Social media is not just about cute pet videos, cringe and funny memes. Social media has surpassed the phase of just being a platform where people can connect and get entertained and has moved forth to become a business platform where you can sell and build your customer base. Yes, you have heard that right! If you run an ecommerce store then there is nothing better than social media platforms where you can connect with a huge crowd to make your brand well-known amongst multitudes. But it is easier said than done. One has to adopt all the right practices and have a particular plan set aside to get started with social media commerce. Want to know how you can effectively use social media for Ecommerce at power to gain maximum benefits? Read on to find out how:
1. Establish a Social Commerce Presence
In the era in which we live today, everybody is found scrolling on their phones, even for the smallest of needs. This is a good sign for businesses who run online stores to take advantage of this habit of their potential customers and establish their social media presence to gain the attention of their audience. Billions of people purchase online while using their social media handles, but if you wish to come in their search, it is imperative that you mark your omnipresent presence across your brand’s social media handles to take advantage of online shopping trends.
Popular Social Commerce Platforms
The popularity of social media platforms has been on the rise over the past few years and has mostly turned into a shopping paradise for online users where one can shop their hearts out with a few taps of their fingertips. Social media has given buyers and sellers an easy way to connect over a platform and enhance their reach. Here are the most common Ecommerce platforms where you can sell your products and services:
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- Youtube
- Twitch
Tips for Setting Up Social Commerce
Optimizing product catalogs –
In today’s digital market, optimizing your e-commerce product catalogue stands to be crucial for converting website visitors into actual sales. Though this may seem to be challenging, managing the product catalogue stands to be effective in engrossing the audience and maintaining product listing throughout all channels where one can put their products for sale.
The product catalogue primarily consists of essential details such as product specifications, its availability, images, pricing, shipping details, technical specifications, etc and thus helps in creating theme-based carts. Optimizing the product catalogues helps create hype and also aids in cross-selling and upselling, besides enhancing the conversion rate and customer experience. Beyond just providing relevant and updated information about the products, these catalogues also help in developing interest in the potential customers increasing the chances of sales thereby resulting in profitability for the business.
Creating shoppable posts –
Though the content you use in your posts should be easily consumable by the audience and easy to read, it should also have links, buttons and product tags that make it easy for the customers to shop from your website. Shoppable content facilitates customers in finding products, comparing prices, and making a purchase on the same platform. Such a move draws impulsive shoppers towards your brand to add products to their shopping cart and elevates their overall user experience.
Live shopping events –
In a world where everything is going digital, live shopping events are a helpful tool in promoting an e-commerce store. It creates a personal session wherein brands can get in touch with their target audience directory and showcase their products, describe them and boost sales. You can think of such live shopping events as interactive sessions where brands can trigger a sense of urgency for shopping for their products, which also promotes brand engagement and drives sales and revenue their way. It creates a personalized shopping experience wherein they can watch a live streaming video for product description, its working, demonstration and a lot more.
2. Develop a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Ecommerce
Having a well-defined set of marketing strategies is the backbone of running an Ecommerce store and generating revenue from social media platforms. If you do it in the right way, your customers will love to interact with you and develop an interest in your product. What’s more? They may also do mouth publicity and share about your brand and products too. Thus, having a social media marketing strategy for Ecommerce is vital, but it can have adverse effects if you do not pay heed to its proper implementation.
Key Components of a Successful Strategy
Framing a social commerce strategy is not enough; you also need to make sure that it works for you. Here are a few key components of a successful social media marketing strategy:
- Set a particular goal and objective
- Do target audience research
- Create an audience persona
- Produce engaging and useful content
- Select the right platform for marketing
- Build a team to take care of your social media marketing needs
- Keep track of the analytics
- Audit your social media practices
Effective Social Media Marketing Tactics
There are a plethora of social media marketing tactics that you can use to stay on top of the game. Here are a few tacts that you can follow:
- Identify your audience
- Focus on content marketing
- Prioritize quality over quantity
- Use your resources judiciously
- Social selling on multiple platforms
- Be consistent with your content
- Indulge in influencer collaborations
- Go for social media advertising
- Interact with followers
- Fine-tune your online presence
- Go live on social media platforms
3. Leverage Paid Social Media Advertising
Shrinking organic reach is a cause of concern and can plague even the biggest brands if they do not have enough reach to showcase their products. If you feel that your social media posts do not reach a huge audience then it’s time you switch on to paid advertising to maximize the potential of their organic visibility. Paid social media advertising works wonders in boosting sales and ensures that your ads reach a lot of people, irrespective of whether they follow you or not, on your social media handle. A well-crafted social media ad should be developed such that it looks like a non-sponsored or unpaid post until and unless one eyes upon the sponsored label.
