The Future of Social Commerce: Live Selling, FOMO & Creator Monetization w/ Josephine Wong

0:00So to get into social commerce, you need to figure out that thing that you have that anyone else has. and that is either where you live your experiences and then hone in on that

0:13hey joe welcome to the show how are you good thank you for having me it's great to be here absolutely we keep like you know we're gonna touch base on a lot of things today of course social commerce we already discussed in the past but i think that this is gonna be a very packed you know episode specifically about what is social commerce how things changed in past years so we're going to get into that in a second. But before doing that, usually a lot of our guests to present themselves. And we use this thing called the map. Basically, it's divided feeling and actions, right? So it's just an easy way, right, for you to get everything in a couple of minutes.

0:49Basically, it's the mission. So imagine what you aim to achieve with your work. The second one is achievements. So anything that you are really proud of, an audible milestone could be in your career life or both. And the last one is the purpose. So why do you do what you do? Yeah. Yeah, I can kick off. I love this actual way or format of thinking about my life. I would say a little challenging, but I think one of the things that continue to excite me in terms of my mission, my career, and also I think about my life is that I love building new products, new experiences, and having a true impact on people around me.

1:22So that's both in terms of my professional career as well as my personal life. And I think for a very important part of why I'm so excited at CommonSold and working on the product with our team, truly is because we're really empowering entrepreneurs and business owners to really scale and build their business. It brings me so much satisfaction and joy to see the impact we've made on all the small, medium businesses that have all grown to have their own voice, their own power and their own space in the world. And that truly really excites me. When I reflect on my career and, you know, and think about how far I've come or my achievements, I'm very blessed in a sense to really have many, many careers in one.

2:01I've gone from being a consultant, working for Fortune 50 companies to a private equity operator across, you know, Asia and Europe and the U.S. And then now, you know, and being a founder myself as well previously. And then now I come in as an executive. I think when I think back about my achievements, I think about all the people that I've worked with and how I've been able to mentor and empower a lot of the team members I've worked with and help them grow into directors, senior directors along their career. And again, comes back to my point around that I made earlier. I think back about all the CEOs I've worked with and how we help them come up with a better strategy and really make true impact either that is a revenue basis or a growth basis.

2:41That's really what stands out to me when I think back on my career. and all that comes comes together for me about what i do what i do every day when i wake up have those long days long calls with my team everybody with our creators we're retailers what keeps me going is my true my true motivation lies in really helping more people see financial independence and actually get independence from building their own businesses so like i want to be the easiest solution and tool to allow anyone that wants to be a creator anyone wants to be a retailer anyone when I want to be part of social commerce, can click on one button and then do it, right?

3:17So they can either get themselves out of situations they don't want to be in or just find another way to really pursue their passion and creativity. That's really what I want to be and build a product that can create that impact for the world today. Amazing. Now, thank you for that. It's really helpful. And so let's go into right these, right? Like, you know, maybe you could also tell us a bit more like, you know, what our pop store and comments are like, you know, together, but, you know, different features there. and so first of all I can understand a bit like more about the main features right that you offer there and also how did it change social commerce because now it's a big buzzword right but it has been there for a long time especially in China and other countries so I would like to see from you like again what are the things that changed the most in your opinion and if you can tell me about like maybe what are some of the features that access you the most lately yeah absolutely I think Commitment has actually been around for eight years now and I would call us the og of comment commerce social commerce so the company actually was founded eight years ago by founder brandon cruz which he created a product for his then girlfriend and now wife she actually had a facebook group that like that she had true influence over right people constantly ask her where do i buy that where do i buy that so he created comments what is a way to automate her life because she was a full-time nurse and she couldn't do that manually and there was no products out there so he actually created comments for her and then everyone jumped on the bandwagon to be like i'm on facebook i'm selling to my community i want that and that's really how the company has grown to be who we are today transacting over 5 billion gmv across all thousands 7 000 plus retailers and creators we have in our network and that's how you know when i think about it that social commerce may have changed in terms of the channels and how it display yourself but it all comes back to very hard of it of finding the person that you feel like you can trust the person that has authenticity and the person you trust the product reviews that's truly how it has grown and the same formula that exists across countries right even in china which is the leading of social commerce people only buy for that person when they truly trust and i call them the true influencers so they're not a model that just posts a picture they're not just someone that does a collab one-off there's someone i look at a live and go i need everything that she's wearing i want everything she's eating that's what true influences and that's what social commerce leans into so that formula has retained you know i would say even in the last eight years for us at common soul and every product that we launch in the market that is a required part of our recipe for success for whoever we works with so of course like when we first started facebook mark Facebook was the channel, right?

