E-commerce is changing - read our industry report
According to recent statistics, the number of social media users worldwide has grown to 4.14 billion. An average user spends about two hours and twenty-nine minutes on social platforms every day.
Image via We Are Social
If one of your e-commerce goals is to increase sales, then you need to engage consumers where they are.
How can leveraging social media marketing benefit your e-commerce business?
This post lists some of the benefits that social media marketing offers for e-commerce, which include:
Social media offers multiple options that you can use to drive quality traffic to your e-commerce site. These include:
You can showcase personalized ads to potential buyers based on their previous interactions with your brand. For example, you can:
You can create a landing page with a specific offer, discount, or new product launch and use social media posts to drive traffic to it. You should include a link to the page in your post captions and then use an opt-in form to collect their email addresses.
For example, when you click on the link in Amy Porterfield’s Twitter bio, it takes you to a landing page where you can join the waitlist for her Digital Course Academy.
Image via Twitter
Did you know that 79% of consumers say that UGC influences their purchase decisions?
Image via Stackla
You should use UGC to share social proof and build trust. You can request that buyers share reviews on social media and reward customers for sharing their carts on social media during the checkout process.
Influencers have followers who trust their recommendations and look up to them for inspiration. They drive purchase decisions with 80% of consumers purchasing products that their favorite influencers have recommended.
When you partner with them to promote your products, they can help drive quality traffic to your product pages.
Read our comprehensive e-commerce industry report
When followers engage with your posts, they allow you to understand them better and build relationships. The more often you provide solutions or offer exceptional experiences, the more confidence they will feel in purchasing from your store.
How can you use social media to generate engagement and increase conversions?
You should:
Most importantly, you should use management tools like Hootsuite, Awario, and Buffer to track your social media engagement. You can use these tools to track brand mentions, retweets, sentiments, and keywords associated with your brand.
You should encourage people to vouch for your brand. These people may include employees, customers, influencers, and industry partners.
When a lot of people talk about your brand, it can help increase the reach of your brand, increase social signals, and improve SEO results.
But how can you leverage social media to amplify your brand’s voice and increase your reach?
You should:
You should track all of these conversations to learn more about your audience and the kind of content they prefer. You can integrate your analytics and automation tools with social media to get better insights and make informed marketing decisions.
One of the reasons why a prospect abandons their cart is due to a long or complicated checkout process.
But there’s good news:
Social commerce allows you to sell products directly on social networks like Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram and Facebook introduced Shops, a feature that your e-commerce business can use to make product discovery easier. Users can visit your Shops from your feed, profile, or Stories and browse, explore, and purchase products without leaving the app.
Image via Facebook
Other features you can leverage include Shopping Tags, Instagram Ads, Checkout, and Live Shopping.
On Facebook, you can leverage features such as the Buy Now Button, Facebook Shops, and Facebook Marketplace.
On Pinterest, you can use Rich Pins and Shop the Look Pins.
According to a 2020 study, 89% of marketers who use videos got a good ROI. 66% of consumers also prefer watching short videos to learn about products.
Another study showed that 45% of consumers discover brands through video ads.
Image via Animoto
How can you create video content that stands out?
This will depend on the topics you want to cover and your niche. Here are some video content ideas that you can use:
Using these types of videos can help you explain product usage, provide social proof, and increase user engagement. This can lead to more conversions and better return on investment.
Here's how the e-commerce sector adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic
Remember that not every customer lands directly on your site and makes a purchase. In most cases, they have visited various touch points including your store, forums, review sites, and social media profiles before buying.
And, therein, lies one of the major challenges e-commerce business owners face.
Delivering effective omnichannel experiences.
You need to communicate with your audience when, how, and where they want to, which is something that social media can help you do.
Image via Wix Answers
How can you leverage social media to offer exceptional customer experiences?
You should:
No matter how big or small your ecommerce business is, these social media tips can help you grow your business. They can help you reach your ideal buyers, increase traffic to your site, and boost your ROI.
Do you need help integrating social media into your e-commerce marketing strategy? Let me answer your questions about social media marketing in the comments below.