Companies around the world spend an incredible amount of money on advertising. For example, Statista shows that the U.S. spends almost $ 300 billion a year. Attracting and engaging new customers becomes more and more challenging due to modern technologies that people use on a daily basis and the information they are exposed to.
According to statistics, the number of social media platform users worldwide crossed 4.6 billion people. Social media platforms have become one of the most significant sources of information. A number of studies indicate a ridiculously high amount of time people spend on the most popular social media platforms. For instance, examining social media engagement, Hassan, Hsbollah and Mohamad found that people spent over 180 minutes daily on social media.
Given this information, social media platforms are seen as strategically important channels for marketing. This is not only a space where a company may place its advertisement to reach millions of potential customers, but these are platforms where companies can place their products and make the customer journey extremely joyful and comfortable. Scrolling through the feed, people filter out the information they are interested in and happily explore appealing pages. This is why companies started creating business profiles on social media platforms. Today, it is known as social commerce. Companies can sell their products directly through social media platforms, creating interaction with brands and allowing visitors to browse merchandise and make purchases.
Social commerce has a significant advantage over e-commerce. E-commerce is mainly based on websites, and some of them are not quite mobile-friendly. Meanwhile, social media platforms are designed for smartphones. Since many people shop online and visit social media platforms using their phones, it just clicked. Today, social commerce leaders are platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, followed by TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter. Each platform is unique and can be used for a particular customer segment.
Apart from being mobile-friendly, social media platforms have many other benefits. With every purchase, the number of followers of your brand increases. This initiates the development of the business on a platform and increases its recognition. Daily content contributes to high brand awareness and helps to stay top-of-mind with your customers. You do not have to look for your target audience. Your customers are already on the platform. Advantageous features on social media platforms, such as in-app checkout and the “buy” button, help to lose unnecessary steps in the buying process. It reduces the risk of a customer losing interest and abandoning the cart during purchase. Social commerce is equipped with built-in social proof. Your brand’s status is supported with likes, comments, reposts and follows that strengthen the reputation of your business.
In conclusion, social media platforms are widely used by people around the globe. It makes social media platforms rather useful for businesses. Companies and entrepreneurs can reach the target audience with minimum effort and investment. Using mobile-friendly design and many useful features, companies have an opportunity to engage customers and grow business recognition and reputation on the market.
Written by
Valerii Pinchuk
Marketing Specialist