5:57Eight years ago. And then of course, it then evolved into Instagram and then now TikTok. So for us as a company, we had to make sure that we can drive that same interactivity and that same sense of engagement no matter what channel it is. So be it if you're going live or you're using us to do short form video or on your mobile app that comments or builds for you, all that interactivity has to be built in. So as a user, no matter where I choose to interact with you as my creator or as my influencer, I'll get that same FOMO, that same sense of community. So that's really what we had to focus on building and making sure that we were always ahead of time and that we could capture all the new audiences for our creators and our retailers.

6:39So I know people always ask, right, what is next in social commerce? I think AI is a true buzzword that's been floating around and that's something that's really important even for us. So last year, we actually launched a tool called AI Clip Hero that actually clips. Basically, we are able to recognize in a live that saved two or three hours and we actually help to synthesize short form videos for our retailers. So then they can immediately get these short form videos that we recognize these are the best performing 30 seconds or around one product. We stitch it all together and then we allow you to repost that immediately across all your channels.

7:14So it saves time and it saves them, you know, more content production work. So that's really something that I think will catch on is all about how can we help creators and retailers, especially with short-form video content production being a huge pain, true community and interactivity becomes really important because everyone knows when there's an AI bot. So how can you use AI more in the background and then still retain the true influence of a creator? I think that's really, really important. And a second feature that even for us at PopStory and CommonSlow that we've been working on is how can we allow that connectivity to even be easier, right?

7:51So what I mean by that is it's hard for people to get in touch with creators. I want to talk to you. How can anybody do that? So how can we shrink that to allow true fans to connect with creators and also have the creators truly own their audience and community? That is one thing that I'm truly passionate about and what Pop Store, have we share a bit more, but what we're built. At Pop Store, think of us as a LinkedIn bio site that you can monetize all your content. You can monetize your content, your time, and access to it as a creator. But the beauty is, instead of being on a shared marketplace with all your audience, like you basically just funnel your true followers to a shared marketplace like Patreon and you don't actually own them.

8:32If you ask a Patreon, someone who's really big on Patreon, how many emails you have, they probably don't have any. So at Pop Store, what I think a feature that will be really important as creators become businesses is how do I really own my audience? How do I think back to the OG days of email marketing, right? How do I really own those audience? I think that's going to be another feature that creators will crave more and more as to become real businesses. They're becoming a brand and a business, especially once you're above like 500K followers. I think that's what you'll look for as well. It's crazy for me to see right now email was a thing in the 90s.

