The Role of E-Commerce in Social Media  

Social media has evolved beyond convenient communication with family and friends. Today, consumers use social media
platforms to stay up to date on the latest news, trends, and products. Consumers are also purchasing more goods online,
which has led to an increase in e-commerce sales. Knowing this, brands have taken advantage of the opportunities social
media offers in order to build meaningful connections with consumers and improve their bottom line.

Social media and e-commerce first hit the scene in 2007 with Facebook’s Marketplace feature.  Since then, the
partnership has expanded throughout numerous social media sites including Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr,
Pinterest, and most recently Amazon.

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, “the average person spends around an hour and 40 minutes
browsing through social media every day.” That time online truly makes an impact on buying decisions: “87 percent of
customers say that social media helps them decide what to buy,” according to Social Media Today.

In response, brands have increasingly capitalized on these prospects, utilizing social media platforms to boost
e-commerce sales through a variety of different approaches. These include:

• • Paid advertisements driving traffic to online stores
  • Leveraging detailed targeting capabilities to reach the right audience for their products
  • Direct messaging to provide digital customer service

• Influencer marketing
• More recently, in-app purchase capabilities

Instagram is an excellent example of this fusion between social media and e-commerce. The platform has integrated
sponsored ads, influencer marketing, and one-click shopping tools that allow consumers to purchase directly from posts
and Instagram Stories. If properly executed, these unique features can seamlessly blend a user’s social experience with
that of shopping, boosting brand engagement by 36 percent.

Instagram’s latest power move to capitalize on its influence in the e-commerce space is the development of a new
standalone app specifically dedicated to shopping, called IG Shopping. The Verge recently revealed the IG Shopping App “will let users browse collections of
goods from merchants they follow and purchase them directly within the app.” Furthermore, “creating a standalone app
would allow the company to provide a dedicated home for an increasingly popular activity on Instagram while also
expanding opportunities for revenue.”

With social media capabilities constantly changing, it’s easy to get lost in the midst of it all. If your business is
looking to expand its presence and take advantage of novel opportunities in the social commerce space but doesn’t know
where to start, our team of experts can help.

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