How to Use Social Media for E-Commerce Marketing?

Today, if you are an online merchant, you cannot afford to be passive on social media. 75% of people say they buy something solely because of what they saw on social media, and 90% of people say they will turn to social media if they need help making a purchase decision.

Of course, we can acknowledge that measuring the investment and return on social media can be a bit challenging. Does tweeting actually help your sales? Or does posting on Facebook help at the lowest level? It depends. But one thing is certain: reaching your customers wherever they are is invaluable in today’s competitive online market.

How you will use social media—what platforms, what apps, what types of posts—will depend on the specifics of your business. Fortunately, social media gives you the ability to create customized campaigns to reach your audience. Here, we will explore the platforms, goals, and tactics e-commerce merchants should consider when it comes to social presence.

Facebook

It is truly hard to believe that this social media giant started in Zuckerberg's dorm room. Today, almost everyone, including large companies and even children, has a Facebook account. In fact, there are about 7.5 billion people on the planet, and by the end of 2016, Facebook had 1.8 billion users. Today, Facebook has the highest conversion rate for e-commerce at 1.85%. Additionally, traffic to Shopify stores nearly makes up two-thirds of all traffic.

LinkedIn

You can think of LinkedIn as the professional version of Facebook. LinkedIn offers its 450 million users the ability to connect with other professionals and share content with their followers.

Pinterest

Pinterest can be the ultimate best friend for e-commerce merchants. This social media platform allows users to pin or share their favorite images on boards. Currently, Pinterest has over 100 million active users, most of whom are women. Additionally, e-commerce merchants can use embedded buy buttons, allowing direct sales on the platform.

Instagram

Instagram now reaches very large audiences. Today, both young people, older adults, and even children have profiles on Instagram.

Instagram is a visual social media platform with over 500 million users, most of whom are millennials. The platform allows users to upload photos with various filters and easily share them on other social networks. In 2012, Instagram became part of the Facebook family after being bought for 1 billion dollars. Thanks to this integration, Instagram started using some of Facebook's advertising options.

Google+

If you can't guess, Google+ is Google's social media platform. Currently, it has a community of over 300 million users. Although Google+ was a bit late to join the game, this isn't a big deal since it is part of the world's largest media company – Google. That's why it is worth using on its own. Additionally, using the platform provides seamless integration with other Google features and offers the popular video conferencing service, Hangouts.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a newcomer in the world of social media. Although the app is popular among young people and millennials, businesses are starting to really take advantage of the marketing opportunities the platform offers. Snapchat has more than 150 million active daily users. The platform allows you to share photos and videos directly or privately with your followers, as well as with all followers in your "Story."

Why are social media so important?

In today’s market, everything is about customer convenience. People are more impatient than ever. Think about it: with the technological advancements of the last decade, the world is now at our fingertips. You can get news updates instantly, Amazon offers two-hour delivery, and food can be delivered to your door – if the internet can do all this faster and easier, why even bother going outside?

This is the mindset you need to have as a business owner today. How do you get closer to your customers? First: You need to meet them where they are. Don’t expect people to flock to your beautifully created online store. You need to find them where they are.

So, where are people today? On social media. Don’t believe us? Here are some facts: Facebook is connected to 1/7 of the world’s population, Snapchat users check their accounts an average of 14 times a day, and Instagram posts about 95 million photos and videos daily. People are here – especially millennials, who are expected to have the highest purchasing power by the end of the year.

Today, social media makes up about 9% of company budgets, but this number is expected to rise to 22% by 2022. Why? Because companies are starting to realize and understand the potential of social media for building customer bases and retaining existing ones. You can find new customers in ways that no other acquisition channel can match.

Social media can also be used to reach your customers in real-time, right when they need you the most.

Social Media Tactics for E-commerce

1. Setting Goals

When you start considering your company’s social media presence, the first thing you need to do is set clear goals. If you’re not tracking your content, there’s no point in posting content on social networks. How will you know if you're successful? How will you know if it’s worth your time and effort?

1. Set comparison criteria based on the following:
2. The amount of traffic you want to bring to the platform.
3. The number of fans and followers you want to have.
4. The level of engagement you want to achieve.
5. The engagement rate in relation to tasks.
6. The percentage of visitors who convert.
7. The growth rate of the audience compared to engagement.