Ad Platforms
There are different ad platforms where you can host advertisements for your business. But you need to keep in mind that every social media platform has a distinct audience, and you should choose it based on your target customers so you can easily find them. Here are a few platforms where you can run your ad campaigns:
Facebook ads
Facebook is one of the largest platforms where you can market your ads, gaining worldwide exposure. It is one of the most reliable and popular platforms where you can advertise based on the demographics to make your target audience view your ads. Right from image ads, videos, carousels, collections, stories, slideshows, messenger and playable ads, you can host them all online.
Instagram ads
Best known for its reels, glossy photos, and visually appealing videos, Instagram is another social media platform where you can market your products and services. The best part is that you can easily incorporate your ads in the form of visual media and get them spread amongst a vast audience. Instagram has a huge user base and is highly popular amongst youngsters, boasting the second-highest user engagement rate. Thus, running Instagram ads may be one of the best ways to promote your products and drive sales.
Pinterest ads
Pinterest is another visually appealing platform where people are mostly seen browsing pictures, images, reels and videos. Thus, it is a no-brainer to understand how Pinterest can be strategically used to advertise your products and services.
Other platforms
Besides the three most popular online platforms for marketing your products and services, here are a few more platforms where you can host your ads:
- Snapchat
- Tik Tok
Best Practices for Effective Social Ads
Targeting –
Firstly, you should determine your target audience because this acts as one of the major determiners that can take your business to climb the ladder of success or end up in a flop show. Not everyone might be interested in buying your products, and hence, you have to first find out who actually may be interested in purchasing your products. People who are not interested in your ads or social media posts won’t earn you leads, and thus, you need to be keen on determining your target audience.
Find out the type of customers who visit your online stores and outline their attributes to come up with an idea of who forms your customer base and define your target audience. Jot down their gender, age, marital or family status, hobbies, occupation, income, etc., to be selective about your target audience. Collect all such information to understand your typical customers and accordingly set your advertisements that can resonate with the needs of your potential customers.
Creative design –
Creative designs help create compelling advertisements that boost conversions and engagement. To make the designs more creative, it is suggested that you use good-quality visuals to make your audience gain trust in your brand.
Creative and high-quality designs are more appealing to the eyes and more prone to grab the eyeballs of your audience. Also, the content should be relevant to garner engagement and trust. Dodgy and unclear visuals and designs make your website look untrustworthy and cut down the interactions.
Measuring performance –
Testing your advertisements also forms a crucial part of the category to find out if the ads are engaging your audience. There are chances that the first ad copies may not be engaging enough to lure the customer. Thus, you cannot just stop there and instead create different versions of the ad copies to find out which version serves to be more engaging. Test different elements separately and find out which feature captivates more to bring a positive impact on the performance of ads and drive the best results.
4. Focus on Building Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the measure of how much your customers are aware or familiar with your brand. Furthermore, brand awareness plays an important role in triggering a purchase decision. It is believed that about 59% of the customers buy products that they are familiar with. In fact, they would like to spend extra bucks on something that they are familiar with compared to a brand that they have never heard about irrespective of the goodness, quality or durability of the second product.
When a customer knows about a brand or sees ads, publicity, hoardings and other stuff about a brand around them, they are more likely to purchase that particular brand’s products compared to other brands that they are not aware of. Thus, purchase decisions are greatly affected by building brand awareness, and it also fosters trust and authenticity about a brand.
Tactics for Increasing Brand Visibility
Consistent posting –
Consistency is the key to building brand visibility. Brands come and go, but the ones who stay back show consistency in their work. The audience wants to see you interacting on social platforms and to make sure that you satisfy their demands, you have to be consistent in content posting to build a community that loves to see you.
Engaging content –
Engaging content is a game changer and renders a helping hand in creating awareness about the brand. Content is king and should always be engaging such that it resonates with the needs of the audience. Good quality content also speaks about the values and culture of the brand and develops an interest in the audience to view your content. Thus, make sure that the content quality is never compromised to ace the game of spreading the word about your brand.
Social media contests –
Social media contests and giveaways also act as a major tool in creating awareness about your brand and draw the instant attention of your target audience. There are various types of social media contests, such as commenting on posts, tag-a-friend, participating in contests or similar stuff that can grab eyeballs and spread the word about your brand. For this, you can also start collaborating with other brands, influencers and content creators to increase your visibility amongst a huge crowd.
Examples of Successful Brand Awareness Campaigns
Brand awareness campaigns are one of the most popular campaigns run by businesses especially by the ones who have to face huge competition in the market. Here are a few examples of businesses that have run successful brand awareness campaigns:
- Mountain Dew
- Spotify
- Coca Cola
- Old Spice
- Dropbox
5. Encourage User-Generated Content
User generated content, as the name suggests, is the content created by users who have already used the products. It is the love, disappointment, or experiences that users share about your brand, and it is similar to online reviews that play a vital role in triggering a purchase decision for a new customer. Thus, you should obtain detailed information about your products and services from the users to showcase brand loyalty, social proof and authenticity of your brand.
