The 5Cs That Are Driving Social Selling

At 2 am or thereabouts, just as she logs out of Netflix and prepares to go to sleep, communication professional Anamika Mehta scrolls through Instagram spots an offer from an apparel brand on her feed and follows the link, clicking the buy button.

- Amrita Nair-Ghaswalla

There is a big spike in ‘Casual shopping’ as more and more people like Mehta learn about products on social media. With platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and WhatsApp upgrading their commerce offerings, social commerce is exploding.

“In today’s digital age, social commerce has become critical to B2C businesses,” says Anish Patel, Founding Partner at AMJ Ventures, a US-based family fund that invests in early-stage consumer and consumer-tech opportunities.

In India, Patel says the fund has seen more people online than ever before, specifically on social media sites. If a brand is not taking advantage of social, it is missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population. “It is imperative a brand needs to be exactly where the customer is. If the customer is spending significant time on sites like Facebook and Instagram, then a brand needs to develop engaging content directly on those platforms,” he adds.

Authenticity appeals

Social selling is on the rise, driven by the 5Cs — content, customer voice, convenience, conversation, and commerce.