For your knowledge and comparison, Hubspot's 2015 Social Media Benchmark Report found that average e-commerce retailers have around 370,000 followers, post 6 times a week, and receive an average of 11.4 interactions per post.

2. Provide Value

When it comes to social media, the number one thing is to reach your customers where they are. Then comes providing value. People won’t like your Facebook page or follow you on Instagram for no reason. They want value. They are not there to shop from you. They want content that will be useful to them in some way.

This doesn’t mean you can’t do promotions. Of course, you want to promote your brand, but you need to balance that with other posts (stories, news, tips, helpful articles you find) that will educate, entertain, or inform your audience. When promoting your brand, make sure to highlight the best, most interesting, and unique aspects of your company. Tell your customers something they don’t know about you—something they won’t find anywhere else.

3. Optimize Your Posts

One tip that will help you achieve better results on social media is to optimize your posts. Similar to SEO, you want to use keywords that will help increase your visibility. Conduct keyword research or take a page from your SEO efforts and use those that will increase conversions in your posts. This will allow you to reach a wider audience than just your current followers.

Remember that each platform has different features that need to be optimized in different ways, but overall, adding the desired keywords should be enough. If possible, include a visual element that will help grab the attention of viewers.

4. Share Reviews

This is a trick – let your customers do the marketing for you! Nothing sells a product, service, or company better than a happy customer. People are more likely to trust an objective third party saying your products are great rather than your own claim. In fact, 88% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

5. Share Images

When it comes to social media, most of us are more attracted to visual content. Images and videos generally capture more attention than large amounts of text. A person has a shorter attention span than a goldfish, so whatever you do to grab attention, DO IT.

6. Engage with Your Followers

Social media is the place where you can engage directly with your customers and potential clients. This not only gives a human face to your company but also helps your followers see that you value them. No one wants to be seen as just a dollar sign; they want to know that what they have to say is important and meaningful to you. Make sure you monitor the posts users make about your company and interact with them on a daily basis.

7. Engage with Influencers

Another tactic for using social media is to leverage it as a means of building relationships with leaders and influencers in your niche. Whatever your industry may be, there will always be individuals with significant attention and influence. Your goal should be to become one of them – but along the way, work on building relationships with those who are already there. Developing these relationships can never hurt you. It's always good to have influential people around.

8. Be Concise

Again, remember that your followers have the attention span of an aquarium fish. They can’t handle long texts. Studies show that shorter messages generate more engagement. This makes sense; your followers can easily digest and share brief, visual messages, but not long paragraphs.

Be Consistent

One important thing to remember is that you can't post once a month and expect to see results from social media. You need to be consistent; if you want to improve your engagement and reach, you must post regularly. Additionally, this shows your audience that you are committed to sharing valuable information with them.

Start Blogging

What do you do if you don’t have content to share regularly on social media? Create it. A blog can be a great new content stream where you can share your expertise with your audience. Not only does it give you the opportunity to showcase your company's unique content, but it can also help establish you as an industry leader.

9. Use Hashtags

Don’t roll your eyes; hashtags can be a very useful tool for social media marketers. They help your content get discovered by more people more frequently. Additionally, hashtags help you organize your content.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is one of the biggest advantages of social media. It can take your social media to a whole new level. Most platforms have their own advertising components (e.g., Facebook Ads, Promoted Tweets, LinkedIn Ads), but Facebook (and consequently Instagram) has the most sophisticated and advanced ads among all social media platforms.

"Why should I pay to use social media? I thought they were free." Technically, social media platforms are free, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest part of your budget into them.

The days of organic and free social media marketing are very limited. Soon, you will have to pay to post content on social media. Why? Think about it; Facebook didn’t become this huge just by offering free accounts to everyone. They became so big because they know how to make money. Companies realized they could charge for ads on their platforms. You can post something and show it to part of your audience, but to reach more people, you’ll need to pay.

SUMMARY

Given that a large portion of users are active on social media and 93% of them report using social media to make purchase decisions, it is crucial for those in the e-commerce industry to be active on these platforms. Today, your social media accounts are like storefront windows from the 1950s. They are the way you communicate, share information, and showcase your business to a wide audience.