Sometimes, it can be dizzying to think about how far technology has come. We’ve advanced from telegrams, to rotary phones, to portable computers that have become an important addition to our lives. And there seems to be no end to the possibilities that lie ahead of us. Corporations have taken notice and have shifted to join the ever growing landscape to be where their consumers are, thus helping give rise to the social commerce industry.
What are the differences between traditional e-commerce and social commerce?
Social commerce is the intersection between e-commerce, or the practice of online buying and selling of goods and services, and social media. Traditional e-commerce involves blanket marketing and advertisements across a variety of websites and platforms, oftentimes through targeted advertisement. Social commerce, on the other hand, allows a more direct connection between businesses and consumers or consumers and other consumers.
Instead of reshaping your entire business model to bring in new customers, social commerce allows for a more seamless marketing integration to build customer relationships and increase brand loyalty. Social commerce is not just about social media itself; it’s a whole new form of e-commerce that leverages the power and speed of social media. The idea is to have consumers connect with your brand and engage with them to improve the customer experience.
Social commerce is most powerful when you, as a business, understand what kind of consumers use which social media platforms. For example, observe the contrasts between older social media, like Facebook and Twitter, versus their younger contemporaries, like ringID. Facebook appeals to an often older demographic, Twitter skews younger, and ringID casts a wide net over all age groups.
RingID hosts over 20 million active users daily and has consumers from all different backgrounds exploring new businesses on the platform. Because the user base is so wide, companies of all sizes are on an even playing field with equal opportunities to reach their ideal clientele.
Social Commerce Limitations
Despite being a ripe market for businesses to expand, social commerce isn’t the solution to all problems. It’s important not to forget the biggest drawback to social commerce: it’s still a relatively new industry. Many marketers don’t understand the concept well, and users are also more skeptical about throwing their lot in with businesses they don’t know because they can’t physically see the products.
Social commerce doesn’t scale the way traditional e-commerce does nor does it manage inventory the same way traditional retailers do. This means that customers who infrequently check social media can risk losing out on a product they might want or customers can be led to a “Sold Out” screen more often than they were expecting.
Social commerce also requires more maintenance than traditional e-commerce in order to keep your brand in the public’s eyes. If you don’t adhere to some kind of schedule, it’s easy to fall behind, and that can cause client engagement to fall.
What are the Benefits of Social Commerce?
Risks are a part of the business, and without understanding them, you won’t be able to take full advantage of the rewards that lie ahead. Social commerce is a fast-growing, highly influential market that is expected to be worth $1.2 trillion by 2025. There’s room for innovation within the space, and now is a time to be experimental and figure out what works best for your business and consumer base.
With the growing use of social media, businesses can connect with users all around the world. RingID goes with customers wherever they are and allows them to find new businesses without diverting from their day-to-day tasks and makes this connectivity seamless as it continues its expansion into other countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil.
Word of mouth spreads faster and farther than ever before, and keen-minded businesses can easily take advantage of this. Returning customers can promote their favorite products through the ringID Marketplace or with ringID’s affiliate-based Agent Network, and if a company has properly integrated their marketing strategy, this can remove a lot of the outreach burden.
Just like how mobile phones have added to our quality of life, so too will social commerce add to the quality of businesses worldwide. Though the industry is still in its early years, platforms like ringID have proven that social commerce is a rich territory full of new possibilities and countless opportunities.
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