In a modern-day lifestyle, social media is focused on creating connectivity and nurturing bonds. With close to 4 billion users worldwide, social media is currently the most vibrant marketplace. Brands are investing big in bonding with customers across all available platforms. From creating awareness to building up conversations around products, social media has evolved a new form of direct marketing. With the majority of the millennial customers buying online, it pays for e-commerce businesses to be social.
Social media marketing
Social media engagement is a continuous process that encourages users on social media platforms to interact with the brand. A strong social presence brings a brand into consideration, every time a user thinks of buying a product online. A complete trust buildup is a prerequisite for converting social media followers to an e-commerce website traffic. Once a healthy traffic flow builds up, a significant number of queries will start getting converted to purchases.
E-commerce businesses can subtly nudge clients to share their post-purchase experience on social platforms to amplify their advertisement pitch. A Walker survey has underlined the value of customer experiences in brand promotion. Positive stories about an enriching shopping experience or even a swift replacement of a damaged product travel far and wide across social media platforms and boost conversion prospects.
A vast majority of online buyers prefer to trust brands that have been used by their friends and peers and reviewed positively. The loyalty loop on social media is an ever-expanding circle which keeps on adding new users to the bandwagon organically.
Social listening
Social listening is of prime importance for leveraging the benefits of social media. Any e-commerce business looking to foray on social media needs to have an eye on the enhancement of visibility and an ear on tracking user interactions with brands and products. Leveraging user interaction data is a must for knowing what exactly are the customer’s requirements in an existing marketplace. Tracking user responses on different social media posts helps a brand to understand how receptive is an audience segment to the tone and tenor of a specific marketing pitch. Brands that have incorporated the sentiments of netizens in their campaign strategies have often catapulted to leadership positions in their respective genres without additional investments.
Social media tactics
Adhering to the following strategies will help to boost website traffic and positively impact conversions on your e-commerce business:
Share optimized content: Incorporation of strategic keywords and relevant trending hashtags in your social media posts will ensure targeted brand visibility. This ensures definite visibility of your brand in all search results when a client is still in the research and consideration stage. The presence of informative and original content enhances the probability of your posts being featured in search engine snippets. Consumers trust brands that provide informative content about products they are looking to buy.
Incorporate social sharing buttons: Remember to add ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ buttons across all your product pages. A simple Facebook like or a Twitter share can take your product across to all contacts on the friend list of users. Research data about various e-commerce products have established a strong interrelation between the increase in sales and the increase in page followers.
Focus on interactions: Social media allows businesses to participate in discussions, respond to users’ comments and questions, request for post shares, and motivate customers for sharing product reviews. Brands can host live chats about product launches or reach out to hitherto untouched markets through influencer marketing.
Paid advertising: Social media provides the opportunity for running highly targeted advertising campaigns where ads are displayed to users with selected buying preferences and product choices. Social media algorithms utilize behavioral data of users for presenting advertisements to users most likely to convert.
Product tagging: Major social media platforms have come up with options for product tagging which has boosted sales for major e-commerce brands. Users can simply click a product link from social media platforms and get directed to the specific product page. Brands have to ensure that the product page is highly informative with product specifications, reviews, discounts, and much more. Product tagging ensures clients get exactly what they are looking for, much faster. Facebook allows product tagging once an e-commerce website has been linked to the Facebook store. On Instagram, brands can use shop-able posts which drive traffic directly to the product page. Pinterest accounts for a major source of product-specific traffic as page links can be directly inserted on the beautifully done product images.
Integrating Social media into your marketing strategy is critical for success in the highly competitive e-commerce marketplace. From building up brand awareness to increasing website traffic, conversions, and nurturing loyal customers, Social media plays a prominent role in growing your business.
Tags: Advertising, E-commerce, Engagement, Social ads, Social Listening, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tricks