9:03And then everyone was like for notifications and connections online. And now everyone is back to emailing and newsletter, you know, like full circle there. so you know like i'm also interested to know a bit more about uh they also adopt different type of you know audiences and personas that are doing social commerce right now like have you identified any any specific groups because it's easy for us to say yeah the typical young people on tiktok selling you know k-beauty products right and then you have like on facebook right the what they call like mom blog you know blogger moms that like back in the day have you identified any any groups that are like primarily really investing into these and if so is there any differences in terms of behaviors in terms of how they use the platform so yeah so i definitely think there is a slight difference in different personas but when i think about what persona right would sell the best right it's actually anyone it comes to my earlier point anyone that has a true influence and following so our top sellers right our top creators can go from selling fashion to beauty she even sold cruises literally she will sell a five thousand dollar ten day cruise package on the live and on a short form video and people still buy it that's having true influence right it's literally like i want everything that you are using from your mics to your lifestyle i'm going on this vacation then they will book the vacation package right to to to half your lifestyle so i think instead of like thinking about what segment or what i can sell i think it's more important to flip the question right and for creators who are on these channels wanting to do social commerce and think about who are you and what can you authentically sell because if i'm a fitness creator or like i live a very city life and i don't want to go out to nature suddenly i'm trying to be like oh going on tiktok live and be like let me sell you like you know like outdoor gear everyone would be like no like your life does not represent that so i would challenge people that are trying to get the social commerce and when you think about personas anyone can sell right live selling or short form video any form of social commerce it's just a way for you to connect and talk to your followers and your audience so who are they and what they want then dial back to what works because literally on comments on and pop store i have creators that's selling digital downloads which is like of recipes and fitness guides they sell lives like live fitness classes using live selling technology.

11:21I've seen people literally sell like 80 chapters courses with Comenzol and Pop Store and all the way through, like I said, fashion, beauty. It really comes down to finding the right experiences to bundle together for your audience to make it effective. And then whatever you want to sell can then be targeted and tailored for Facebook, Instagram, and you can also then targeted to TikTok. So like one of my new top creators I'm working with, she is actually a craft creator so she's a maker creator she's actually doing monthly sew clubs on live that you can sew live with her and she's selling literally craft templates that you can buy as a digital download from her and on top of that she does one-on-one coaching with you in order for you to figure out like okay i want to get started with sewing i'm messing on my cross stitch you fix it with me on a one-one manner and all that is done through social commerce social media in a very different way that the same creator in the fitness world would use the same features but in a slightly different angle.

12:19So truly it's all about finding what you have that's exclusive to you that people can see the value in. Is your brand ready to amplify its reach? Well, the influencer marketing factory is here for you. We are a global influencer marketing agency helping brands ignite their growth. From influencer identification to campaign strategy, handling legalities and agreements to managing shipping and logistics, we got you all covered. We work with hundreds of brands across different verticals from Fortune 500 companies to direct-to-consumer brands. And we don't just stop there. With detailed ROI analysis, we help brands like yours measure success, transforming impressions into conversions.

13:00You can find us at theinfluencermarketingfactory.com or just searching the Influencer Marketing Factory on Google. And can you tell me also about the psychology behind that? Because influence, of course, but I'm pretty sure there are things like a foam effect right or like some sort of gamification happening or incentive right like many people sometimes are like why should i go on that live streaming why should i go on that specific social comment page right if i can actually buy these somewhere else so have you identified anything that works well and you would advise uh you know people to do when they want to approach this in a proper way yeah 100 i think that's why why not amazon right two day two day shipping you get returned immediately it really comes down i think for a few things one of our top creators would always do is one important to create FOMO.

13:46So they often drop products in the live. So that could be a digital product or physical product. So you can only buy this if you join me on my live or if you shop on my short form video, it doesn't matter what it is, right? Or it could be, it's all about FOMO. So you basically gate it by the quantity. And another good way that our creators do is on a live selling, both on PopStore and Comments. So we have the ability for you to invite guests onto your life and share the screen with you. So what I'll do, what a lot of them do is like, okay, if you're buying something from me on this time or all join me for this 30 minutes, you get to share the screen with me.

14:22You sell them the community and engagement and then the product, right? So think about how to get that commerce hand in hand with community that's really important. Because I think that the format that TikTok shop is great at is discounts, right? You throw discounts at people and then that is our data has shown that that's great for first time order and one-time order to get the repeat back i'm just gonna go find someone else that sells the product for cheaper so for creators or small business owners chasing that is a never-ending pit you will just lose a ton of money so instead of just using coupons think about how to drive fomo through limited quantity limited edition better yet limited access to you right it's like if you buy here then five lucky winners get to share like a 30 minute q a with me you know like Think about how to access to you as a creator, so important, so hard to come by, monetize that, right?

