The Importance of Social Media in eCommerce Marketing | Smarter Digital Marketing
Social media has become one of the most important aspects of eCommerce marketing.
The driving force behind this is the authentic nature of and how easily it can be used to reach audiences and sell products in a less aggressive form.
With all the platforms available, it can be difficult to know where to begin.
To help you choose, we are going to cover two of the most popular social media channels for eCommerce marketing in 2021.
Why Include Social Media in Your eCommerce Marketing?
Whether you like it or not, the majority of your customers now do all of their shopping from the comfort of their home, and that makes running a successful eCommerce operation more competitive than ever before.
With millions of similar products available online, how can you make sure to stand out?
Well, that’s where social media marketing can help.
Using the appropriate channels will help you reach customers and stay relevant within your niche.
If you haven’t already been using social media to market your eCommerce store, it is definitely the time to do so.
We can guarantee that most of your competitors, if not all, are already using multiple platforms to build brand awareness, attract online customers and generate more sales.
Some of the benefits:
Relevancy Is A Key Factor in eCommerce Social Media Marketing
The primary purpose of social media is to connect individual users.
And when it comes to marketing your eCommerce store, there is no difference.
If you want to succeed, you have to make sure to connect and interact with your target audience through:
The key to making sure you connect lies in relevancy. If you want to succeed in your eCommerce marketing, you must focus on creating content and Ads that are relevant to your target audience.
Content that appeals to an audience can raise brand awareness, build entire communities around your business and increase your sales. But, if your content is not relevant to your audience, then you’ll fail to connect them to your brand, and all of your social media marketing efforts will be wasted.
Again with social media Ads, it is all about relevancy, so much so that some of the platforms actually allow you to create far more targeted Ads.
For example, on Facebook, you have the ability to create custom audiences.
When creating an Ad, you can use the settings to create a custom audience that includes only the individuals who checked out a product on your page – and exclude those who are already customers.
This allows you to design an ad based on that specific custom audience, and if you get a little creative and offer a small discount or a limited offer, you can make sure to draw them in.
Choosing the Right Channel
Although it might sound a little too complicated, there is one thing that running an eCommerce operation has in common with social media marketing, and that is how content is used to represent and sell products.
So, if you want to make the most of your social media marketing, you have to focus on creating attractive and relevant content that can keep your existing audience engaged and grab new ones.
When it comes to choosing a platform, we suggest dedicating most of your time to one that your audience uses versus the most popular.
1. Facebook
With over 1.5 billion daily active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world and is one of the best for eCommerce marketing.
Facebook can be used in many ways for eCommerce social media marketing from increasing brand awareness to gaining reviews and driving traffic to your website.
How to Use It
Business Page – Setting up a page is super easy and inexpensive. It is similar to creating a normal account.
Insights tool – You can use Facebook’s audience insights tool to discover more information about your target audience. The tool will offer you details such as gender, education, relationship status, location, language, Facebook usage and even past purchases.
Sell directly on Facebook – You can create a free Facebook shop using your business page by linking your eCommerce site. It gives your target audience a way to view your products conveniently on the platform and purchase it from your website.
Facebook Ads – Investing in Facebook Ads can present a unique opportunity because they can expose your products to users based on their age, gender, location, behaviour and more.
2. Instagram
Owned by Facebook, Instagram is another perfect social media platform for eCommerce marketing. You can also link your Facebook business page to your Instagram account.
With over 1 billion active users, Instagram provides an amazing platform for promoting your products and services through pictures, videos, stories, and more.
Although the Instagram shopping and checkout features are yet to go Global, they currently give customers in the US the ability to purchase products directly on the platform without being directed anywhere else.
This is a huge game-changer for any eCommerce brand.
How to Use It
Focus on your content – The platform is built around sharing pictures and anyone using it is drawn to visually pleasing content, so you have to make sure to create unique and engaging content on a regular basis that is relevant to your audience.
Use analytics – The analytics tool will give you an insight into your target audience. You can use the information to track how well your content is performing, what areas you can improve and discover the best time to post using the hourly chart of user engagement. Details such as gender, age and location can also help businesses generate the right content that is aimed at the right gender-aged based customers.
Use influencers – If you have the budget, then you need to collaborate with Instagram influencers. When done properly, it could potentially be one of the fastest ways to reach a new audience. So make sure to do your research and use tools to find the right individuals for your niche.
Use shoppable posts – Shoppable posts give businesses the chance to showcase their products through content including pictures, videos and stories. You can direct customers to a product by adding a tag to any content.
Use relevant hashtags – This is one of the most important areas to focus on. By using relevant hashtags, you can reach new audiences. How the hashtags work is similar to how keywords work on your website.
Conclusion
Social media is a huge part of our everyday lives, and it presents a great opportunity for eCommerce marketing.
When used appropriately, it can do so much more than just drive traffic to your website and generate sales.
They can help you attract the right audience with the right information at the right time.
And in recent years, with Ads, business pages, shoppable posts and checkout features, they have quickly transformed into a selling platform.
Any eCommerce operation that wants to grow and continue has to include social media into its marketing strategy.
This content was originally published here.
