6 ways to optimize your social commerce strategy

When the creators of the social platforms that are famous today were working on their websites, with eyes full of stars and hands covered in Cheetos crumbs, they certainly had no idea of all they would enable years later. Instagram, a video network? Weird, but OK. Facebook, a virtual reality portal? Please. That's how it is: as time goes by, needs and uses change and social media adapt to them. Most of the time, these changes sneak into our habits discreetly, very slowly, so that we don't even realize it.

And then sometimes, history gives our habits a little push. Or a slap in the face, as the case may be. The health situation we lived in 2020 belongs to this second category. While we were used to good old window shopping in brick-and-mortar shops, our spending impulses were forced to express themselves in another way... Directly on social media.

This phenomenon is called social commerce, and it's time you get to know it. Why? Because it might just give your business a boost. Come on, giddy up!

Social commerce is the act of buying directly integrated on social media. No more tiring thumb muscles with superfluous clicks: social commerce wants to facilitate the consumer's buying process by bringing together all the steps in one place. Discovering a product? Now it happens on the social media. Check if a brand is trustworthy? On social media. Proceed to purchase? Social media. Ask about the status of an order or make a complaint? Social media. Every social network has finally become a shopping mall: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even Pinterest are all over it. No one left behind in the mercantile society... And it's beautiful!

Because it's the future of e-commerce 🔮 Here we are in 2025: a cute little dog rules the world, Sean Paul is at the top of the charts and the average person is shopping on social media. Okay, for the first two points, we may be taking our desires for realities. On the other hand, all the figures show that the latter could well come to fruition: according to a study by Accenture, no less than 18% of purchases in the clothing sector will be made on networks by 2025.

✨ That's it, it's official: more than half of the world's population is on social networks. In all, there are now 4.62 billion active users; A figure that continues to rise, as it has increased by 10.1% since last year alone. Selling on social media means offering yourself a constantly growing audience... We're not going to spit on it.

Because it's the best way to reach younger 👧 people, 97% of Gen Z make social media their source of inspiration for their purchases. Okay, we too, at that age, were very inspired to buy, but we also had the kind of bank account that only allowed us to feed exclusively on taco patties with nothing inside. But we always end up growing up... And our income with us! So getting into social commerce means making a potentially profitable decision in the long term for your brand.

Because it's super, mega simple 🤩 Opening your online store, when you already have one, seems like child's play. But could you imagine your Aunt Martine opening one? The same one who has been writing everywhere in capital letters since 2018 because she doesn't know how to turn them off? That's what we thought. The great thing about social commerce is that it makes selling online accessible to everyone, really everyone. Easy, but also free, which is not negligible when you are a small business looking for development...

We are still in the early stages of social commerce, but it is a real promise of renewal for e-commerce. Just look at the cool possibilities he's already created, like Starbucks' Tweet-a-Coffee campaign a few years ago, which allowed you to send a coffee to the person of your choice simply by mentioning their username. When will we see the delivery of blood sausage for people we don't like?

This new way of selling opens the door to a lot of innovations but when you start, you want to implement strategies whose effectiveness has already been proven: it's safer. And your timing is perfect because... Guess what?

We've put together a list of the best strategies for getting started in social commerce.

#1 : How to choose your platform(s)

Do you want to get started with social commerce? Teuteuteu, not so fast! Before that, you will have to define which platform to establish yourself on so that the results are there... Each network attracts a particular target, certain age groups, with specific interests. Where your brand's target is: That's where you're supposed to go.

You will also have to take into account that each network has strengths that you can take advantage of. You are an audiovisual pro, Spielberg is your main rival: Tik Tok is made for you. Instagram and Pinterest, on the other hand, are ideal if your brand's identity is expressed through a neat aesthetic. The visual side of these networks will be invaluable to you in building a real virtual showcase.

Facebook, on the other hand, has an incredible power: it brings everyone together. And not just in any way, since everyone shares a multitude of details about their lives. When Chad, your little cousin, posts about his favorite flavor of potato chips (balsamic vinegar), you may not care, but there are some people who will be particularly interested... Yes: the manufacturers of balsamic vinegar crisps. Facebook allows you to define precise targets for your communication and especially for your ads.


Once decided, it will be time to read guides explaining how to create your store on social media. The process varies depending on the network as well as your host; to make it easier for you, we went hunting for tutorials...

If you have a Shopify store...

• Create your Facebook store
• Create your Instagram store
• Selling on TikTok
• Link your store to your Pinterest

If you are more of a WooCommerce person...

• Synchronize your store with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest

As you may have noticed, someone is missing: it's Etsy, which doesn't yet allow you to link your store to your social network profiles. Given the dazzling success of social commerce, we hope that it is only a matter of time...

