THINK WITH ALEC

As part of a research on how users interact with companies on social media, one of the interaction types identified was around purchasing for E commerce companies with a presence on social media.
 
There are really two ways for users to make a purchase and that’s social selling or social commerce.
 
Social selling is similar to traditional advertising and marketing it could be general posts with information about specific products or deals relevant or interesting imagery or even sponsored and influencer post effective and relevant social selling can lead users away from social media and on two channels where users want to make a purchase. Whether that’s online or in person in contrast there is social commerce, which assists and allows users to make a purchase on social media platforms this offering is definitely expanding and aims to offer a seamless experience where users can find and purchase something without switching channels.
 
Social commerce is expanding but not all users are comfortable with it yet remember it takes time for users to change their mental models of what something is or offers so don’t limit yourself by focusing primarily on social commerce support social selling and converting users to your site so they can see all of the information researching the social purchasing behaviors of your existing and potential customers can help you gain insight into their attitudes and expectations for the experience use this data to shape your only channel strategy and inform the type of information curated for social media quality insight into users social purchasing behaviors can help you optimize your social strategy and lead to a competitive advantage.
 
Video Author: Alita Joyce is a User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group.