Summit Recap: What’s Next for Social Commerce

What’s the secret for brands who want to tap into the power of the creator economy? Sahil Patel, reporter for The Information, sat down to find out the answers with three experts from the creator commerce world:

• Kenny Gold, managing director, head of social, content and influencer, Deloitte Digital 
• Megan Tobin, head of creator shopping marketing, LTK
• Karen Chimal, director of creator partnerships, IPSY 

Shopping Trends Post-Pandemic

Patel started off the conversation by asking the panelists how the e-commerce landscape has shifted from the peak of the pandemic.

Kenny Gold of Deloitte answered first. “I think impulse buying is still a thing. I think people are still browsing and buying.” In fact, he said, “64% of Gen Z is going to buy something from a brand if a creator they trust bought it.”

Karen Chimal of IPSY noticed that virality has created a more level playing field. “I think something really interesting that TikTok has done is diversified things. On Instagram it’s all about who has the biggest following, whereas on TikTok, you can have a small creator go viral on the basis of a single product. That’s something that’s new and different from before.”

While Tobin acknowledged that impulse buying is still happening, she also noted a more considered behavior throughout the landscape. “The pandemic served as a 24-month master class on how to make a purchase decision.” She added, “You’re not just looking for impulse, you’re looking for quality within that impulse—something that you don’t have to turn around and return. Creators can lean into purchase confidence, because they’re at the forefront of it. They’re doing the legwork for the consumer.”

Giving Up Control for Authenticity

To be successful in the creator commerce space, marketers need to trust the creator to interpret the brand for their audience—and that can be hard. As Tobin sees it, “Creators are only as valuable as the trust they have with their audience. If I recommend this dress and it falls apart after one wash, you’re not going to listen to me again. As a brand marketer, I would put more trust in a creator who’s selling a product alongside of me versus an ad I have limited control over.”

Gold’s advice is to get away from traditional thinking. “Brands need to understand that the days of just putting a thirty-second spot on TV [and] letting it run are over. It’s not a one-way communication world anymore. Brands still feel like they harness all the power because they have the money. But the truth is this is a co-creation world. Marketers in the room who aren’t leaning into co-creation are officially behind.”

How to Build a Long-Term Relationship With Creators

Gold brought up a survey that Deloitte had done at the beginning of this year, asking creators about what mattered most to them. “No. 1 was long-term partnerships with brands.”

To that end, Chimal advised, “I think it’s important for brands to connect to the creators as humans. That really started happening during Covid because we were on Zoom and seeing each other’s spaces. ‘Hey, you’re in my house, my dog is barking. This is me. This is who I am.’ It’s about building that relationship over time. It’s knowing what creators like, what they’re interested in and how we can help them.”

Gold recommended maintaining those relationships through quarterly check-ins. “We encourage brands on a quarterly basis to evaluate their creator strategy, to look deep and understand how things performed. What are the areas the creator cares about? What does their calendar look like? What are the 10 poles that matter? Having that strategy refresh quarter over quarter is really important to maintaining those relationships.”

What’s on the Horizon for Social Commerce?

Gold thinks the future is about going back to the basics: brand hygiene. “Brands have to get the pipes right, understand their commerce tools, enable their catalogs properly and ensure the experience is as seamless as possible. Right now we’re piecing a lot of things together and trying to make it work with what we have.”

For creators, Tobin feels the next step is future-proofing. “Make sure you’re controlling your own shop, because the ecosystem will change. Every two years for the last 10 years, we saw something new, something different, whether that’s a different space or a different feature. The next 10 years we can expect the same. Make sure you’re steering the ship and that you don’t just overmonetize towards a feature of the day.”

The Old Rules Don’t Apply

Being successful in the social commerce space depends on brands being able to change time-honored behavior. The old world of marketing and advertising was about controlling the brand. But with creators, brands need to trade control for something that sells better: authenticity. Build true partnerships and embrace a future of constant change, and the audience will follow.