Tips for Encouraging UGC
There are different ways in which you can encourage and ask for user-generated content from your customers. Here are a few ways by which you can do it:
- Ask for feedback from your customers
- Run hashtag campaigns
- Host giveaways and social media contests
- Ask your customers to write product reviews
- Create an ambassador program
- Host challenge contests
- Offer discounts and rewards for reviews and feedback
- Leverage the power of influencer marketing
Examples of Brands Leveraging UGC
In a survey, it was asked, what is the primary factor that people consider before making a purchase- A fellow customer, the brand or user-generated content? It was found that 83% of the surveyed people in about 60 countries preferred to go by the recommendations of peers or customers who have already used the product. Thus, even the top brands prefer to use user-generated content to enhance their marketing campaigns and win the trust of potential customers. Here are a few examples of brands that have run successful user-generated content:
- Doritos
- Parachute
- Starbucks
- American Express
- Calvin Klein
- Amazon
6. Collaborate with Relevant Influencers
Collaborating with influencers who hold credibility and have a notable follower base is another powerful strategy to make your products known amongst the masses. The ability of the influencers to curate content that engages and resonates with their follower base fosters trust and also drives sales and purchase intent. On the contrary, partnering with influencers also creates brand awareness and helps you gain huge exposure when you choose the right ones to promote your products and services. Their approach and marketing efforts can earn you high returns on your investment and boost conversion rates.
Strategies for Identifying Relevant Influencers
Not every influencer can do justice to your brand, and thus, you need to search for influencers who fit in your requisite frame and can motivate your target audience to buy your products. Here are a few strategies you should keep in mind while selecting influencers to promote your brand:
- Conduct audience analysis and accordingly choose the influencer that best suits your brand
- Pick on influencers who work in the same niche as your brand
- Pick on influencers who have a huge customer base and deliver engaging content
- Research for hashtags that your competitor and audience use and
- accordingly, pick influencers in your market
- Use influencer marketplaces
Examples of Successful Influencer Campaigns
Here are a few examples of businesses that have run successful influencer campaigns for their business:
- Gymsharks
- Dunkin
- Joybird
- Dove
- Last Crumb
7. Offer Exceptional Customer Service
Exceptional customer service to a business is like what cream is to bread that adds richness, smoothness and adds flavor that elevates the entire experience. Moreover, it is believed that 89% of customers are more likely to indulge in additional shopping when they are bestowed with exceptional customer service.
Customer service is a vital parameter that every ecommerce store should incorporate to offer convenience to the customers. Customer service showcases the culture of a business and thus should be such that it can cater to all sorts of customer enquiries, and questions and address concerns at the earliest possible to enhance the shopping experience.
Using Social Media for Customer Support
Monitoring mentions and messages
You should also have a proper system that helps you keep track of every mention of your brand to understand how your customers feel about your products and services offered. This will help you analyze how satisfied your customers are after using your products and services, understand the pain points and take possible measures to enhance your offerings and address their concerns.
Responding promptly
Have you ever reached out to the customer care department of an ecommerce store and waited for days to get an answer? If you have answered this question with a yes, you might know how frustrating this can be. If you highlight 24×7 customer support services, you cannot make your customers wait for hours to get an answer and instead get them support within a short while.
Having a dedicated team that responds to customer queries promptly enhances customer satisfaction and brings a hike in your sales funnel. Ideally, the answer should be given within a span of 60 minutes. After all, it doesn’t take much effort to respond to customer queries. But the sad part is that not many brands indulge in prompt reverts. So, make sure that you have a dedicated team to answer customers’ queries, and even if by chance you fail to give an immediate response, apologize for the same at first and then proceed with your answers.
Addressing complaints and queries
Any customer complaints and queries should be addressed politely so that your customers get a solution for their troubles and inconvenience. If you have already chalked out strategies that give updates and solve customer issues, well and good, but if not, it’s high time you get started with it to take care of your customer grievances.
Examples of Brands Excelling at Social Customer Service
Social customer services benefit both customers and businesses. Especially when it comes to businesses, brands should focus on customer services to boost sales and offer complete satisfaction to the customers. Here are a few examples of brands that excel in providing social media customer service:
- Spotify
- Spectrum
- Nike
- Shopify
8. Engage in Social Listening
Social listening is the act of monitoring your social media handle for people who mention your brand, your competitor’s brand and similar keywords in your niche. Besides just being able to track down the mentions, you also get to track trending content, mention of your competitor brands and accordingly you can perform sentiment analysis to come out better with topics that concern your business. This also helps you make strategic decisions and implement marketing strategies that impact the bottom line of your business. It also helps you gain insight into what your customers are expecting from you in the future.
