With more customers than ever before now choosing to shop online, and a constant increase in competition, eCommerce website owners need to build organic engagement on social media in order to maximise their chances of success. While gaining organic traffic via SEO and paid advertising efforts are still great ways to build your business, leveraging a social community to build sales from organic engagement is not only one of the cheapest, but also one of the most effective ways to encourage more online sales. And there is certainly no shortage of tools to help you along the way. Here are some key social media marketing strategies that every eCommerce business should know and make use of.
Create and share awesome content
Many online business owners make the mistake of only using social media to promote their own products. But doing this is only going to make your audience lose interest in your posts and pages fairly quickly. The more this engagement drops on your social media profiles, the less often your new posts are going to be seen by your followers, and the less likely it is that you’re going to make sales. After all, all the major social media sites use algorithms designed to ensure that only the most interesting posts are put in front of users, and if your profile is a constant stream of self-promotion, they’re not going to get very far.
Create your own content by adding a blog feature when you create an online store or start a YouTube channel where you can share interesting, funny or entertaining videos. And if you’re pressed for time, content curation is a great option – just share content that you think your followers will find interesting to your own profile.
Keep it short and sweet
When it comes to the content that you produce, micro-content is your best friend. One of the biggest problems that many marketers face today when they start a website using an eCommerce website builder and get set up on social media is that the internet is constantly overloaded with information. Today’s online audiences are constantly bombarded with updates from publishers, brands, media outlets, and more both directly and via shares by people that they have connected with online. And with limited time, users simply don’t want to spend a long time exploring all this content any longer.
Most people browse social media on-the-go and they simply don’t have the free time to watch a lengthy video or read a long blog post. This is where short, snappy videos really come in handy; they can easily be posted to Instagram or Facebook stories or to Snapchat to quickly engage your customers.
Aim to engage
Whenever you’re putting together content for your social media page, the main aim should always be to engage your customers before you even think about conversions or sales. After all, most followers are unlikely to take enough of an interest in your brand to buy a product from you if they are not engaged with what you post. Some of the best ways to encourage engagement from your followers is to ask questions, include strong calls to action, and come up with posts that evoke emotions in your followers.
Utilise social reviews
Customer product reviews are a great way to build a social proof of your brand, and the good news is that when you learn how to build an online store, you can typically embed any good reviews that you get on social media directly onto your website where new customers can see what your happy past and existing customers have had to say. There are plenty of tutorials out there on how to create an online store with embedded Facebook and Google reviews, and many eCommerce platforms like Wix use handy and easy-to-use apps that allow you to quickly add reviews in a prime position on your homepage without having to do any coding.
Use social influencers
Today, some people have significantly more followers than others on social media, and they tend to have some power to sway the opinions and even purchasing decisions of their followers. Utilising these social influencers can be one of the best moves that you make as an eCommerce store owner or marketer. Not only will it provide you with access to a ready-made audience of people who may be willing to purchase your products, but you’ll also get advertisements and recommendations from an influencer that thousands of people trust. Influencer and blogger outreach should always be a key part of your social media strategy when you create an online store.
Today, eCommerce competition is heating up and, in order to succeed, these businesses need to make sure that they are active on social media and engaging with followers. Producing interesting content and partnering with trusted influencers are just some of the best ways to up your social game.