Facing obstacles while scaling and maintaining organic reach on traditional social media channels? Have you wondered why your Facebook reach suddenly stagnated, or even dipped, post one of the several algorithm updates? Well, that’s the unfortunate reality of channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more. They are just numbers. Not fans.
We believe it’s time to take control. Of your customer. Of your first-party data. And, of your outcomes. Live commerce is the way to go. Possessing in-house shoppable live streaming capabilities helps you not just stand out in the crowd, but also allows you to build a close-knit community of fans who will act as advocates wherever they go.
If you are in the business of selling products or services online, you are probably facing issues with acquiring leads through social media channels. This is because of how the platforms work. They prefer to change things up every now and then, making it tougher for e-commerce brands to create and nurture a community through them. To keep your followers engaged, and to convert them into loyal fans that improve lifetime customer value (LCV), here are some reasons why live commerce is the way to go.
Live commerce benefits
1. Real-time connect
According to data, 80% followers prefer to watch and engage on live streams on social media over stories and posts. This is also encouraged by the fact that livestreaming on TikTok and Instagram will be boosted to the top of your followers’ feeds the second you go live. What more, you can actually hold simultaneous streams on your social media channel and your website or app, allowing you to get the followers to visit your platform and interact with your content and products.
2. Humanise connections with live commerce
With several accounts fighting for attention on the traditional social media channels, put the spotlight on your brand by introducing shoppable live streams that have anchors and personalities showcasing various products and interacting with end users via comments and reactions. This allows the viewer to feel more comfortable and become more likely to resonate with your brand and its offerings. It also adds a layer of security that there are actual, legitimate humans behind the brand they are buying from.
Also read: First-Party Data, Trust & Building a Loyal Community for Brands
3. Amp up your engagement
With followers preferring to interact with your live streams, it is a good idea to link your products to this type of content. BeLive’s white label solution provides you with capabilities to create shoppable videos and go live in seconds! Create a gamification pipeline on these live streams by introducing time-based coupons that are unlocked after engagement milestones. A combination of these interactive experiences boosts loyalty among viewers, adding a human touch to their touchpoints with your brand.
4. Instant sales
Talking about creating shoppable videos, this white label solution enables brands to reduce the steps it takes from a customer landing on your website to being able to purchase a product. Add direct purchase links on your live streams using BeLive’s inbuilt commerce capabilities, and enable viewers to fulfil their impulse cravings! With access to the number of fans watching your live stream in real time, you can pick and choose the products you want to sell and modify your stream on the go. This allows for better optimization of sales and increases conversion rates for your marketing activities.
5. First-party data is king
The biggest pain point of advertising via social media channels, apart from the vague algorithms, is the lack of access to rich data. If you are a brand that sells products online, ideally you would want access to a 360-degree profile of your customer to enable more personalized advertising and product placement. Plus, you would also want to know the funnel journey of each prospective customer, so you can target them based on the point they drop off. Platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram do provide some data but it is limited in a sense.
Live commerce, on the other hand, tracks the entire funnel of your customer. It lets you get access to people dropping off at the consideration point, the payment page, or even the shopping cart point. You can then use ad targeting to reach out and win them back as a customer, and possibly one who shops again!
BeLive’s white-label solution also provides you with access to viewer behaviour, preferences, buying patterns, and a lot more. This way you can segment the customer groups and show them content that helps them convert better. These data points can generally help refine your strategies, optimize your product offerings, and help release content that resonates with your customers.
Convinced yet? If you are someone looking to convert metrics on social media to loyal fans of your online brand, here is a quick guide on how to get everything set up and start your live commerce journey.
Choose your platform: While TikTok and Instagram can be your platforms for casting the live streams, you should prefer to host them on your website to take control. BeLive’s solutions offer end-to-end onboarding, implementation, and support for building live videos that users can interact with and shop via through your app or website. Just buy, fit, and go live!
Plan engaging content: Once you have everything set up on your website or app, it is time to create a content calendar that works best for your product lineup. Our in-house marketing consultants, with years of expertise in scaling product sales for clients, can mentor you through the initial journey so you get the right context and techniques for selling through live streams. The first-party data points can further be used to segment your customers and create personalized live streams for the segments that you create.
The right setup: While a camera and a face is all you need, it is better to gradually take up live commerce as a core marketing strategy and invest accordingly. Bring in the right camera equipment to make sure you and your products shine on the live streams. Ensure that the personality on camera is engaging and able to showcase the product USPs in the best way possible. And, make sure you have an exclusive discount and coupon strategy for your live stream viewers, so you can keep them hooked onto the content. Make your followers loyal fans, starting today!
Impactful host: Talking about on-camera personality, it is imperative to have a dynamic host on camera for your shoppable live streams. The host should have the right mix of charisma and knowledge to be able to attract viewers to your live streams. The right amount of excitement is key to engaging your audience and hooking them onto your product catalog.
Event promotion: Finally, promotion is key to getting a higher reach and creating a network effect wherein your viewers encourage more new viewers to tune into your streams. One of the simplest ways to do so is to host simultaneous streams on your favorite social media platforms and your website/ app. BeLive enables you to do this with the click of a button. This way, you can utilize the reach that you have on third-party platforms and use it as a chance to bring them into the fold through hooks like exclusive discounts, early access to streams and products, and other promotional methods.
Live commerce is a powerful tool when it comes to converting numbers on social media platforms into loyal fans part of your close-knit communities. It gives you a chance to connect personally with your customers, get access to their buying patterns, and using marketing tools to make them a repeat customer of your brand.
It’s time to take control. It’s time to be live.
