Isn’t it weird how our photo-sharing apps have turned into major sales channels?
Yes, today we’re talking about social selling. NOT to be confused with social media marketing or advertising!
In this article, we’ll cover:
Social selling or social commerce is selling your products and services directly through social media channels. It’s not about writing cold messages to strangers or binge-following everyone you see in Recommendations. It is about:
That’s what makes this approach so in demand in 2022. People trust transparent brands that have solutions to their problems. Social media has all the tools for that. If you still doubt the trendiness of this approach, Statista reports that by 2028, the market may grow to more than US$3 trillion (yes, with ‘tr’) worldwide. Trillion!
Speaking of visuals. 9 out of 10 users say they're looking for more videos by a brand (those they like, presumably). Moreover, 79% of marketers said they would start using video content in their strategies in 2022.
Why is this important for social selling?
First of all, video content converts viewers into customers. 55% of consumers say watching videos have helped them choose what brand to purchase from and what product to buy.
Besides, on Instagram, you can now tap on a video and see links to the products shown in the video. We knew you could do that with pictures, but now, video is becoming the trend! Why not include links to your Shopify products there?
Plus, by creating high-quality, engaging, and informative videos, you build trust with your target audience.
Furthermore, collecting reviews with photos and videos and sharing them on social media helps you garner social proof. In Judge.me, just enable the review photos and videos so your customers can share these media in their reviews.
Video is the most engaging content on social media. And we’re not just talking about videos of funny cats (but they're included). Cisco reports that in 2022, at least 82% of Internet traffic should be video content. You don’t want to miss such an opportunity.
Any tips? Sure!
Many social selling platforms can become the top places to draw customers. How can video marketing for your Shopify store fit into this? Let’s discover next.
With 1 billion active users, Facebook is the top choice when coming to social selling. You can add Facebook as an additional sales channel on your Shopify store. Then, you can sync your Shopify products to Facebook and display them on your Facebook Page. Once connected, you can also create and track your Facebook ads campaign directly from Shopify.
Since video production takes more time and effort, it is important to predict how much traffic you can get using this type of content. According to Socialinsider, the average click-through rate (CTR) of Facebook videos are much higher than that of albums, links, photos, or statuses. The average CTR of video posts in 2021 was 7,97% and varied based on profile size. For example, for smaller accounts (up to 5k), the CTR of Facebook videos is 29,66%. This fact alone makes video marketing one of the best tactics if you’re promoting on Facebook.
A quick tip: Judge.me offers several tools to help you build a social selling strategy through video, photos, and text content provided by your customers. The app helps you collect video reviews and use them later on to promote your products and services. Automation is essential in marketing in 2022, so we recommend trying out such tools.
Instagram goes hand-in-hand with Facebook. Insta has it all:
If these benefits aren’t enough, you can promote products right from your catalog on Instagram stories, explore tab, and post feed. Short videos (up to 60 seconds) and catalogs full of product information should help you skyrocket. Just as with Facebook, you can connect your Shopify store to Instagram.
Starting from an entertaining platform, Tiktok has partnered with Shopify to explore potential eCommerce capabilities. On Tiktok, you have many creative options to make and distribute your videos, and that's why Tiktok video has an extremely higher engagement rate compared to other social media. Besides, Tiktok's large community of influencers is one of the reasons why you should consider this platform next when selling your products.
Social commerce has already been a trend for several years, but selling through video is something relatively new. You should definitely give it a go, especially considering the popularity of social media & video content nowadays.