Director, Strategic Partnerships

Partnership Series: Peak Season Success with Social Commerce

From holiday to back-to-school, peak season for any e-commerce brand is a time of celebration, fun, and sometimes nail biting pressure to turn up the results. To defend your nails and improve your bottom line, we are here to share how you can use social commerce to make this the best peak season yet. 

In order to optimize towards the ideal social media marketing mix, we met with our social team at Rise and platform partners to gather all the facts and some behind the scenes tips. We found the trends, innovations, and optimizations you need to start implementing today for a strategic social commerce playbook. Check them out below! 


Plan Ahead

  1. Consumers shop early. With longer sale periods and shipping timelines, make sure to build excitement early, even months beforehand, in order to spread awareness and fill your remarketing pool. 

  2. Test now. Aim to run any testing before your peak season formally begins so you have significant learnings on what is and is not exceeding goals. With a strong, data based foundation, you can successfully combine tried and true tactics with innovative social commerce strategies during the big event.

  3. Check that all tracking is in place prior to the season in order to best report on your investments. Take the time to ask questions and connect to advanced tracking with tools like Meta’s Conversion API or Snapchat retargeting pixels.

  4. Be Present Across Platforms. Social media spans across more platforms and audiences than ever before, with consumers also regularly engaging across multiple social touchpoints, making your presence on multiple platforms that much more important. Each platform plays a significant role within the consumer shopping journey, many that go well beyond perceptions. For example, TikTok's largest audience is millennials, not Gen-Z, and more than half of Snapchat's users are over 25 years old. Pinterest is a hub for discovery and inspiration, while Reddit facilitates authentic product education and community. Brands need to create a healthy multi-platform combination to reach unique audiences, while also meeting consumers wherever they are. 

TIP: Keep track of performance across platforms with Rise’s proprietary technology, Connex!  Manage and optimize your cross-channel data, all in one place, for superior results that exceed goals.


How to Leverage Social Commerce to Address the Latest Macro Shopping Trends

To make your brand’s ideal strategy, there are three macro shopping trends that the social platforms will help you take on. While all platforms are pushing the limits from awareness to conversion, we dug into how some are specifically tackling these trends:


1. Creators & Influencers 

Creators are key! Consumers care where their content is coming from and they want to discover and buy from who they follow and trust. The tremendous growth of influencer marketing has provided a more personalized way for brands to diversify their creative source and amplify their message authentically. Here’s why:

  • Google reported that uploads of videos with “Shop with Me” in the title increased by over 60% since last year. Their creator network, Brand Connect,  is another avenue where brands can consider influencer marketing on YouTube and elsewhere in the Google ecosystem. 
  • 1/3 of Meta beauty shoppers discover new brands from creators
  • 42% of TikTok users say they are likely to discover products from creator videos


74% of users claimed TikTok helped them decide what to buy and 33% of GenZ TikTokers researched or purchased a product a creator reviewed.


2. On-Platform Shopping

Not only do consumers care who and where their content comes from, they also want a seamless shopping experience. And the social platforms have invested in innovation to do just that - simplify the checkout experience. Consumers want a fast and easy path to purchase and brands need to maximize those spontaneous buys!

Meta knows that in order to reach new customers this holiday shopping season, you need to make any moment, a shopping moment.

Meta provides the #1 platform for online discovery, overtaking ecommerce and search. 


Meta’s collection of shoppable ads, like Ads with Product Tags, Advantage+ Catalog Ads (formerly Dynamic Ads) and Digital Circulars, turn discoveries into purchases, all across the Meta owned platforms. 

The Instagram checkout experience has also brought the checkout journey inside the platform, so consumers don’t even have to leave. 

Fewer steps to purchase → Easier user experience → More conversions



Speaking of conversions, the world watches YouTube, but do they visit to view or also to buy? Here is a number you may not expect:

70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube.


The advertising world in general is seeing a growing investment in Connected TV with Google pushing more money into YouTube, making it the #1 place to reach viewers across all devices. There also are Shoppable ad placements beyond video, creating the opportunity for brands to more seriously look at YouTube for high conversion and return performance for holiday. Their Shoppable formats make it easy not only for brands to connect their product feeds to videos, but also to drive users to purchase then and there!


Whether YouTube is new to you or you are looking to expand a current approach, this holiday is the perfect time to incorporate more YouTube and drive results you care about.


3. Augmented Reality 

Product checkout experiences are not the only way platforms are innovating to make a seamless and engaging customer journey. They've also invested heavily in Augmented Reality (AR) to make it happen.


Two-thirds of online shoppers say they want to virtually try-on products from home and 74% say that AR bridges the gap between online and offline experiences.

Snapchat AR Users have a 94% higher conversation rate, and 81% of shoppers said they are more confident in their purchases after using AR.


If you’re new to AR ads, Snapchat's camera first focus makes it very easy for brands to opt in. There are no minimums and their AR Builder tool makes creative production a breeze. Plus, the platform is the second-largest source of AR discovery during shopping, after store websites.


Now that you're ready for your busiest sales season, if you want to learn more about crafting impactful social media strategies year-round, don’t hesitate to contact us!

07/03/2023 at 11:37