Astro standing in front of a social commerce setup for buying headphones and speakers on an ecommerce site

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce brings social media platforms and technologies together to make shopping online easier. It enables users to buy products directly through social networks or to share, recommend, and discuss products with their connections.

Illustrated cover of the Salesforce State of Commerce report, contains a person with brown hair holding a tablet device.

Explore data and get insights from 2,700 commerce leaders.

AI. Productivity. New priorities and solutions. See what leaders are prioritizing.

A video showing various features of Salesforce Commerce Cloud, a complete commerce platform built on the world's most trusted CRM

Grow revenue everywhere with Commerce Cloud.

Scale your business with the most complete commerce platform.

Astro wearing a backpack standing in front of a Commerce Cloud newsletter.

Stay up to date on all things commerce.

Sign up for our monthly commerce newsletter to get the latest research, industry insights, and product news delivered straight to your inbox.

Social commerce FAQs

Social commerce integrates shopping directly within social media platforms, allowing users to discover, browse, and purchase products without leaving their social feed.

It enables businesses to reach customers where they already spend their time, increase brand engagement, drive direct sales, and leverage social proof through user-generated content.

Features include in-app checkout, shoppable posts and stories, live shopping events, product tagging, and direct messaging for customer support and sales inquiries.

Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest are widely used for social commerce, offering various tools for businesses to sell products.

Social media marketing aims to build brand awareness and drive traffic to an external site, while social commerce completes the entire transaction within the social platform itself.

Influencers are key to social commerce, promoting products authentically to their followers and often providing direct links or embedded purchase options within their content.

It is particularly effective for visually appealing products and brands that thrive on community engagement, but its applicability depends on the target audience and product nature.