Download the full eBook here: http://bit.ly/1yv7eMJ The time has come for us to have a chat about selling via social. For years it’s been a taboo topic with the leading experts shouting, “social isn’t for selling, it’s for brand building and communication.” They were right. Kinda. As social media communities have matured over the years, both the brands that drive the communication and the communities who receive and engage have evolved to a point where conversations around selling are not just permissible, but encouraged. Social commerce is a reality and brands are starting to ask the tough questions of their social media teams. Can we convert some of our investment into these communities into revenue? It’s a fair question and one that can’t be dismissed with the flippant, “social isn’t for selling” response. It is possible to commercialise your social media platforms but, as always, it needs to be done correctly. The starting point for doing it correctly is to understand what is meant by social commerce. Social commerce is a catch-all phrase that describes any kind of commercial activities conducted on and via social media channels and platforms. The phrase casts a wide net. Almost too wide to be helpful. Based on almost a decade’s experience building social strategies for some of South Africa’s top brands, Cerebra developed the Social Commerce Journey, a paper detailing the six levels of social commerce. Our aim with this paper was to help businesses take the first critical step in developing social commerce strategy: understand what you’re dealing with.

2. Social commerce isn’t one thing, it’s a catchall phrase
that describes a number of different ways of using
social platforms to conduct commerce. The problem is
that it’s quite broad, and when a company starts to talk
about commercialising their social platforms,
the single phrase isn’t actually helpful because it
encompasses so many things.

3. In order to better understand the opportunities for
social commerce within your business, you need
to differentiate between the various categories of
“commerce” that are available to you in these channels.

4. At Cerebra, with just under a decade of experience
helping corporate brands extract value from social, we
have identified six categories.
Social Commerce -back to basics
Level 6: Social Transacting
Level 5: Social Currency
Level 4: Shop And Share
Level 3: e-Commerce In Social
Level 2: Social Advertising
Level 1: Social Sales Content

5. But first it’s important to
understand the
sequential strategic steps
that position your business for
social commerce.
1 2 3 4 5 6

6. This initial stage of your strategy will focus on
expanding audiences and acquiring likes, fans, and
followers.
Growth:
Engagement:
Once you’ve acquired likes, fans and followers you’ll
need to focus on increasing the percentage of that
audience that speaks with or about you.

7. The next task is increasing the percentage or ratio
of positive conversation in that engagement, which
is obviously beneficial to the business.
sentiment:
Leads:
Then you can look at converting reach, engagement
and positive sentiment in social media into direct
sales opportunities and transactions.

8. Social sales content is any form of content published
by a brand with the purpose of promoting products or
services. This would include, among other examples,
adapting an advert from your above-the-line campaign
in an update or post, writing about a special offer, or
any post with a sales call-to-action.
Levelone:
Social salescontent----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. Leveltwo:
Socialadvertising
Social advertising is the purchasing of advertising
inventory within social media websites. Most of these
websites rely on advertising as their primary source of
revenue, so they have a variety of advertising options
available to brands.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10. A number of brands (specifically Facebook) have
experimented with building e-commerce functionality
directly into their social profiles. Instead of trying to
get people to leave their social media habitat to go to
your e-commerce site, you bring the e-commerce site to
them and create a “shopping tab”.
Levelthree:
e-Commerceinsocial----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. Shop and share is an increasingly popular version
of social commerce for brands looking to activate
commerce through their social channels and encourage
customers to promote their support or purchase on their
personal social profiles.
Levelfour:
Shopandshare----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. There are two different versions of social currency
within this category. The first is where a user’s social
updates act as a currency. The second version of social
currency is where your community’s social activity
earns an actual currency.
Levelfive:
Socialcurrency----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. Social transacting is the ultimate goal in social
commerce. This is where your communities can
transact directly and completely in, or using, their
social accounts.
Levelsix:
Socialtransacting----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14. In order to embark on the journey towards
commercialising your social media properties and
making a return on your social media investments,
it’s important to not look at social commerce as
a single, homogenous, term. Instead, look at the
various types of social commerce, understand how
they relate and progress into each other, know
where your community is from a maturity level, and
plan a course of action that not only benefits your
business but also adds value to the community you
are trying to serve.

15. Download the full report here:
Check out other resources like this one at
www.cerebra.co.za/resources

17. AboutCerebra----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cerebra was founded in 2006 as a communication agency helping corporate brands enter
the social media space. Since then, Cerebra has grown into Africa’s social business authority
with a team of incredibly talented, hard-working personalities who share a passion for helping
businesses transition from industrial age thinking to information age delivery.
The Cerebra business comprises four key components: Agency, Academy, Insights and
Advisory, offering services covering social media marketing, training, research and
strategic direction.
We are in the business of aiding companies in building communities, engaging with
these communities and finally activating these communities through the appropriate
communication channels, whether traditional or social media.
For more visit www.cerebra.co.za