Social commerce is a method that allows buyers to buy products on social media. It lets consumers begin and end their product hunt on the platform itself.
This means social media platforms are not just limited to discovering new products or advertising them but also selling these products.
Since 2017, people buying products via social commerce in the US have literally doubled to date.
If you own a print on demand store, the most powerful aspect of social commerce is leveraging user-generated content.
That’s because when a potential customer looks at a video with other customers wearing your products and describing how it’s a game-changer for them, they will be more likely to purchase one for themselves.
How to Use Social Media To Do Social Commerce the Right Way
About 130 million Instagram users tap on shopping-related posts to learn more about a product every month.
Having a ton of quality users makes Instagram a great social media platform to sell print on demand products.
You can sell your products via Instagram reels or posts.
Here’s how an apparel brand Nuvolari uses social commerce on Instagram via reels.
When you click on ‘view products,’ a tab displaying all the products the brand has advertised in the reel opens.
When you click on any one of these products, it will show you a product page and ask you to take action.
The action could be:
- Purchase directly without leaving Instagram
- Visit the brand’s website and then purchase the product (as seen in the image above)
You can choose which CTA is right for your brand. Most brands prefer taking users to their website so they can set up pixel tracking and retarget cart abandoners to increase conversion.
Apart from Reels, you can also promote a product via Instagram Posts.
Note: Anyone can set up a business account on Instagram, but not everyone can sell their products via the Shopping feature. To sell your products on Instagram, you have to get approval from the platform first
In 2019, 15% of Facebook users used Facebook with a transactional intent apart from just socializing. The daily active users of Facebook in 2019 were 1.66 billion.
This means approximately 250 million Facebook users were there to shop. That’s massive!
The social commerce tool of Facebook is called Facebook Shops. Everyone interested in selling products on Facebook can set up a shop and start selling. There’s no specific verification or approval process for it. If your business is on any one of the partner programs of Facebook, your inventory will be automatically synced. If not, you can still import products via a spreadsheet.
Like Instagram, you get two options to give your customers to purchase directly from the Facebook store or take them to your website.
In case of questions and issues raised, customers can message store owners via Messenger.
If your print on demand store’s target audience is mostly women, then Pinterest can be a gold mine for you.
69% of Pinterest users are women, and the platform has seen 37% growth year over year.
Pinterest pins are an indirect way to use social commerce on Pinterest, as buyers can’t pay and buy the product on the platform. Instead, they will be redirected to your website.
If you use Shopify, use the Pinterest for Shopify app to add all the products to your Pinterest business account.
Pinterest is the only social media platform where approximately half the people come to buy something (47% buyers).
Selling on Pinterest is a simple 3-step process:
- Setup and personalize your business account
- Link and verify your website
- Create stunning visuals (pins) and start selling
TikTok
TikTok is a social media platform that caters to most of the younger generation worldwide.
Approximately half of the TikTok users are between 20 to 40 years of age.
The platform has 1 billion monthly active users, with approximately 25% of the visitors purchasing or researching a product after watching it.
If your customized apparel appeals to the younger generation, TikTok can help you sky-rocket your print on demand store sales.
With TikTok, you can make shoppable videos or even leverage its live stream shopping feature.
TikTok is less about strategy and more about the story behind your brand.
If your brand story is good enough to start a movement, there are chances you might go viral on TikTok; it doesn’t matter if you’re a small brand.
In 2020, TikTok announced a deal with Shopify that lets Shopify merchants sell their products directly on TikTok via in-feed videos and ads.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Set up a TikTok business account
- Install the TikTok app for Shopify
- Start creating content and sell organically or invest in TikTok ads
Leverage Gooten to Grow Your Print on Demand Store with Social Commerce in 2022
Before growing your brand via social commerce, you must have a strong operations and logistics process in place. That’s where an on-demand provider like Gooten comes into play!
If you can’t predict the supply and demand of your product, you will burn a lot of cash in inventory due to unsold products or you might fall short altogether and lose profits.
Gooten can help you optimize your eCommerce supply chain with our tailored solutions and resources. Contact our team today and grow your print on demand store with Gooten.
