As a retailer, you are likely using social media platforms to connect with existing customers and engage potential customers. But are you using these platforms to their fullest advantage, maximizing the potential to add sales and expand your customer base through such platforms as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and others?
Social commerce is growing rapidly and shifting how consumers discover and purchase products online. According to an Emarketer survey, sales through social media have grown dramatically in the last five years. While social commerce delivered just under $27 billion in sales in 2020, in 2025, those same platforms will reach just under $80 billion in sales. According to a Statista survey, social selling accounted for 17 percent of online retail sales in 2025, with more than 100 million consumers in the U.S. alone embracing purchasing via the social media apps they spend time on each day.
Driving the growth of social commerce is the rapid adoption of selling on these platforms. According to a Kepios report, as of October 2025, 5.66 billion people have at least one social media account. That’s approximately 65 percent of the global population. The average user spends close to 19 hours each week on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. This creates a market opportunity for retailers willing to embrace a more connected approach to online shopping, which can add to the bottom line and strengthen customer relationships.
Social Selling Best Practices
Key to success in social sales is creating a strategy that converts followers into customers. That requires understanding your consumers, choosing your selling channels carefully and measuring performance to ensure your strategies are bringing results. According to Shopify, the following social media channels currently work best for building a social sales strategy: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest.
Some tips from Shopify for social sales include:
- Choose the right social commerce platform. Assess your customers and choose the platform they use most. For example, Millennials tend to spend more time on Instagram while Gen Z focuses more on TikTok.
- Use live streaming. Livestreaming can be a great way to showcase your product and talk about your unique selling proposition. It’s also a great way to build deeper personal connections with followers.
- Stay engaged with customers. You can’t always be on live video, but you can keep instant messaging open to connect with customers quickly if they have questions about a product they are considering. Instant messaging not only helps customers with their decisions, it makes online shopping feel more personal. In addition, connecting your chat system with your commerce system lets you see what a customer is purchasing, so you can give advice and suggest additional products tailored to their shopping experience.
- Partner with influencers. Influencer marketing continues to grow as a popular method of driving sales. Influencer marketing is expected to reach $22.2 billion by the end of this year. Audiences value the opinions of influencers they follow, so an endorsement can boost online sales. In addition, partnering with an influencer can increase social engagement levels on your posts as their audiences pay attention to their recommendations.
- Target ad performance. You’ll want your social ads to reach those consumers who are more likely to buy the products you’re offering. Using targeted lists will not only help boost your sales, it will save marketing dollars because you are reaching an engaged audience.
Tools You Can Use
While setting up social selling platforms can boost business reach and sales, as a busy retailer, getting set up comes with a learning curve and time you may need for other tasks. Since you might not want to pass up some of these newer opportunities, in addition to education on the platforms themselves — Facebook Shop, Instagram Shopping and TikTok Shop, for example — there are tools that can help you streamline and track your efforts.
Hubspot Sales Hub
Hubspot Sales Hub offers tools to help define, automate and analyze your social media efforts and selling opportunities. Hubspot helps you find new customers, craft engaging content, build relationships and revenue, and understand what works with your audience. Pricing starts at $45/month for a starter program, $800 a month for the Professional tier and $3,600 a month at the Enterprise tier. Visit hubspot.com for more information.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite makes social selling easier by providing centralized tools designed to manage, engage and measure social media sales efforts from a central dashboard. The tools it provides include allowing users to schedule social posts, monitor conversations and brand mentions and engage with audiences across more than one social media platform. Hootsuite also integrates CRM systems and can automate direct messages. Social listening and analytics tools help sales teams stay on top of customer relationships and generate leads. Hootsuite starts with a standard plan at $99 a month per user up through Custom Enterprise, with pricing tailored to needs. On its standard and Advanced ($249 a month per user) pricing tiers, there is a 30-day free trial option. Visit hootsuite.com for more information.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social can help with everything from scaling your customer engagement to streamlining your social content and providing analytics that help you develop better social selling strategies. Using AI tools, Sprout Social can handle large volumes of social messages through AI and automation. Sprout’s planning and scheduling tools help craft content that resonates with your audience. Sprout’s analytics tools also unlock insights on what resonates with customers, helps identify market trends, and analyzes the ROI of your social impact. Tiered pricing for Sprout Social runs from Standard ($199/month per seat) to Advanced ($399/month per seat). The company offers a 30-day free trial. For more information, visit sproutsocial.com
