Digital revolution: social media, eCommerce and new guidelines for Italian influencers

The numbers of social commerce

Among the various topics covered, we chose to delve into the theme of social commerce, an activity based on the purchase of products online through the use of social media. Thus, social media has evolved from simple entertainment channels to becoming effective tools for sales in the digital commerce landscape.

This phenomenon is particularly widespread thanks to platforms like TikTok, where a significant surge in beauty and personal care product purchases was recorded in 2023. According to Insider Intelligence, a substantial increase in social commerce sales is expected in the USA between 2023 and 2027, with staggering figures: $82.8 billion in 2024, $101.4 billion in 2025, $121.6 billion in 2026, and $144.5 billion in 2027.

Hailey Bieber's viral lip tint mistakenly transformed into a scrub or the famous Brazilian body cream that attracts spiders are just a few examples of negative reviews. Surprisingly, these reviews become fertile ground to build genuine trust with potential followers. In this context, future positive reviews about a particular product will significantly impact sales, propelling the product to new heights.

What about influencer marketing?

In the online business landscape, social media serves as fertile ground to gather valuable information about products and brands. Collaborating with young content creators is key to reaching new consumer segments, increasing engagement, and solidifying brand reputation. Influencer marketing is not a dying sector - on the contrary - it is strengthening.

The significant increase in social commerce and the growing importance of influencers prompted AGCOM to create new guidelines to ensure transparency in marketing and advertising practices on social media. No, it's not thanks to the Pandoro-gate: the Communications Authority has been working on this for about a year.

So, are you considering proposing an influencer marketing campaign to your clients, or do you simply want to understand if you can trust your favorite content creators? Here's where AGCOM comes in with new guidelines tailored for Italian influencers. To make it clear, here's a brief summary:

a. Influencers with at least 1 million followers on the platforms or social media they operate on;

b. Have published at least 24 pieces of content (photos, videos, textual content) in the previous year;

c. Have achieved an engagement rate on at least one platform or social media equal to or greater than 2% over the last 6 months.
 

It's natural to wonder about micro-influencers (N.B.: those with fewer than 100,000 followers). These days, the Italian government has decided to introduce a bill that includes fines ranging from €5,000 to €50,000 and the risk of suspending activities for a period of one month to one year.

#adv or #nonadv? That is no longer the question.

— 25 January 2024