5 minutes
How to sell on social media
Your customers are already shopping on social media. Here’s how to make sure they’re shopping from you.
Key points
- US social commerce sales topped $100 billion in 2026.
- Not all platforms convert equally. TikTok Shop outperforms Facebook Shops by nearly 3x.
- Getting seen is only half the job. Checkout friction – wrong payment methods, too many steps – is where most social sales are lost.
Social media has moved beyond discovery. Today, it is where purchases happen – in-app, in the moment, with no need to visit a separate website. For small and medium businesses, that changes the opportunity considerably.
How big is social commerce for small businesses?
The numbers are hard to ignore. US social commerce sales are projected to surpass $100 billion in 2026 – an 18% year-over-year increase, according to eMarketer. Globally, the market sits at $2.11 trillion. Around 58% of US consumers have already bought a product after seeing it on social media.
For SMBs, this is not a future trend. It is the current state of retail.
- 58% of US consumers have made a purchase after seeing a product on social media. (SellersCommerce, 2026)
- $100b+ projected US social commerce sales in 2026 – an 18% year-over-year increase. (eMarketer, 2026)
- 67% of US consumers buy through social media at least once a month. (Portada, cited in Ringly.io, 2026)
If you’re running lean teams and tight budgets, those figures matter because they point to where buying decisions are actually being made. Being visible on social media is no longer sufficient – you need to be sellable there, too.
Which platforms should you prioritize?
Not all platforms drive the same results. Conversion rates vary considerably – and your choice of platform should follow your customers, not the platform with the most users.
Platform | Best for | Conversion rate | Key feature |
TikTok Shop | Product discovery, Gen Z/Millennial buyers | 4.7% | Creator-led purchase triggers |
Instagram Shopping | Visual products, lifestyle brands | 2.1% | Product tagging, Reels integration |
Facebook Shops | Broad reach, local businesses | 1.8% | 280M+ monthly Shops users |
Sources: eMarketer 2026; SellersCommerce 2026. Conversion rates reflect platform averages and will vary by product category, audience and content quality.
TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop converts at 4.7% – more than twice the rate of Instagram Shopping and nearly three times Facebook Shops. It is built for fast discovery driven by short-form video and creator content. If your products are visual, demonstrable or impulse-friendly, TikTok Shop warrants serious attention. One in three adults aged 18–34 have made a purchase on social media, per Bizrate Insights (September 2025), making TikTok the strongest channel for reaching younger buyers.
Instagram Shopping
Instagram Shopping converts at 2.1% and remains the strongest platform for lifestyle, fashion, food and home goods. Product tagging within Reels and Stories keeps your inventory visible during content that already performs. More than one-third of US Instagram users are expected to make purchases on the platform in 2026, according to eMarketer.
Facebook Shops
Facebook Shops converts at 1.8% and reaches the broadest demographic range. Over 280 million people engage with Facebook Shops every month. For businesses targeting 35–54 year-olds or running local campaigns, Facebook remains a reliable channel – particularly when combined with its Marketplace and Groups features.
How do you turn social followers into paying customers?
Platform choice gets you in front of buyers. What converts them is execution. These four approaches consistently move people from browsing to buying.
1. Make your products natively purchasable
If your social profiles do not have shops set up with full product catalogues, do that first. Buyers who cannot purchase without leaving the app frequently do not return. Native checkout removes the friction between interest and transaction. Connect your inventory to the platform's shopping tools and ensure your product images, descriptions and prices are current.
2. Use short-form video as your primary format
Video commerce captured 43% of the social commerce market in 2025, per Mordor Intelligence. The format works because it shows products in context rather than on a white background. You do not need production budgets. Authentic, well-lit demonstrations – showing how a product works, fits or solves a problem – outperform polished ads on every social platform. Aim for 15–60 second formats on TikTok and Reels.
3. Work with micro-influencers in your niche
Eighty-two percent of consumers say they are highly likely to act on a recommendation from a micro-influencer, according to Hostinger research citing multiple sources. Micro-influencers – those with between 5,000 and 50,000 followers – typically have more engaged audiences than larger accounts, and their endorsements carry more credibility with those audiences. Food, fitness, home, beauty or fashion merchants can often reach the right buyers more efficiently through one relevant micro-influencer than through paid ads alone.
4. Treat reviews and user-generated content as a sales asset
Peer-driven recommendations influence 59% of shoppers globally, according to Mordor Intelligence. Ask customers to tag you in posts, share their experience in Stories or leave a review on your shop page. Resharing genuine customer content is among the most cost-effective ways to build social proof – and it signals authenticity to prospective buyers who are wary of polished brand messaging.
What does checkout look like on social media – and why does it matter?
One of the most common reasons buyers drop off at social checkout is a mismatch between the payment methods offered and what they actually want to use. Consumers who shop on social platforms skew younger and mobile-first. That means digital wallets – Apple Pay®, Google Pay™ and buy now, pay later options – are often expected rather than optional.
When you set up your social shop, check which payment methods are accepted and whether they align with your customers' preferences. Worldpay®, now part of Global Payments, supports a wide range of payment methods across social-connected checkout flows, helping you give buyers the options they expect without adding friction at the final step.
Also watch for abandoned carts. Social platforms provide seller analytics showing where buyers drop off. If the data points to checkout, the issue is often payment method availability, page load speed on mobile or the number of steps required to complete a purchase.
Social commerce FAQ
What is social commerce?
Do I need to be on every social platform to sell on social media?
How much does it cost to sell through social media shops?
Is social commerce suitable for service businesses, or only product sellers?
How do I know if my social commerce efforts are working?
What payment methods should I accept on social commerce?
Get the payment mix right at checkout
Worldpay supports flexible payment methods designed for how people shop on social and mobile – including digital wallets, buy now, pay later and card payments – so your buyers get the options they expect at the final step.
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