Social listening can help you gain insight into industry trends. As AI’s impact on social media grows, social listening tools powered by AI can enhance your market intelligence.
Social Listening Tools and Techniques
Monitoring brand mentions –
Monitoring mentions of your competitors helps you understand where they stand and stay a step ahead of them in implementing fruitful strategies. It also helps in comparing prices and maintaining an eye on the marketing strategies and other tactics to use as an advantage when it comes to devising strategies for one’s own brand.
Tracking industry trends –
In this era of digital technology, a trend can come out of nowhere and go viral within no time. Social listening can help you get acquainted with any such new trends that pop up and incorporate the same in your marketing campaigns. This helps brands to stay at the top of trending things in the niche and capture a wider audience market.
Analyzing competitor activity –
Keeping a constant watch over the activities of your competitors also allows you to enhance your content marketing strategies, keeping in mind what’s trending and what is being adopted by your fellow competitor brands. This will also help you identify their weaknesses and strengths, search opportunities, identify threats, and a lot more, and use it as a tool of advantage to come up with ideas focused towards betterment. Also, you get to see how audiences are reacting to your competitors’ products, marketing campaigns, services and promotions and accordingly bring innovation in your content and products to stay ahead of the competition.
9. Showcase Social Proof and Testimonials
Social proofs are evidence that others have chosen you previously or have bought your products and services. Reviews, social shares, and testimonials are some of the best ways to include social proof and motivate others to indulge in purchasing. In a study, it was found that 72% of the audience believed in customer reviews and made a purchase based on reviews and testimonials. Such reviews and testimonials fuse a sense of comfort in the audience and make them a part of conversions.
Reviews act as a validation in the eyes of the customers and makes your business seem more legit and trustworthy. Think of a situation wherein you visit two websites and find one with reviews and testimonials of existing customers who speak a lot about the brand and its products and the other website with nil reviews. Which website are you more prone to order from? Most of you reading this will answer it as the first one, right? This is exactly what happens when your target audience hits your online store. People are more likely to do things when a few have already done it in the past and build immediate trust.
Tips for Showcasing Social Proof
Displaying product reviews –
Product reviews form a core strategy for displaying social proof, and most giant ecommerce stores use this strategy to trigger purchases. The act of reviewing purchases has become quite popular over the years and acts as an influencing parameter for other customers to purchase a product that a customer has previously used and liked. It narrates what the past customers have to say about the product and increases the likelihood of a purchase.
Sharing customer testimonials-
Testimonials are also persuasive social media proof that showcases happy customers who are likely to return back again whenever they need a particular product or service. Testimonials are valuable social proof that should gain a prime spot on your website to influence the purchase decisions of new customers.
Highlighting influencer endorsements
Influencers and celebrities have a high reach and impact on society and your target audience. Thus, it is needless to say that any product of yours that has received an influencer endorsement will search you more sales and revenue.
Examples of Brands Using Social Proof Effectively
There are multiple brands that use social proof to enhance their sales and revenues. Here, we will list down a few of them to help you understand the real might of social proof:
Airbnb –
It is one of the most popular platforms for booking a stay and uses social proof in the form of customer reviews and stories on its official website to highlight the incredible experience of its guests with Airbnb. It uses customer names and photographs to add a personalized touch to the understanding of the customers who have sought their services, which further marks authenticity and trust, forcing more people in need of lodging to gain insight about the quality of stay and book the same with Airbnb.
Nike –
Everyone is aware of this top-rated sportswear brand, but Nike uses athlete endorsements as a means of social proof in its website and advertisements. The brand also partners with renowned names in the sports field to promote its products to broaden the scope of its brand visibility and let the customers know about the quality and performance of the products that Nike offers. Such an approach leads to a persuasive purchase decision for potential customers who are in need of sportswear stuff.
Duolingo –
Duolingo- a popular language learning application, makes use of the success stories of its customers as social proof to persuade more customers to seek its services. By listing the progress statistics and success stories of its users who come from varied backgrounds, the brand emphasizes the effectiveness of the language-learning app that further motivates others to get started with their language-learning journey.
Conclusion
Social media plays a huge role in developing great and meaningful relationships between brands, businesses and customers. It allows smooth and frictionless selling to the customers. Thus every business should adopt effective strategies for social media ecommerce to turn conversations into conversions because there are billions of people present on these platforms who can become your next customers.
So, if you run an online store and are looking for a digital marketing agency to partner with to chalk out marketing strategies that resonate with the needs of customers, look no further than GoXwide.
It is one of the best known agencies with a proven record that can help you build your online presence with a bang with tailored strategies that can deliver. Wait no more and get connected with the professionals now to see your brand soar to new heights!
Latest Post
