Social media takes marketing to a new level

 

The merging of social media with online shopping has offered brands endless opportunities.

PETALING JAYA: If your interest has been piqued by what seems like a random video on social media, you have probably stepped into a new realm in marketing and advertising.

Rather than get in your face with a barrage of sound bites and visuals, marketeers are now reaching out to you through videos that show how their products can add value to your life.

This merging of social media with online shopping is offering limitless opportunities for brands across every industry.

Through a new and more subtle yet effective way, brands are extending their reach to shoppers, according to the CEO of e-commerce facilitator Momentum Commerce Sdn Bhd Hans-Peter Ressel.

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Hans-Peter Ressel.

“Through this new medium, brands get to market their products without any hard selling. It’s a fully immersive and seamless shopping experience,” he told FMT Business.

Ressel, who used to serve as CEO of online shopping platform Lazada, said videos on social media platforms, especially TikTok, have the power to pique the viewer’s interest, eventually leading him to purchase the item featured.

TikTok, through its e-commerce arm TikTok Shop, now leads in the social media e-commerce, or simply “social commerce”, shopping space.

Ressel said that in the five months since its launch in Malaysia, Momentum Commerce has seen its revenue generated through the TikTok service rise to 10% on a month-on-month basis.

“I won’t be surprised to see it exceed 20% by the fourth quarter of the year,” he said.

However, he said, this did not mean that retail stores or traditional e-commerce platforms should be abandoned.

“In the end, they all converge or are linked to each other. What’s important is how the brands engage with consumers. At this point, we see social commerce as a new way forward,” he added.

Ressel pointed out that a new platform to engage with consumers would emerge every now and then. “We went from radio to TV, billboards to e-commerce and now we have to focus on social media,” he said.

With the sharp increase in internet usage among young people in Southeast Asia, using social media to reach out to them is now the way to go.

Ressel also advised businesses to ensure transactions on their respective social commerce sites are secure and reliable to protect the interests of their customers.

“There is also a need to collaborate with the authorities to ensure that the interests of consumers and businesses are aligned and equally protected,” he said.

Nonetheless, he also warned against over-regulating. “Too many rules and regulations tend to stifle innovation. We must let businesses innovate, but (just) not at the expense of security and data protection,” he said.

According to a report by a research firm GlobeNewswire, the social commerce industry in Malaysia is expected to grow by 45.2% on an annual basis to reach US$1.33 billion (RM5.99 billion) by the end of 2022.

The industry is also expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a compound annual growth rate of 41.2% from 2022 to 2028. - FMT