The world we live in right now is dominated by the internet, and a huge chunk of how people use the internet is through social media. So it makes sense for e-commerce businesses to try to seize that opportunity by tapping social media platforms to increase traffic on their site, increase their brand’s online presence, and eventually generate revenue.
But social media platforms can be tricky to navigate, especially for those who are unfamiliar. In most cases, businesses turn to social media marketing services to help them figure things out. I’ve compiled social media optimization strategies to help boost your e-commerce business.
1. Get to know your audience
Let’s say you have established your brand, you have set up a wonderfully intuitive website, and all your products are in place, but all these efforts are going to be pointless if you don’t know who your audience is. Simply marketing to everyone is not going to be a smart move and will only lead to wasted time and cash. What you want to do is to target a specific audience, the ones who are most likely to appreciate your brand and make purchases.
In order to do this, you will have to spend time doing research about the people that you really want to reach and determine if what you’re offering is something they are willing to pay attention to. Grouping your audience will mean being able to focus your marketing resources on a group of people, and use strategies to attract these people to your business.
But first, you want to make sure that the products and services you’re offering are filling a demand or offering a solution to a long-standing problem. Knowing your product and your target audience are key to the success of any e-commerce business.
2. Prepare your social media accounts
Now that you’ve determined who your target audience is, your next task would be to prepare your social media profiles. These profiles are where you will spend most of the time engaging with your audience thus you have to think hard about what you want to include in the bio as it will be the first thing that people will see when they visit your page, along with your profile picture.
And speaking of profile pictures, being wise on what to use to serve as a visual representation of your company is also part of creating a robust social media presence. In most cases, businesses opt to use their logos. Make sure you have one that is simple, represents the brand, and is memorable.
Next, turn your attention to your bio. As I mentioned, this will be your first impression of your audience. It is here that you are allowed to be a little creative, but keep in mind the messaging of your business or brand and craft a bio based on that. For now, simply putting the mission of your brand might suffice and you can come back and make the necessary changes.
On some platforms, you are given the option to post your brand’s inception, basically a story. While it’s not necessary to have one, in the beginning, being prepared with what you tell your audience on how the company started will make it easier to humanize the brand and make it relatable to people.
3. Optimize your posts on social media
One great thing that social media has afforded entrepreneurs is the fact that it has opened the doors for e-commerce to flourish and thrive. It’s allowed them to promote their products and services to their target audience in every possible way. The fact is, your audience is already on social media, waiting for the right brand to come along and grab their attention.
As an e-commerce brand, it is your job to try to reach your audience by optimizing your social media posts. First, you need to create accounts on a least three of the big social media platforms. You can start by creating pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Other platforms you might want to include in your roster are Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.
You have to make sure that the content you post and share on these sites is of good quality and offers value to your audience, otherwise, it will be ignored. Also include pictures in your social media posts to show off the products, letting customers decide if they want to see more by clicking on your landing page or not. If you are able to produce a video of other people using your product or reviewing your service, that’s even better and will significantly boost your traffic and lead generation.
There are lots of digital marketing agencies, which offer excellent Social Media Marketing services. Depending on such agencies would be a great choice.
4. Engage with your visitors
If you want to create a strong loyal following for your brand, the secret is engagement. People are not just looking for a product or service they need, they want a collaboration which is why they’re looking for brands they can relate to and whose messaging they also believe in. It’s not enough to simply post standard answers to questions they may have, they want to feel that the people behind the brand also care about them and are not just set on making a profit.
It is therefore crucial that you talk to your visitors, answer their questions, and provide information about your brand and your products or services. This requires you to be active and watchful of all your social media accounts. Running an e-commerce business is going to require that you listen to your customers, be attentive to their queries and reviews, and address any negative feedback in a constructive way.
If you want to answer their questions and at the same time lead them to your e-commerce site, then the best way to do that would be to blog on a regular basis. If you are seeing a lot of the same questions being asked, you can answer them in a single blog post. Blogging regularly will send out the message that you are a thought leader in your market. You become a source of information your audience can turn to should they need answers.
5. Generate product reviews
You might be asking why reviews are important to the success of your business and here are a few reasons why.
First, you establish your brand as a credible one when you have testimonials from real people about the products and services you’re offering. Potential customers always turn to reviews to see what others are saying about their offerings as well as the brand itself.
Second, reviews will increase your SEO. Positive product reviews can really help improve your Google rankings. It will increase the number of keywords on your page and gives it a higher authority. This, in turn, puts your page higher when people search for a specific keyword.
Consider all these processes as an investment for your business. Only when you put in the effort will you reap the benefits down the road. Keep in mind that an effective social media marketing strategy takes time and a lot of planning. Throwing things around and hoping something works out is not going to cut it. Many social media marketing services have seen the rise of many e-commerce businesses only to meet their fall by failing to tap the social media market.