#2: Integrate customer support on your socials

Finding an email address, opening your email application, writing a message, sending it... Except for our faithful friend the Nigerian prince (you know, the one who needs a little nest egg in exchange for his gigantic fortune), all this is petering out. When we say that the whole buying process is meant to be simplified, it also includes the post-purchase experience, which is called after sales service. If your customer has made a purchase directly from your profile, they are unlikely to bother going to your website to contact you: they will turn to the profile's instant messenger! So expect to have to deal with your customers' questions directly on the networks, but not in just any way: give them a personalized approach, make them feel seen, recognized and even pampered. If necessary, even use exclusive promotional codes, your customers are worth it... OK, also because customer service is a decisive factor for the purchase for 60% of the consumers, but that should not be said too loudly.

#3 : Take care of your content's quality

After 6 months of relationship with Geraldine, it's the big day: you are about to meet her parents. Feverishly, you button up your shirt smelling of delicate lavender-scented detergent, apply a touch of wax in your hair and put on your pair of Crocs.

Does that shock you? It's a little bit like having a sloppy social profile, which we tend to see a bit too often. It's a shame because consistent and aesthetically pleasing content is a great selling point: it proves not only that you are interesting, but also trustworthy (you know your products and know how to stage them). This point is even more true in the context of social commerce, since it will be on the networks that your brand will be discovered... Show them off with neat photoshoots, a palette limited to 3 colors and recurring branded fonts (two at most). Because a little inspiration never hurt anyone, we let you contemplate some examples of neat social business showcases... First up on Instagram:

But also on Pinterest, with the profile of the cosmetics brand Benefit, as full and aesthetic as a beautiful eyebrow :

#4: Sharing UGC

Let's take a look at a photo for a moment.

These people are beautiful. They are young. They smile at life.

But do they seem to belong to our world? To be honest, not really. They belong to another dimension, a dimension where there are no acne pimples, where everyone wakes up with peppermint breath and where fast fashion has never existed. This world looks GREAT, but it's not ours. This is the effect that some mock-ups will have: they will give the impression of a lack of authenticity.

How can we counter this phenomenon? Three words: User Generated Content.  This expression refers to the photos and videos of your products captured by your customers that you can use for your marketing. There are two huge benefits to this type of content: first, you're not doing it, and we don't say no to this kind of time and energy savings. There's that, and then there's the fact that it's a real confidence booster: these photos are concrete proof that your products have already been purchased and approved. All the more reason to do this if you get into social commerce: that's where you can get that UGC, that's also where you can use it to provoke an act of purchase.

#5: Take advantage of your platform's features

The goal of social commerce is the same everywhere: to sell in the same place where you promote your brand and hope to collect enough money to afford the house of your dreams (or a state-of-the-art bubble machine, to each his own, we don't judge). However, you don't sell the same way on Pinterest as on Facebook: each platform has its own features that you can use to optimize your sales.

On Facebook, everything is done to offer you a customized shopping experience: the platform allows you to customize your store to colors of your brand, to create seasonal catalogs... In short, everything is done to make your products feel like home. The famous blue network also has a nice advantage: it offers a multitude of statistical data that will be useful to adapt your social commerce strategy.

It's a little different on Instagram: the platform makes a point of multiplying the ways to draw attention to your products. From "Buy Now" links to add to your posts and stories to product tags, everything is done to remind your page visitor that he could very quickly become your customer... Seemingly unrelated to social commerce, other features of Instagram can give a boost to your strategy. We are thinking in particular of the quizzes and polls that the network allows you to add to your stories, which can specify for you what are the tastes of your followers.

Pinterest, sadly, does not allow the customer to buy without having to leave the platform (at least for now). However, you will be able to offer them the smoothest possible social commerce shopping experience by using Rich Pins, those publications directly linked to your product page... Rich Pins to which we dedicated a part in a recent article, a must read to prepare a foolproof Pinterest strategy:

#6: Highlight your entry-level products

When we say that social commerce is the future of e-commerce, it implies one thing: that social commerce is not the present. Yes, and it's true: shopping on social networks is not yet obvious to everyone... To encourage the most reluctant to take the plunge, there is an unstoppable trick: use the star lever of the transition to purchase, that is to say the advantageous price. A visitor who came on Instagram only to stalk his ex will be more likely to buy a popular product at a low price than a high-end item that requires some thought.

So, to entice them, you have two solutions: first, promote your cheapest products, but also offer coupon codes. They will have the impression that you are doing them a favor, but in reality, they will be the ones offering you a beautiful bouquet!

Opening your own store is now within the reach of (almost) everyone... And it's fabulous! We see dreams of apprentice merchants coming true by the bucketful, that's the only thing that's true. However, this also means that the competition is getting tougher and tougher... So to stand out, you have to show that your store can evolve with the times. You know how to stand out in social commerce now, that's good enough. You know what would be even better? If you knew the other seven BIG social networking trends of the year... The same ones that we present in this recent article, yes yes :

Come on, it's time for you to get noticed: because if we were in a pop band, your brand would not be a secondary member, or even a backing singer, no no no.

Your brand would be Beyoncé.

Sources: Shopify, Adjust, Channable