Social Commerce: The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling

Social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook have become full-blown shopping destinations where customers discover, browse, and make purchases — all without ever leaving the app. It’s because social commerce blurs the line between entertainment and product discovery, scrolling and shopping. The approach you take to marketing and selling products on social media can make a significant impact on your bottom line. Here’s everything you need to know about social selling — and how to turn followers into customers.

Social commerce is the process of selling products and services directly within social media platforms. This streamlines the customer journey, allowing users to discover, browse, and purchase items without ever leaving the app or pausing their scroll session. Social commerce combines social media engagement with the convenience of ecommerce, turning likes and shares into sales.

There’s a reason 40% of Gen Z use TikTok for shopping discovery. It’s convenient and optimized for mobile-first users who do most of their browsing and buying on smartphones. Here are more benefits:

• Shorten the path to purchase: Social commerce removes friction by allowing customers to buy instantly in a way that feels like part of their social scroll, reducing cart abandonment. You also capture spontaneous purchases that don’t likely happen on websites.
• Lower your customer acquisition costs (CAC): Social sharing and organic reach through shares, tags, and content marketing can reduce your CAC, and help your target audience discover products in ways that feel familiar and built-in to their daily lives.
• Built-in social proof: Customer reviews, user-generated content (UGC), and influencer endorsements build trust and credibility naturally within the platform.
• Create authentic brand connections: Engaging with customers through comments, DMs, and interactive content feels organic and builds relationships beyond transactions.
• Leverage data-driven personalization: Use platform insights and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools to deliver highly targeted product recommendations based on user behavior and preferences.
• Real-time engagement and feedback: Interact with customers, answer questions, and address concerns during the shopping journey. This helps you get instant feedback, conduct sentiment analysis, and make better product, marketing, and messaging decisions.

Social commerce combines technical features with social strategies to create a smooth, community-driven shopping experience. Here are the important elements of social commerce:

Imagine you're browsing Instagram and see a jacket on a celebrity. Usually, you'd have to leave Instagram, open a browser, search for the product, hoping to find it. But shoppable content carries a clickable digital price tag and a link, enabling an immediate purchase. This turns every piece of content into a potential sales opportunity — whether it's an influencer showcasing an outfit, a tutorial video featuring your product, or behind-the-scenes content that inspires customers to buy.

Dedicated Shop tabs or virtual storefronts (for example, Facebook Shops, Instagram Shop, TikTok Shop, Pinterest Shop) allow you to display your catalog within the social media platforms. These mini-stores function like a website within the app, complete with product collections, search functionality, and filtering options. Customers can browse your full range without leaving the platform. This creates a cohesive brand experience that feels native to where they're already spending time.

If your customers are shopping on social media, they should also be able to checkout their purchase from social media. In fact, about 25% of shoppers buy from social media platforms. Saved payment methods, autofilled addresses, and one-click purchasing make the buying process feel effortless. Plus, it capitalizes on impulse purchases and maintains momentum from discovery to completion.

Collaborate with creators who promote products through engaging, authentic content. Tapping into their established audience's trust boosts your brand and revenue. Through affiliate links, shoppable posts, and sponsored content, influencers can drive significant sales while providing brands access to targeted audiences that traditional advertising struggles to reach. It's word-of-mouth marketing at scale.

Live shopping involves real-time video streams where hosts (typically brand employees or influencers) demo products, offer flash deals, and answer questions instantly. This mimics a home shopping network but with in-app purchase links. And the best part? Live shopping creates urgency and excitement through limited-time offers, live demos, and real-time engagement.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Live, and Facebook Live blend entertainment with commerce. With live shopping expected to grow at a staggering 37.2% annually through 2033 , it should be a key factor in your social commerce strategy.

UGC is like having a thousand honest, unpaid testimonials. When people see real customers (not models) using your products, it builds trust and makes them think, "If it worked for them, it'll work for me." This authenticity cuts through the sales pitch, making shoppers feel confident and leading them to hit the buy button faster. Feature UGC on your social media sites or ecommerce website to encourage your users to flaunt your products. This also fosters a community of users who endorse your brand — at no extra cost.

