With increased online transactions in a low-touch economy, social commerce has been thriving. According to a survey conducted by PwC, since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer habits for online shopping have increased by 45%.
Incidentally, 70% of shopping enthusiasts were found to use Instagram for product discovery, which is no surprise as it has become one of the most popular social commerce platforms.
What is Social Commerce?
Social commerce is a series of shopping experiences carried out through social media platforms. As reported by a Deloitte survey, 74% of consumers rely on social media to buy goods. Utilizing social media as a platform for doing business allows direct interaction with consumers. The occurrence of direct interaction with consumers on social media can increase consumer’s confidence in businesses.
Not only that, the widespread use of influencers as a marketing strategy on social media has a direct impact on consumer confidence. Based on a McKinsey and Deloitte survey, consumers trust influencer recommendations on social media. Hence, turning to social commerce is the right decision for most businesses.
One of the most popular platforms for social commerce is Instagram. Being one of the countries with the highest number of Instagram users, Indonesia has the potential as an Instagram market in the Asia Pacific. More than 40% of the e-commerce market in Indonesia is made up of social commerce. It affirms Instagram as a promising platform in Indonesia for doing business.
Instagram: Most Popular Social Commerce Platform
Instagram emerged as a social commerce platform for the first time in 2019. To date, Instagram functions is still a rising social media platform but has also been augmented significantly for social commerce. The fact that consumer utilizationof social commerce has increased by 34.8%, with Instagram as the key player, it is no wonder that there are 130 million taps on Instagram Shopping uploads every month, making Instagram a no-brainer choice for businesses in engaging customers and potential markets.
One of the features that support Instagram as a social commerce platform is Instagram Shopping. This feature has made it easier for consumers to shop by uploading photos and videos directly from Instagram. For example, the product label feature eases businesses in highlighting their products so that consumers can easily find out about the products uploaded on the homepage. Furthermore, to maximize the consumer shopping experience and facilitate business interactions with consumers, Instagram also released its Messenger API for Instagram in 2021. Messenger API for Instagram emerged as a social commerce platform for the first time in 2019. To date, Instagram functions is still a rising social media platform but has also been augmented significantly for social commerce. The fact that consumer utilizationof social commerce has increased by 34.8%, with Instagram as the key player, it is no wonder that there are 130 million taps on Instagram Shopping uploads every month, making Instagram a no-brainer choice for businesses in engaging customers and potential markets.
One of the features that support Instagram as a social commerce platform is Instagram Shopping. This feature has made it easier for consumers to shop by uploading photos and videos directly from Instagram. For example, the product label feature eases businesses in highlighting their products so that consumers can easily find out about the products uploaded on the homepage. Furthermore, to maximize the consumer shopping experience and facilitate business interactions with consumers, Instagram also released its Messenger API for Instagram in 2021.
Messenger API for Instagram & Instagram Direct: Do They Differ?
Instagram released its Messenger API for Instagram in June 2021 to help businesses improve consumer shopping experiences and increase customer satisfaction by allowing meaningful conversations. Research conducted by Facebook and BCG found that 94% of consumers in Indonesia will tend to buy products from responsive sellers. This is a strong point of consideration for businesses to start implementing the Messenger API for Instagram.
The Messenger API for Instagram is only catered for Instagram Business Accounts and supports conversations between two people. The Messenger API for Instagram also allows businesses to integrate their Instagram accounts into other channels, such as WhatsApp, via multichannel chat in a single dashboard. In addition, with the Messenger API for Instagram, businesses can now assign customer service agents to handle messages from Instagram on their multichannel dashboards.
The Messenger API for Instagram provides several feature sets that distinguish it from regular Instagram direct messages.
Start Using Messenger API for Instagram to Grow Your Business!
Customer satisfaction depends on their experience transacting with you. Integrating two or more messaging platforms in one dashboard can help your business increase its effectiveness in communicating with consumers.
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