to promote a new product or new offers on existing products.

Check out the image below, where brands like Airbnb and Headspace have leveraged the advantage of shoppable social media posts to let their customers purchase directly from social media.

2. Shoppable Videos

According to a recent report, almost 89% of viewers decide to shop for the product after seeing a video on social media in 2023.

So, why not use these videos to promote a product, explain the offers, and generate a higher conversion ratio?

You can explain the products, show some guides, or give a real-time demo through the shoppable videos to make them impactful, just like Puma did.

The sportswear brand created a shoppable content campaign called ‘’Forever Faster’’ in 2015 to promote the brand's athletic wear and footwear line.

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The videos were embedded with "buy" buttons that allowed viewers to purchase the products directly from the video.

Whenever there’s a product available to buy, the red colour puma logo appears, and you can click to purchase.

The results of the campaign were impressive.

The company reported a 6.9% conversion rate, an increase in revenue 24X higher per click than the previous year due to the campaign.

The success of "Forever Faster" can be attributed to its effective use of shoppable content.

By making it easy for viewers to purchase products directly from the videos, Puma was able to capitalize on viewers' interest and enthusiasm for the brand's athletic wear and footwear.

3. Shoppable UGC

The highest-yielding form of shoppable post for eCommerce is UGC, or user-generated content. It means you, as a business, won’t be promoting your products through advertisements.

Instead, you need to tap into the pool of influencers and use their network to reach out to your target audience.

For instance, suppose you have recently launched healthy snacks to help people lose weight.

You can reach out to fitness and health-conscious influencers to promote these products.

They will make shoppable posts and promote your snacks through their account.

And because people trust or follow influencers for their wider reach, you are more likely to gain their trust for your brand and its products.

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This is way more effective than any other method of indirect promotion.

4. Shoppable Ads

Lastly, shoppable advertisements can promote your brand or product and keep your audience engaged. The best part is that these video or image ads won’t get blocked, regardless of the browser and device settings.

This is because the ads here behave as social media posts and not as standard advertisements.

You can reach out to your target audience and compel them to purchase through shoppable ads.

Brands like H&M, Zara, Swiggy, etc. regularly engage with their customers through shoppable ad posts and attract many viewers every day.

How Social Media Shoppable Posts Impact eCommerce Businesses

Social media and eCommerce sales are interlinked, and there is no doubt about it.

How we shop has changed dramatically in recent years, and social media has played a big role.

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According to research, 44% of people use Instagram to shop weekly.

Thus, by tagging products in posts on social media platforms like Instagram, businesses can make it easy for customers to purchase items they see without ever leaving the app.

Shoppable posts have been shown to increase conversion rates and drive sales for eCommerce businesses.

They are especially effective at reaching young, tech-savvy consumers who are used to purchasing through their smartphones and other mobile devices.

Shoppable posts encourage customers to interact with your content like traditional posts don’t.

When customers can easily purchase the products they see in your posts, they’re more likely to engage with your content and share it with their friends.

Thus, with social media users becoming increasingly comfortable with making purchases directly on the platform, it’s likely that the trend of shoppable posts will continue to grow.

So, you must use this opportunity by posting consistently using Facebook publishing tools and creating shopping Ads to convert engaged audiences to customers.

Key Takeaways

The relationship between shoppable posts and eCommerce will strengthen further, given the forecast for social commerce.

Businesses can leverage shoppable videos and images to explain their products, share behind-the-scenes stories, and provide other facts to gain more customers and revenues.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using shoppable posts to sell products online:

1. Make sure the products you tag are relevant to the content of your post. If you're sharing a photo of a new outfit, for example, it makes sense to tag the items in the photo so customers can buy them if they like what they see.
2. Second, keep your posts engaging and visually appealing. The best shoppable posts feature high-quality images and exciting descriptions that will entice customers to click through and learn more about your products.
3. Finally, don't forget to include a call to action in your posts! Tell customers what you want them to do, whether clicking on a link to buy a product or visiting your website to learn more.

Following these tips, you can make social media shoppable posts work for your eCommerce business.

Guest Post Author Bio

Natasha is a content marketing specialist who thinks it's fun creating content marketing strategies for SaaS businesses.

In her free time, she likes spending time watching Netflix.