AR allows customers to digitally "try on" products (like makeup, sunglasses, or clothing) or visualize furniture in their own space using their phone's camera. This helps customers see how a lipstick shade looks on their skin tone or whether a couch fits their living room before making that big purchase.

AR transforms online shopping from abstract imagination into tangible visualization, addressing one of ecommerce's biggest pain points: uncertainty. That’s why platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest have integrated AR try-on features, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Use WhatsApp and platforms like TikTok and Instagram to provide instant customer service, answer product questions, check stock, and even facilitate the final order and payment within the chat interface. Conversational commerce transforms shopping from a transactional click into a personalized experience. Customers can ask, "Do you have this in size medium?" or "When will this be back in stock?" and get immediate answers. You can implement intelligent, autonomous AI agents like Agentforce to assist your customers on WhatsApp and provide personalized recommendations based on past shopping behavior.

Use a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to manage leads, forecast sales, and automate repetitive tasks. A unified AI CRM like Agentforce Commerce enables your sales team with the required insights and data to close high-value deals and potential customers. Plus, it gives you a 360-degree view of your customers’ preferences, interests, and past shopping or browsing behavior, which are useful while creating marketing campaigns and delivering omni-channel experiences.

Businesses and consumers know the heavy hitters when it comes to social ecommerce: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. We’ll understand how each of these platforms can help you grow:

YouTube is an important tool for social commerce because it combines the immersive experiences and trust of video content with direct purchase features. Features like YouTube Shopping, Product Tags in videos, Shorts, or Live Streams, and dedicated Channel Storefronts allow viewers to purchase items in the moment of interest without leaving the platform. And that’s why about 38% of users discover products on YouTube.

Also, YouTube's Affiliate Hub and partnership programs make it easy for brands to leverage a huge network of creators who are highly motivated to drive sales through authentic, shoppable content.

Best for: In-depth product recommendations, tutorials, and reviews (especially for high-value products)

Pro tip: Create or collaborate on detailed, long-form video reviews that compare your product against a competitor or show extensive, real-world use. This builds massive pre-purchase trust. A classic example is YETI’s YouTube content that tells stories of adventure and outdoor life. Viewers don't watch a person review a cooler, they watch a professional fisherman rely on it for three days in a remote location. This shows durability, quality, and extreme performance better than any spec sheet.

Facebook works as a full-funnel advertising and community hub, letting you reach a huge, diverse audience with precise targeting. Facebook (Meta Ads) owns the most advanced advertising platform, allowing you to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and on-platform behaviors. This makes it highly effective for driving direct sales and achieving high return on ad spend (ROAS). Facebook Shops allows you to create a customizable digital storefront directly on their Page and Instagram profile.

Best for: Small and medium businesses (SMBs) and community-based businesses looking to offer a full storefront experience Pro tip: Instead of creating a handful of static ads, upload modular assets with multiple headlines, content, images, and videos to your Meta Ads campaign. The platform's AI will automatically test thousands of combinations in real-time and serve the best-performing ad variation to each specific sub-segment of your audience. This way, your campaign will be more relevant, maximizing your conversion rate.

About 50% of Instagram users interact with at least one brand on the platform every day. That’s nearly a billion users who can discover your brand — no matter where they’re from. Instagram is a key platform for social commerce, because it combines storytelling with features like product tags, Instagram Shop, and native checkout, making it ideal for fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and visually-driven products. Curate your dedicated Shop Tab with seasonal collections, bestsellers, and new arrivals.

Treat your main profile like a storefront window: clear, attractive, and easy to navigate. Use DMs for personalized, prompt customer service, answering product questions and even guiding users through the final steps of a purchase.

Best for: Quirky, short-form videos and carousels featuring visually-driven brands (fashion, beauty, home decor)

Pro tip: AI can help you conduct social media monitoring for new product launches or ecommerce marketing activities. Track engagement, mentions, sentiment, and general trends in real-time. This helps you respond quickly, identify potential customers, and spot viral opportunities before competitors. It also analyzes which content drives the most sales, allowing you to optimize your social commerce strategy based on what actually converts.

