For business owners who are transitioning to social commerce, understanding the difference between live selling and conventional e-commerce is essential.
Learning how the two differ (and resemble) helps you handle both effectively, allowing you to get the most of each sales channel.
Though every Facebook marketing strategy has its benefits, Facebook Live streams have exploded in popularity amidst the pandemic and have proved to be a lucrative option.
So, let’s look at some differences between live selling and other sales channels.
Live Selling Brings More Engagement and Interaction
For years, marketing and sales folks have been telling us that positive interaction with potential customers boosts sales. But traditional e-commerce provided next to no opportunities to interact with your audience.
A person would visit your lifeless website, add products to the cart, enter the details, and leave without ever getting to know you. The lack of customer interaction created a trust deficit, and businesses never had time to build a loyal audience.
Luckily, live selling allowed small businesses to communicate with their audience.
With Facebook live selling, your customers get to know you and your business better. When you show your face and personality on camera, you can form strong emotional bonds with your audience. Since social media is a two-way communication channel, your customers feel more connected to you.
Live selling enables you to build a loyal following instead of a customer base. Remember, people like to do business with the people they know.
Thus, by live selling, you can talk with your audience in real-time, answer their queries, and get more social engagement.
Guess what? All these things can directly increase your sales.
Quality Over Quantity
When building your audience for live selling, it’s crucial to choose quality over quantity. As opposed to other sales channels, having a large Facebook following won’t do any good to your business.
Instead, focus on building a small but staunch audience who converts better and is your true advocate. When live selling, the goal is not just to get a huge number of viewers but to build an engaged, high-converting audience.
So instead of paying heed to vanity metrics, focus on your customers so that your conversion rate goes up.
Your Following Builds Over Time
Getting the first few viewers for your Facebook Live is an uphill task. But once your live selling business picks up steam, your audience grows dramatically and continues to do so.
This shows that live selling has no constraints.
Your Audience Is Your SEO Expert
SEO is the most troublesome and time-taking part of any online venture. Either you’ve created a website or a listing on Lazada/Shopee, you have to optimize your texts, get those links, and then wait… for months.
If you are one of those who hate SEO (or even paid advertising), live selling is a dream come true for you. Live selling eliminates the need for marketing, offering a significant advantage over other sales channels.
Since it loves live videos, Facebook’s algorithm itself will promote your live stream. Your audience’s comments and shares will be in charge of boosting your videos’ visibility instead of an SEO consultant.
Also, huge live selling groups on Facebook enable you to get traffic to your page. Read more about getting your early audience.
Best of all, it won’t take months or money to get viewers.
Live Selling Requires You to Have a Team
Live selling requires you to have a dedicated team to ensure the smooth running of your business. The key positions you need to fill are:
Host
The host is the face of your business. It’s their personality that attracts the audience. Although you can hire someone, it’s best to host your shows yourself.
Admin
Just like you need a virtual assistant for an e-commerce business, you need an admin when selling live. Your admin will set up the live session and manage your page.
Packers
Packing items for shipment is a tedious task, so it’s better to hire professional packers.
Couriers
They will dispatch products to your customers.
Hiring a team may seem expensive, but it isn’t. When you’re hosting the show, all you need is an admin. As for the other members, you’ll need them when your business grows.
The more orders you get, the more packers and couriers you will need. So, you won’t have to pay hefty salaries upfront.
Apart from the personnel, you will need software, like Upmesh, to track the orders and inventory because any human will need long hours to do these tasks. Upmesh can also capture comments as orders and invoice the customers, reducing your chores.
Be the Early Bird
In an era when online businesses are dealing with cutthroat competition, having a new and less competitive market is a blessing.
Despite an upsurge in its popularity, live selling is still a new trend in many parts of Asia. Though they’ve witnessed its success, a lot of business owners are reluctant to enter the unchartered waters of social commerce.
By taking the plunge now, you can capitalize on a vast, untapped market, facing no significant competition.
Besides adding another sales channel to your physical business, you can get a competitive advantage by selling through Facebook Live. By the time your competitors jump on the bandwagon, you would already have built a staunch following.
Since a live selling target audience is built around unique products and a unique personality, your competitors can’t replicate the same or steal your customer easily.
So be the early bird and catch the worm.
Conclusion
These were some differences between live selling and other sales channels you should consider whenever starting your venture. Knowing these little differences beforehand helps you succeed.
Still confused? Contact us and let our specialists help you.