15:16And use it as a way to get them coming to buy directly from you without any discounts. I love to hear that. You know, you're totally right. Many times I'm like, I feel that some creators are missing the point of, again, you have to be there as a person. It's not just about the money discount. It's about the retention, the performance on it. So this is for creators. What about brands? What are some of the untapped opportunities? Because again, many brands are just now starting to understand social commerce. There is a lot of confusion still about what social commerce is. So let's just try to maybe, you know, like, you know, people like just like a few, again, of the biggest untapped opportunities in your opinion of brands when it comes to social commerce.

15:56I think like the top one that I whenever I work with brands is actually think about how to humanize yourself. If you think about Gen Z and even millennials, the way they shop and why like TikTok is such a big shopping network and channel now is because I get to see who is behind the creator. I resonate with her and her ideals and values. That's why I buy from her. And if you look at brands, right, how many people know who's behind Zara and the story of Zara or H &M? No one knows. To most of the Gen Z millennial consumers, they're just a brand I see when I'm walking around the streets, right? Or see ads for it, right?

16:30That you then fall into pitfalls, like you have to compete on price and all that and branding. I think what brands can use a lot of social commerce for, which is what a lot of creators are great when they go live or they do short form video with, is humanizing the brand. How do you help people connect with you at a brand? You should show behind the scenes more. Who is the founder? What is your ethos? And don't just do it as a one-time campaign. That's what most brands do. They do it one time and they're like, oh, we put it out there a year ago. People know who we are. But no, it's about like constantly in social media, right?

16:59This is why we launched this new design. Get them involved and vote on it to really create that social following and the diehard. If you look at big brands that have done really well on social media, like back in the day when Supreme ran their entire strategy based on limited edition, that worked really well, right? Because then people are like, oh man, who are they working with to design this? Then they always feature their story behind it. So I think that's what brands can do to really step away from just hiding behind the models that hide them, but actually show the day-to-day. the team that works in it, how you designed it.

17:31Actually, like when I was at Primera, this private equity fund working there, there's this brand called Golden Goose that actually often would feature the makers because they actually hand scuff all the Italian sneakers in Venice. So they actually showcase a lot of the people that work in Venice and with them, all the makers of these hand scuffing each thing because people think they just naturally get 30. So a lot of little moments like this help the newer generation. And that's how I think step one, right? That's step one you need to do. is like rethink your social commerce instead of just pushing out ads how to humanize yourself and then step two is actually truly collabing with the influencer and what i mean by that is not just tagging someone and getting that use you as a caption that doesn't work because people know it's an ad but like you infuse like you know when you think about going live with them right do a co-branded live but again not just them wearing a product you as a designer you as the brand owner should be on there with them right so again humanizes them together with a creator so you really draw that star power in and you can do that both in terms of short film video content or even on lives and i would take it a notch right for even creators and businesses out there that's selling technology right you can also employ this so like you know we have like top tech creators with us that on pop store i'm actually working with them to create a course all about my company right so that's a very digital way of like it's not just that oh i use this you know i use you know a clavio and it's so great too many videos out there like that is how to really infuse that you can build courses with them really infuse your brand identity in the creator experiences and that's really what will make social commerce work because it ultimately comes down to authenticity and trust that drives sales and that's like two big opportunities that brands can really work on immediately.

19:14And I think that like for us at Common Soul, we actually help to support both brands and creators that way. Like I said, PopStore is our LinkedIn bio site where you can monetize everything in the get-go. We actually allow creators to sell affiliate catalog directly on their LinkedIn bio without having that ad sponsor because they get to pick what they want to sell without the influence of the brand. So it truly is curated by them, truly part of their lifestyle. So that's another great way that brands can also work with different social commerce platforms not just common soul but many of us out there to really infuse your product into their creator base that they have so then it comes through more authentic and more trusting no you know i absolutely agree with you especially the when it comes like you know the again being human behind like you know behind the brand as you said especially newer generation they don't care necessarily only about the product itself they want to see like i love to see like um especially i mean it's everywhere to be honest it's kind of YouTube Shorts, TikTok, LinkedIn as well is like, you know, follow me during like a day of like building my startup, right?

