If you were to name the best place where the online audience meets, discuss and share their interests, it would obviously be social media.
Though prominent platforms like Facebook and Twitter started just a decade ago, we can easily see how these sites are changing the way businesses operate in digital media.
Social media platforms, unlike other traditional platforms, have given more voice to the consumers, helping each piece of feedback count and in turn help businesses to deliver their utmost excellence.
Social media and its influence in online purchase decisions
The most discussed topic whenever there is a non-personal conversation going on between people is shopping.
With social media growing huge as a stage for digital interaction and eCommerce platforms revolutionizing the shopping landscape, it has made a huge impact on the audiences’ purchase decisions.
An article by Magento says that 93% of consumers seek the help of social media in making their buying choices and 90% say that they trust the recommendations from their social media circle.
Unique eCommerce ideas are very crucial for businesses as the industry is growing more competitive than ever.
Creating a loyal customer base is what decides the fate of an eCommerce business in the long run, and hence a platform like social media would be the best place to establish a reputation in front of their audience.
Before dwelling on social media tactics, you might want to set some benchmarks and goals you expect from your social media marketing efforts.
-The expected amount of visitor traction from social media
-Number of fans and followers (depending on whether your marketing efforts are solely social media focused or what part will be utilized in the social media)
-Type of content you would want to deliver to your social media audience
-The growth rate of your audience vs the extent to which they engage with your business (growth rate vs ROI)
Once you know where to target and what your prospects want by monitoring their social media interactions and understanding their interests, here are some great tactics that can be employed in your social media strategy.
Utilizing live videos
A great social media tactic to introduce to all elements of your business are live videos.
Live videos are consumed 3 times more than all other types of content consumed in the social media space.
Notably, they also receive 8 times more comments than the others, showing the level of interaction that these live videos can provide for your business.
You can use media like Facebook, Periscope or YouTube in taking your consumers a live tour of your warehouse, how your day to day operations look like or your quality assurance teams on work.
Getting in connection social media influencers
There are individuals in social media with a huge follower base whose activities directly influence the audience’s purchase decisions.
A survey says that 45% of the respondents alter their shopping decisions based on the reviews, comments, and feedback on the products.
When an influencer shares a post on their social media about their stylish new jeans, talking about how comfortable they are, their followers are often interested in learning more about the jeans.
You can reach out to those influencers and have your products recommended by them.
This can give you a good head-start for increasing your followers and fan base.
Making good use of hashtags (#)
Using trending industry-related hashtags is a time-tested social media tactic that has the potential to improve the chances of your post getting featured in your audience’s newsfeed.
This will help you gain traction from visitors who are searching for those keywords specifically.
If you are a new eCommerce business who is starting to establish your name among your relevant audience in social media, this is probably one of the best ways.
Researching the use and trends in keywords through tools like Google Keyword Planner or MavSocial’s Social Listening tool along with having an eCommerce SEO checklist will help you to gather very relevant keywords and use it to the utmost efficiency.
Leveraging a scheduling tool
Close analysis of the audience’s behavior is crucial, especially to succeed in social media.
There will be specific time points in the day where the audience density will be maximum, and you can start scheduling relevant posts at that time to expect a high engagement rate.
For example, people who are looking to make their purchase decisions on social media will be active during weekends or after their active work hours.
When you schedule a post relating to the products or services your eCommerce business caters at that specific time, there is a chance of good, relevant audience engagement.
Tools like MavSocial provide analytics and help you post to multiple social media sites at once, and also suggest the best time of the day for a greater engagement rate with your audience.
With the analytics in hand, you can get a glimpse of your competition (where you stand amongst your peers) by taking the ratio of expected visits to the number of actual visits to your post.
Offering useful insights
There are more than 50 million businesses using Facebook pages to connect with their consumers.
As an eCommerce business, you won’t have a specific niche to target upon.
Hence, with thorough research on where the interests of your online audience are, you can target your posts to be informative and well-drafted to cover their personal needs.
For example, if you are an eCommerce business catering to wellness products, you can post a video that speaks on ‘simple home remedies for a glowing skin’.
As videos are having 43% greater engagement rate, having relevant content will please the audience’s expectations towards your brand.
But remember, consistency is your best friend when it comes to social media.
Once you trigger the consumer expectations, you should be consistent with timely and regular feeds.
Help your customers interact
When it comes to purchase decisions, consumers look for a place where they can interact with their peers, share their thoughts and know what is trending in the market.
Make your posts interactive and helping them start a ‘debate’ like conversation will help your prospects spend time with your brand and make their appropriate buying choices.
If you use this social media tactic strategically, your customers will come back again to actively engage in your posts, seamlessly increasing your brand’s visibility.
Start actively engaging with your followers
You should continuously monitor their posts, engage with them on a daily basis to ask questions, responding to comments, thanking them for sharing their content and actively participate in the discussions.
This will precisely fulfill the expectations of modern consumers who prefer to opt for brands or businesses that show a sign of active engagement with them.
Starting a blog or a vlog
Not having a steady stream of new and engaging content for an eCommerce business is a common complaint among audiences.
Most consumers are in continuous search for the current and upcoming trends, and giving a blog or a vlog content that educates and inspires them will help you stand as a problem solver.
Using short, sweet and eye-catchy taglines to promote these blogs on social media will increase both your follower base as well as drive quality traffic to your eCommerce website.
Encouraging people to share their consumer journey
Success on social media depends on how much your customers talk about your brand.
When they are in their buying process, encouraging them to share their favorite past purchases will create a sense of harmony for both the existing clientele as well as new prospects.
Notably, 1 out of 3 Facebook users has made a successful purchase after a share or a comment on their favorite products.
AddShoppers, an on-site eCommerce platform has made its word-of-mouth marketing easy by encouraging their social media consumers with various incentives such as social rewards and ‘refer a friend’ campaigns.
Provide easy purchasing options from your social media channels
Social media-driven eCommerce sales are growing at a faster rate than any other online channel in the internet space.
Take advantage of this social media tactic by featuring your top-selling products on your social media channels.
Make the purchase process easy by providing clear pricing, benefit-rich descriptions and an easy to identify ‘buy’ button.
This can help your customers purchase the product they need from your social media channel. Helping to reduce cognitive overload on your website and get them into the checkout funnel faster. Potentially reducing your overall cart abandonment rates.
What are your goals?
The goal of any business in social media, especially for eCommerce, is to build engagement with your audience.
The first set of follower base and the engagement you build will be everlasting and they will, in turn, be your advocates for attracting further prospects.
Depending on your business goals, the amount of capital and time investment you are ready to appertain on your social media efforts will have a huge impact on your ROI.
With an understanding of how crucial social media is to your eCommerce business, these ten tactics can help you effectively establish an audience base and nurture it towards a great success.
