The Power of Social Commerce: Social Selling Stats You Have To See To Believe!

We are well into 2020 and with that comes new strategies to take advantage of leads over the next twelve months. If there is any area where some heavy focus should be laid, it is in social media.

Social commerce has been growing to new heights, launching businesses from obscurity to fame thanks to clever ad campaigns that reach newer audiences with a taste for honest, funny and unique marketing. Let’s look at some examples before we get into the hard stats:

Lily’s Garden is a match three mobile game that comes with a story line in between rounds. But the game itself isn’t what has the internet buzzing. It is the advertisements, which are short clips following the life of main character Lily, her ex fiance, neighbor, friends and mother. It is full of humor, drama and a touch of crazy.

Every newly released Facebook ad ends up with tens of thousands of comments, including tags that draw in other people on friends lists who may not have been exposed to them otherwise.

Another great example is Pop Fit, a leggings company has been advertising their leggings as a clothing item made for women, with the unique needs of women in mind.

Their video ads are body positive and emphasize that they are an all-day style of bottom that are for people of all shapes and sizes. They really nail down their demographic and have been wildly successful as a result.

Social Commerce Stats

Now that we have looked at some of the interesting way businesses have been using social selling to their advantage, let’s see just how explosive the method of marketing has become.

These are the stats that you have to know going into the new year. They are sure to inspire you to really up your social commerce game.

3.5 Billion People Are Using Social Media, Globally

TheNextWeb reports that an estimated 3.5 billion people are using social media, globally, as of 2019.

That makes it more than a simple statistic: it shows how social media has come to shift and form our modern society.

That touches every aspect of our lives, including how we spend our money.

Two Hours & Twenty Two Minutes per Person

Global Web Index claims that the average person uses social media up to two hours and twenty two minutes every day.

That is almost two and a half hours worth of potential lead generation for brands that are using social selling, or more than 62 hours per month.

Over 68% of Adults Are Regular Facebook Users

Pew has found that Facebook remains the top dog when it comes to social media use. More than 68% of adults are regular Facebook users. Even younger generations who are more prone to platforms like Snapchat have and use Facebook profiles.

Unsurprisingly, the two examples that were given above are both Facebook ad campaigns and the social network remains the most influential social selling tool available, even as other platforms continue to grow.

You can easily integrate Facebook commerce adding a tracking script inside PayKickstart “Campaigns” tab.

 97% of Buyers Research Products & Brands Before Buying

According to a study done by Blue Carona, having a strong social media presence for your brand is a necessity. An incredibly 97% of modern day buyers are going online to find more information about a product before they take the leap.

If you don’t have an online strategy that taps into that potential, you are unlikely to get those leads, much less conversions.

 90% of the Top Sales People Use Social Media

Optinmonster states that 90% of the top sales people are already utilizing social selling tools regularly to increase their conversions.

Think of each of those sales people as your competition… if you are not exploiting your own network, you are far behind.

It is a good idea to include your own sales team into your social media marketing. Content Cal is an easy way to do that. Simply add your salespeople as contributors and let them sales-data-driven craft social media updates.

Social Story Telling is the Powerful Marketing Tool

An interesting article by Forbes revealed that we are a full 22 times more likely to remember details if there is a story around it.

While traditional advertising can give you a method of telling that story, social media is a simpler, further reaching tool for brands that want to get that story out.

 Over 60% of Marketers Use Social Media for Marketing Outreach

A study by IBM found that 61% of marketers were using social media for marketing outreach as of February of 2019. That is a surprisingly low number when confronted with the benefits of the method.

It also shows that there is more than enough room for your brand to begin social selling along those who have gotten onto the gravy train.

47% of Consumers Need at Least 2 Content Assets to Contact You

GetGist says that almost half of all consumers (47%) will view at least two pieces of content before they take the step of contacting a sales representative or making a purchase.

Not only does social media give you a convenient way to provide that content, but it puts it at the fingertips of those reps for direct engagement that seamlessly combines with that important content.

78% of Sales People State Social Selling Is Highly Effective

Reply.io discovered that out of all sales people, 78% of them are reporting better numbers when they are using social selling as a primary form of targeting their chosen demographic.

This is pushing more brands to increase their social selling efforts so they can match – or surpass – those results. During that same survey 62% of the employees at those companies say that social media has given them an advantage that improves their sales numbers and profits.

50% of Profits Were Generated Through Social Based Sales

LinkedIn had an incredible claim when they said that 50% of profits across fourteen different industries was being generated through social based sales.

While we would have to see how that is broken up by business and what strategies are being used to do so, it is quite a number to think about.

That same articles by LinkedIn also found that 40%+ of the profits being generated by social media were being heavily influenced by region.

This brings up an interesting point about social selling through local marketing. We have already seen time and again how effective selling directly to target geographic locations can be massively beneficial to brands.

Social Selling Competition is Still Not High

Forrester Research has seen a serious lag in B2B businesses when it comes to social selling.

While almost all of these companies admit that social selling would be very lucrative, less than 50% are actually putting that belief into practice.

Do you have any interesting statistics to share? Let us know in the comments!

Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty is the Brand Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas, as well as co-founder of Viral Content Bee. Ann has been into Internet Marketing for over a decade, she is the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal and contributor to prominent search and social blogs including Small Biz Trends and Mashable. Ann is also the frequent speaker at Pubcon and the host of a weekly Twitter chat #vcbuzz

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