How shoppable social sites are beating other media channels

Boosted by creative and commerce, social media is the top media space today, far surpassing traditional media outlets. Why? Shoppable properties do what traditional media never could—enable purchases as the media is being consumed.

To those of us in advertising, it seems as if traditional media has always reigned supreme. Even the youngest of our colleagues have memories of thumbing through their favorite teen magazines, calling our local radio stations to request songs or win tickets, and gathering around the TV for our weekly shows (and running to grab snacks during the commercial breaks).

Instead, social media has skyrocketed, not as a place for personal social connections but as a collection of media outlets that promise better results than traditional TV. Aided by creative and commerce opportunities, plus the prevalence of the CTV/OTT streaming-sphere, social media has become the No. 1 way for brands to reach their audiences through advertising, replacing traditional media as the core way we communicate and sell products.

Media first, social second

Today’s social media is far more media than it is social, and media planners are working day and night to get the memo out. According to Statista’s Media Outlook, social media now accounts for one in every three digital media plan dollars. This is up from 25% of media dollars just four years ago.

Social media has taken over the world and has replaced linear television viewing as the No. 1 pastime. According to the Datareportal 2023 global overview, 59% of the world now uses social media, with the average daily time spent being about two-and-a-half hours, which is roughly 14 minutes more than the typical working age person spends watching broadcast and cable television.

Though social media was invented with person-to-person connections in mind, there is growing evidence that users do not log on simply to be entertained. Social media is now contesting traditional media dollars, making it all the more important for brand marketers to break down the walls between search, social, programmatic, commerce and video activations.

“I would say the days of only doing paid search/social or only managing Amazon for our brands are very short-lived, said Greg Wolny, chief activation officer at Code3. “We found that clients are looking for agency partners who can integrate their funnel in its entirety, and those are the types of partners we want.”

So what does this mean for brands? It says that social media is the media that people are consuming, and they expect to see brands and content creators who understand their needs. Algorithms have specialized social media experiences, and brands can take advantage of these curated experiences by offering quality creative and commerce experiences.

In-stream purchasing

Even as Meta has made noted pullbacks in shoppable features on its platforms, other platforms like TikTok are leaning into the opportunity commerce presents by creating new ways to engage customers. In the last year, TikTok has made it easier for consumers to shop from their favorite brands and new brands by the enhancements it has they have made to their user experience via shopping carts embedded in short videos, live streams, and a product showcase tab prominently featured on a brand’s TikTok profile page.

And Snapchat has made significant strides in transforming today’s shopping experience across the customer journey using augmented reality (AR). Shoppers can easily visualize, try-on and experience products before buying them. That helps them to discover new products, increase conversions and even reduce returns. Snapchat reports that Snapchatters who experience a shoppable AR Lens are 2.4-times more likely to purchase than those who do not. Additionally, on the platform, Snap reports that Lenses have proven to drive a 14% higher share of incremental sales contribution than video.

The role of video

Just like the traditional side of the equation, video is key to unlocking the power of social commerce. Social-first approaches like Live Shopping, behind-the-scenes livestreams, video consultations and personalized product recommendations provide shareable content contributing to the rise of time spent on platforms. 

Greg Wolny, Code3’s chief activation officer, recently spoke to brands at Amazon Unboxed about the Importance of Video in Commerce and how different formats of video can be used to address consumers at varying points of the purchase funnel on the same platform.

The key takeaways were: 

1. Build a plan internally that supports video asset creation, treat video like any other strategic component of your media plan, assign an owner and go.
2. Create video assets that align with the stages of the funnel where you want to meet your customer. One video does not fit all needs.
3. Develop a measurement plan to quantify the impact video has made for your brand, and then scale. 

Video is everywhere, and it’s one of the reasons we know social media is the average consumer's media-of-choice. Video offers everything consumers want, and everything brands need to take advantage of this new-media renaissance.