76% of Gen Z in the U.S. use TikTok, significantly boosting brand discovery. It plays a crucial role in social commerce by turning entertainment into instant shopping through its unique algorithm and content format. Its discovery bypasses follower counts, allowing products to go viral overnight, a phenomenon known as the "#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt" culture. TikTok's preference for raw, authentic, and relatable short-form video content builds trust faster than traditional, highly polished advertising. Consumers trust the recommendations of creators and micro-influencers who genuinely integrate products into their lifestyle.

Generative AI (Gen AI) tools can analyze top-performing content in your niche, and generate variations of high-converting video shopping ads (VSA). This allows you to test hundreds of ad concepts rapidly without a massive production budget.

Best for: Businesses targeting Gen Z and young millennials.

Pro tip: A CRM like Agentforce Commerce can integrate with TikTok to capture data from users who interact with ads or shop on the platform. This allows you to track return on investment (ROI), build targeted retargeting segments, and deliver personalized follow-up communications outside of the app.

Pinterest serves as a visual discovery and search engine where users arrive with a high commercial intent (planning and shopping mindset), turning inspirational browsing into paths to purchase. Unlike entertainment platforms, the majority of Pinners actively search for ideas, plan projects (weddings, home decor, outfits), and research purchases. Pins have a much longer shelf life than posts on other platforms, acting more like search engine optimization (SEO) results. A well-optimized Pin can generate traffic and sales for months or even years.

Best for: Visually-driven businesses focused on aspirational planning and discovery like home decor, fashion, arts and crafts, food, and travel.

Pro tip: Treat your pins and boards like search terms. Use highly descriptive, long-tail keywords (for example, "minimalist white kitchen cabinet hardware" instead of "hardware") in your Pin titles, descriptions, and Board titles to improve discoverability.

Most Snapchatters (82%) consider shopping their primary hobby. Snapchat’s AR shopping features allow users to visualize products in real-time, boosting conversions and reducing product returns. Snapchat offers performance-driven ad formats, like Dynamic Ads, Collection Ads, and Shoppable Lenses, that support the entire customer journey — from broad brand awareness to purchases.

Creative marketing on your mind? You can integrate your products into a user’s day-to-day tasks to show how they can impact their life. For example, a footwear brand can create shoppable AR Lens that allows users to virtually "try on" different pairs of sneakers simply by pointing their phone camera at their feet. Campaigns like this can bridge the gap between casual browsing and at-home purchase utility.

Best for: Targeting Gen Z with playful, ephemeral content in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle space that benefit from AR try-ons and authentic, behind-the-scenes storytelling

Pro tip: Instead of manually building 3D models for every product, use Snapchat's 3D Asset Manager and related AI-powered tools. They take your existing 2D product photos (the ones you use on your website) and automatically transform them into AR-ready 3D assets. This drastically speeds up the process of creating a full, shoppable AR catalog, making virtual try-ons scalable for hundreds or thousands of products.

Social commerce requires smart strategy, authentic engagement, and continuous optimization. These best practices separate brands that thrive from those that just post and hope:

• Define clear goals: Don't just jump on every platform without setting key performance indicators (KPIs). Choose platforms where your target audience spends time to make sure your social commerce efforts align with your business objectives.
• Create authentic content: Ditch the hard sell and focus on storytelling that resonates. Showcase products in real-life contexts that feel relatable, not staged — and amplify UGC from actual customers.
• Leverage social proof: Display customer reviews and ratings to build confidence. Feature real photos, testimonials, and influencer partnerships that show your products in action. People trust people more than they trust brands.
• Make products discoverable: Use relevant hashtags, keywords, and optimized product descriptions so users can find you. Create curated collections and personalized recommendations that guide shoppers toward products they'll love.
• Provide great customer service: Respond quickly to questions and comments because speed matters in social commerce. Use AI chatbots for instant support when your team isn't available, and hyperpersonalize every interaction.
• Test and optimize continuously: A/B test your content, offers, and formats to see what converts. Adjust your strategy based on real performance data and ecommerce analytics.
• Integrate with existing systems: Connect social commerce to your CRM or ecommerce platform for unified customer data. Syncing with inventory management can avoid stockouts, offering a consistent experience across all channels.

Social commerce is evolving — from simple product tagging to deeply integrated, immersive shopping experiences. And these trends will define the future of commerce:

1. AI-powered shopping assistants: AI agents like Agentforce will manage end-to-end customer journeys, deliver personalized recommendations via chat, and act as personal shopping assistants.

