Efficiency in Social Commerce (S-Commerce) Management

Considering that there are over 4 billion active social media users in the world and most of them prefer mobile devices, it is no coincidence that commerce has evolved into a different form on social media platforms as a natural consequence. Important developments such as the development of e-commerce, the speed and ease of reaching the target audience through social media channels, and the acceleration of digitalization have brought along innovative trade approaches. Social commerce, one of these approaches, has been the shining star of recent years.

The concept of “social commerce”, which some marketers see as an extension or sub-model of e-commerce and others see as a common cluster of social media and e-commerce, was first developed by Yahoo in 2005 to promote collaborative online shopping tools owned by the same company. The term has become more popular as the use of social media has increased in recent years. It is predicted that commerce on social media platforms will progress further.

In addition to serving purposes such as communicating and sharing ideas, social networks also allow customers to view, select and order products at the same time in a seamless way in terms of social commerce. Social networks also support the exchange of opinions about products and services, the comparison of products and the purchase decision, with product recommendations based on reviews posted by other users or influencers. Consumers can thus quickly and easily get information about what is available on the market or the latest products. Of course, even more influential in the consumer’s decision-making is the mirroring of the consumption behavior of those in their social network.

In other words, the purchase decision is influenced by the purchase decisions of other consumers with whom the consumer is associated. Therefore, in addition to nano, micro, macro and mega influencers, the consumer’s social networks also influence purchasing. The concept of social commerce emerges from this influence.

Social commerce (s-commerce) can be defined as a commerce approach that includes online buying and selling of products and services by the target audience and related issues by supporting the interaction realized through social media platforms. According to the results of KPMG’s Social Commerce Trends 2018 research, s-commerce develops in 7 main categories:

1. Peer-to-peer sales platforms (e.g. Etsy, eBay)
2. Selling through social networks (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram)
3. Group buying (e.g. Groupon)
4. User reviews and recommendations (e.g. Amazon, Yelp)
5. User curated shopping (e.g. The Fancy, Lyst)
6. Participatory commerce (e.g. Threadless, Kickstarter)
7. Social shopping (Motilo, GoTryItOn)

‘Traffic’ is everything in social media. The higher the traffic, the more priority algorithms give to the element that increases traffic. Content created on social media is therefore worth its weight in gold. To the extent that the content is valuable, it increases traffic and the advantage is gained with the priorities offered by the algorithms. The high costs of other marketing methods are replaced by the easy measurement and low cost advantages of s-commerce realized through interaction.

Providing interaction in s-commerce through social media also offers advantages in terms of communication. Businesses or brands can achieve direct interaction by communicating directly with target audience groups. In this respect, there is a chance to directly communicate the promotion and announcements of products and services to target groups and to receive rapid feedback. Keeping the pulse of the customer provides progress in customer relations, contributes to the interpretation of data to be used in regulations for developments such as changes in product range and renewals in services.

When developing e-commerce policies, the power of data is utilized. Benefits such as data integration solutions, systematization of commercial activities in each model in harmony with each other and transfer of data in different business lines are indispensable for e-commerce. In s-commerce, on the other hand, there is the potential to collect and process this data. In this way, CRM efforts that become as specific as possible, even almost personalized, can be reinforced. Combined with omnichannel marketing strategies, the necessary conditions can be created to offer omnichannel services to customers. In this way, a complex data network management can be developed to analyze the customer base in detail and to improve the activities in the field of s-commerce. In this way, significant advantages are gained in customer relationship management.

As the tools for shopping have increased thanks to social commerce, so has the demand for e-commerce. As the momentum of social media networks and e-commerce accelerated during the Covid pandemic, social networks and related content became more influential in consumer purchasing decisions. In the coming years, this rise is expected to escalate further and user-centricity on social media channels is expected to increase in parallel.

With social media channels becoming more and more qualified, s-commerce, which has become the most interactive and result-oriented area of the digital marketing world, is an area where businesses and brands are increasingly increasing their investments. Therefore, as competition increases, it becomes harder for businesses to differentiate from others. Managing the interaction of Generations Z and Y with these channels, which are especially scrutinized by the digital marketing and advertising world, has become an expertise in itself. For this reason, it is important to remember that the critical point here is to create authentic interaction and not to neglect to look from the user perspective while increasing authentic interaction.

Social commerce requires taking place on social platforms preferred by all target groups that make up the target audience. Care should be taken to ensure that the social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. are reflections of the perception that the business or brand is managed in a planned manner.

Consistency in each of the messages given in a holistic sense also contributes to the maintenance of the perception desired to be managed. An organization or brand should systematically implement in its social media accounts what kind of impression it will evoke in the target audience through the perception management it develops and manages in line with PR strategies. This can take the form of visual, literary or episodic images, depending on the medium’s tools that create interaction. For example, the products of a youth brand, the corporate elements of the brand working with moving, vibrant ranks and a dynamic image adapted to the social media platform, and publishing them in social network environments where university students meet; may overlap with the perception desired to be created or sustained. Therefore, the need to match the perception of the brand with the characteristics of the medium, its tools and the general perception of the user base plays a decisive role in decisions such as communication strategy, tactics and media selection.

It will become even more important to obtain customer data through S-commerce, to get more customer contact and feedback, and to develop a strong empathetic digital marketing muscle by establishing an efficient interaction. As the relationship between sales and communication in marketing communication becomes more and more intricate, time will tell how s-commerce will evolve in the future and whether physical stores will be completely replaced by e-commerce.