You’re probably not associating Tupperware with Brownie Wise, the first female influencer of the 1950s who collaborated with the brand to earn the trust of all Americans by showcasing the utility of the brand and its flagship product.
Product recommendations through social interactions have evolved with the changing consumer behavior, adapting to new platforms and new forms of interaction, giving rise to what we now know as Social Commerce.
From its beginnings in the ’50s to the current concept of Social Commerce
It all began with the house parties organized by Brownie Wise, the first woman to appear on Businessweek, at the request of Earl Tupper. She would gather her friends, acquaintances, and almost fanatical followers to show them, live and in person, the value and functionality of the product. Brownie was a pioneer in the concepts of social selling, influencing, and content marketing. Thanks to this beginning, today we can identify Social Commerce as the way influencers or social sellers recommend a brand through posts, livestreams, or even WhatsApp conversations, with the advancement brought by the incorporation of artificial intelligence and augmented reality to drive these actions and add value.
Social Commerce and the power of technology: Who benefits from the change?
House parties have moved to different platforms, but an ecosystem remains where everyone is present, and thus, everyone benefits.
From house parties to door-to-door sales, to the first time the term social commerce was coined with the launch of Yahoo’s Shoposphere in 2005, to what we know today as social commerce, where influencers or content creators promote products or services on social media, to the next frontier with artificial intelligence and augmented reality, such as the recent launch of Apple’s Vision Pro, which has just announced its new feature of glasses with social commerce, especially with fashion and furniture brands.
Through this adaptability, the consumer benefits from simple, seamless, human, and personalized shopping experiences. The influencer, social seller, or content creator is incentivized by a new revenue stream and a career that evolves from a side hustle to a main hustle, which not only provides credibility to brands but also qualitatively improves engagement with their audience to stay top of mind. Brands find new channels and formats to connect with consumers, better understand their needs, and how to meet them, increasing touchpoints and generating greater conversion opportunities.
If the way of selling is changing, how are brands and consumers themselves adapting?
To adjust to new challenges, the inclusion of the term social is key. Social players must enable commerce features, and the biggest ecommerce players must bet on social. At this point, credibility and trust play a leading role for brands.
While it’s true that technology has accelerated cultural change, shifting consumer behavior to a constantly evolving digital reality, it’s important to highlight that technology accelerates consumer behavior, but it is culture that defines it.
In such a disruptive and changing era, with topics like AI and cybersecurity on the table, digital marketing strategies evolve at a dizzying pace, and with them, so does the concept of the consumer. The demands, hyperconnectivity, and mobile-first approach are three of the most notable characteristics of today’s consumer profile who discovers, searches, and buys in one place, boosting the growth and constant updates of the social commerce market.
The “Social” part – the key word in the business
There are two important subtypes within Social Commerce:
On the one hand, there is direct commerce, where the shopping experience happens in one place, from intention to purchase. This type of social commerce occurs on social platforms like Instagram Shops, Facebook Shops, or TikTok Shops (known as social platform shopping). In this type of Social Commerce, activations are led by brands since they require catalog integrations, logistics, etc.
On the other hand, there’s indirect commerce, led by social sellers themselves who direct consumers to the brand’s ecommerce stores, whether outside the platform, on an ecommerce site, Amazon, e-retail, or even redirecting to the brand’s own social shop on the platform (where there is true potential).
How can brands determine which is best for them?
- What business challenge needs to be solved?
- What are the capabilities within the business regarding scalability and the maturity of the ecosystem, understanding its role in the consumer journey?
- What is relevant for both the consumer and the brand? How can scalability be achieved by having a consistent and differentiated value proposition?
Social commerce addresses various business challenges and offers a wide range of opportunities for brands, whether by providing a new source of income, increasing sales, or attracting more qualified audiences. However, true success lies in understanding and meeting consumer demands, adapting content, proposals, conversations, and sales from a human connection perspective.
To maximize the potential of social commerce, it is crucial to follow a structured approach:
- Contextualize the audience and market: Understanding the environment and the specific needs of consumers is essential for designing effective strategies.
- Provide relevant and differentiated content: Uniqueness and relevance of content are key to capturing and maintaining the audience’s attention.
- Build trust and credibility through creators: Content creators play a crucial role as the glue of any social commerce activation by bringing authenticity and trust.
- Create a community to maintain constant engagement: Fostering a strong community is vital for consumers to feel part of the brand and maintain a lasting relationship.
- Personalize, improve, and humanize the shopping experience: Adapting the shopping experience to the individual needs of each consumer is key to offering exceptional service and strengthening brand loyalty.
In this scenario, marketing positions itself as the engine of social commerce, enabling brands to understand and adapt to the changing dynamics of the consumer, leveraging technology and human connections to build meaningful and sustainable relationships. With a well-structured strategy, brands can not only solve business challenges but also create significant opportunities that drive their growth and leadership in the market.