2. Live commerce will continue to evolve: Live commerce is transforming into interactive 'shoppertainment' events featuring gamification, exclusive product drops, and celebrity hosts — shifting from basic demos to real-time audience participation.

3. Social channels rival traditional search engines: TikTok and Instagram function as primary search engines for Gen Z product discovery and research. So prioritize social SEO and optimize content for searchable keywords and discoverability, not just viral engagement.

4. Short-form video dominance: Shoppable short-form videos (Reels, TikToks, Shorts) are the undisputed format for product discovery. Create scroll-stopping, authentic video content for acquiring new customers.

5. Creator-led storefronts will win: Influencers and creators are transitioning into entrepreneurs by launching their branded shops and affiliate links directly on social platforms. This merges the creator economy with retail sales.

6. Be transparent about your sustainable values: Consumers now ask for proof of ethical sourcing, sustainability, and social responsibility. Integrate transparent, authentic storytelling directly into your social commerce experiences.

7. Social commerce through messaging: Conversational commerce is exploding as platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram evolve into shopping channels. This enables highly personalized, high-touch sales directly through DMs and group chats.

8. Social commerce subscriptions: Brands are integrating subscription and membership models directly into social platforms, offering customers regular product deliveries, exclusive benefits, or access to VIP token-gated communities via social apps.

9. Hyperpersonalization with vernacular content: Social commerce will grow through hyper-localization, moving beyond simple translation to creating content that incorporates local dialects, cultural nuances, and regional trends. This strategy is essential for tapping into high-growth, non-English-speaking markets.

10. AI-driven voice and visual search: Users are increasingly using voice assistants and AI visual search (for example, uploading a photo to find a product) to bypass traditional text-based search. Optimize product listings for visual and voice search.

If you already have a presence on social channels and you want to make your social commerce strategy more data-driven and conversion-focused, these steps will help

The goal of month 1 is to asses and optimize your current content and workflows. Here are a few steps:

• Audit your current social media presence: Assess which platforms currently drive the most engagement and traffic to your website. Determine your current customer demographics on each platform to tweak your strategy.
• Choose just one or two platforms to focus on for the next few months: Select platforms that align best with your product and target audience (for instance, TikTok for Gen Z). Start with one primary platform for conversion and one secondary platform for awareness.
• Create initial shoppable content: Generate 10-15 pieces of high-quality content featuring direct product tags and clear calls to action (CTAs). Focus on UGC for initial performance testing.

Now that you have a solid foundation for social commerce, it’s time to focus on driving traffic and conversions through interactive strategies. These steps will help:

• Launch influencer partnerships: Identify 3-5 micro-influencers whose audience matches your ideal customer profile (ICP) on your focus platforms. Authentic, creator-led content can help earn social proof.
• Experiment with live commerce: Host 2-3 short, focused live events on Instagram Live or TikTok Live to demonstrate new products, offer exclusive flash sales, and answer questions in real-time.
• Build community engagement: Create a dedicated groups or broadcast channels for VIP customers. Run polls, and invite customers to submit their content for a chance to be featured. This boosts loyalty and UGC volume.

This month is dedicated to reviewing data, refining tactics, and scaling efforts for long-term growth. Focus on these steps:

• Analyze performance data: Identify which content formats and product categories performed best, and track how they’re contributing to an increase in the number of leads, average order value (AOV), and engagement rate.
• Refine content strategy: Double down on the top-performing content formats and topics. Eliminate or rework low-performing content types and experiment with new CTAs.
• Expand to additional platforms: If your initial platforms are hitting goals, it’s time to scale to the next most relevant platform. Repurpose high-performing content for the new platforms’ native styles.

The scroll is now the shopping aisle. And it’s on you to transform your social media channels into the world’s most dynamic storefront. Good news? Agentforce Commerce is with you every step of the way. It unifies all your customer information, marketing campaigns, and in-store and online purchases, connecting discovery to purchase. Get real-time insights into social ads and store pages to improve conversions. Plus, Agentforce 360 can handle customer service and deliver shopping recommendations round-the-clock to help customers whenever they’re stuck.