Social media used to be a shot in the dark for ecommerce brands. Create a profile, try to foster engagement, and hope people navigate to an external store and buy things.

That’s changed.

Engagement has gone from a vague concept (“look how many followers I have!”) to a measurable growth metric (segmented audiences with $-specific performance stats).

Instagram and Facebook, along with the other social media giants, have dramatically shortened the distance between brand and fan. Marketing has become a two-way conversation with smart brands and real people.

The latest change, though, is where leading social media platforms have separated themselves from other online experiences.

By introducing sales tools, platforms like Instagram have transformed the ecommerce landscape. So much so, in fact, that there’s actually a term for it – social commerce. Pete Boyle defines Social Commerce as “the act of selling products directly through the social media network the user is currently using”.

Since Instagram is the undisputed leader in per-follower interaction (2.2% vs 0.22% on Facebook), Instagram represents a large, highly engaged audience.

It’s also arguably the most commerce-oriented user base of any social media platform.

As of 2015, 53% of Instagram users followed at least one brand – more than any other audience.