20:16And you actually show the process and the cons. I think also that vulnerability, right? Helps actually people to help out and be like, you know what? Even if it's not ready 100%, I still want to buy your product to help you, right? Like there is all that relationship right there. I love that example because like, I feel like you see it a lot with like tech startup founders or like founders of businesses, not so much brands. I feel like, you know, like a lot of what you described is like a lot of tech companies do that. But then when you use fashion brand, beauty brands world, they almost don't.

20:50No one goes about the 80, the 80 cent that Laurel probably has to go through in order to create the perfect one for the market. But that would be such a great way to do social commerce, right? Because it's a great way to blend content and commerce. And I think most brands forget that, you know like like building that loyalty and that recognition for them and being italian myself where fashion is a big thing i i understand how important it is that you know your brand has been there for 500 years and many people might not even know that it was the grandparent of the grandparent right that it is like the legacy there is like the the values right how we went from this type of uh you know like um product whatever to something now understand it is 2025 therefore we changed things or like recipe that now we use things that are plant-based right all the things I agree with you like many times, brands do it once and they're like, oh, everyone knows.

21:41No, no, no. Yeah, you're going to have new people joining your live. You're going to be new people joining your social commerce and they might not even know who you are. So just repeating, it's going to just help, like, you know, I think in the discussion there. And so super last question. I know that there are like a lot of different ways to help brands and creators out there. If there was that piece of advice for anyone that wants to get started with social commerce, what would it be? I guess two things. I guess the way I think about it is one come by what I've been saying the entire podcast is like find your position and your point of view and be authentic right so like if you're truly an outbossy person that should be your brand so to get into social commerce you need to figure out that thing that you have that no one else has and that is either where you live your experiences and then hone in on that I would say that's like step one right and step two I think a lot of creators monetize too early they immediately go like okay I want my ad revenue now okay wait I I have like some of you.

22:36I was like, oh, I'm a micro creator already. Like, let me just monetize you. You need to partner the right balance of giving out content for free because people need to see you as a voice to listen to, as a true influencer. So don't worry about your views so quick, right? Be consistent. Leave the views aside for a moment and just think about who you want to be. Just keep posting your unique voice, unique content. And that literally could be digital content, physical product recommendation, whatever it may be. Hone in on those two first, then start monetizing once you have that true influence over people.

23:07If not, your social commerce will never work. It will be a one-hit wonder. People will never buy from you again, no matter what channel you try to do. Absolutely. See, many times, this is happening still with influencer marketing and pretty sure also with social commerce. There is this transactional view where I put in$1, I put in 10 minutes in, I put in one hour. I want the direct ROI of that. Well, it doesn't work like that, right? Many times you need to put, again, like having patience with that And knowing that it's not just something that is going to be overnight, you need to focus on what matters and maybe removing the vanity metrics for a second.

23:38Because at the end of the day, it's a different game. Yeah, absolutely. Amazing. Joe, thank you so much for joining me today. This was very packed, full of information. We're going to also add, of course, any links to resources that your company might have to, again, help creators, but also brands. As you said, there are two different entities with different positioning, different ways to go to market. I know that it's been there for eight years as a company. I still believe that it's still new for many out there. And if we can help, maybe together to bring out their internal resources. So again, we're going to put some links in there for everyone to read.

24:12That's great. I really think that is still an on-top opportunity. We see what everywhere else is doing, like China, even South America. We're really just the start. And I think that it may look different from the US, but always comes down to the person that is top and selling. Thank you so much, Joe. This was the Influence Factor by the Influencer Machinery Factory. See you in the next episode.