Social Commerce : Glossary Definition | Habefast
What is Social Commerce ?
Social commerce refers to an online sales system that leverages social media platforms to facilitate and encourage consumers to make purchases.
Unlike traditional e-commerce websites, social commerce allows users to buy products directly within social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WeChat, or TikTok. It represents a major evolution in e-commerce, blending social interactions and purchase actions within a smooth and engaging customer journey.
Social Media: A Key Driver of Social Commerce
With millions of active users every day, social media platforms have become essential channels for reaching potential customers, generating traffic, building loyalty, and driving conversions. Social commerce enables e-commerce businesses and advertisers to integrate their digital marketing strategy directly into conversations, feeds, or stories, transforming each social network into an interactive commercial storefront.
A Conversion-Oriented Digital Strategy
Social commerce is part of a broader digital strategy, combining web marketing, community management, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), inbound marketing, sponsorships, and CRM.
By using social media as sales channels, brands can reach their target audience at the right time, personalize their messaging, promote their business, and increase brand awareness.
Influencers and followers play a key role in this ecosystem. By sharing experiences, recommendations, and product reviews, they amplify word-of-mouth online, boost brand credibility, and trigger impulse purchases.
With features such as product tags, “buy” buttons, and Facebook Shops, users can move from discovery to purchase in just a few clicks, without ever leaving their app or newsfeed.
A Powerful Tool for Branding and Loyalty
Social commerce isn’t just about selling, it also helps build brand image, engage communities, segment audiences, analyze user behavior (with tools like Google Analytics), and enhance the overall customer experience across the buying journey. It also supports personalization, marketing automation, KPIs analysis, and conversion rate optimization.
Strategic social media presence enables brands to address the diverse habits of active users, whether through B2C social shopping, B2B social marketing, or cross-media campaigns synchronized with physical points of sale (omnichannel strategy).
