Social Media Marketing: Competition is increasing day by day in the eCommerce sector. Online businesses are now finding unique ways to market their products and build strong relationships with their customers. Social media marketing has proved to be an effective strategy to reach out to prospects and customers for businesses of all sizes. 

Consumers are now online to consume web content and purchase what they want on the channel of their choice. They rely on social media and other online platforms to find and connect with brands. With billions of online consumers discovering new products every day it is no wonder the eCommerce industry is booming.

Social media marketing leverages these avenues to reach out to prospective customers. It’s all about gaining their attention and forging a connection — tell them you are genuine and what makes you unique through relevant, interesting content. You can also provide swift customer support to existing customers, and get others to sit up and take notice.

As social media platforms have become so popular, customers have already started interacting with brands through such channels. If you have not yet started interacting with your audience directly through social media then you are missing out! It is no longer optional. It is an essential route to grow your brand. Social media platforms have immense potential to take you to millions of customers worldwide. As per reports, more than 90 percent of online customers rely on social media to make buying decisions. eCommerce businesses often struggle a lot to increase their website traffic. Social media marketing will help you achieve this with ease. 

Know SMM Better

Social media marketing or SMM is a digital marketing aspect which involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms. It can be text, image, video, animated content or paid social media advertisements that engage your audience. It helps businesses to achieve their marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing efforts will help increase the brand visibility of your online business and enhance the customer experience. It will help you achieve a lot more from driving traffic to increased sales, building brand awareness, customer engagement, customer support, etc. Before you start off, it is important to define your goals and have a big picture of various social platforms. 

Why Your eCommerce Business Needs To Adopt An Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy

If yours is a small eCommerce business and you do not have too much to spend, social media is the way to go. Your small budget may not allow you to run TV promotions and other expensive advertising campaigns. Social media marketing can help you. It is the most cost-effective way to expand your customer base. 

It helps you connect directly with your customers. Regular interactions, direct or indirect will help customers recall your brand name and approach you when needed. Connect with customers where they hang out. 

Direct interactions enhance customer satisfaction. It helps you build brand loyalty.  Conversions and sales actually happen on your eCommerce site — social media channels will get your customers there. Backlinks provided in social media can generate more traffic to your website. Efficient social media marketing efforts can boost your SEO ranking. Social media will help you gain a better awareness of the marketplace through insights. Social media platforms and customer preferences change literally every day. It is important to remain flexible and constantly improve your marketing strategies to stay on top.

Before You Begin…

Define Your Goals

List out what you wish to achieve with your social media marketing strategy. Also, determine methods to measure how far you are successful in achieving the same. While planning, it is important to ensure that your marketing efforts have the potential to attain these goals. Goals and targets may vary according to the nature of your business and customer demands.

In general, eCommerce businesses can drive their social media marketing efforts to build brand awareness among more people. It can be measured by analysing the number of shares, likes, mentions or impressions. Build a loyal group of followers. Nurture an authentic community of people who are interested in your products and awaits to hear from you. Loyal followers will always share your content, promote your products and services, and recommend them to others. eCommerce businesses can also focus on lead generation. Convert your audience into paying customers through retargeting campaigns. Build partnerships with similar brands or social media influencers to start influencer marketing or co-marketing campaigns. Businesses should also focus on improving customer support through social platforms.  eCommerce businesses should also focus on increasing website traffic, building brand identity and improving sales.

Know Your Target Audience

Research on your ideal customers. Study demographic data or analyse observable online customer behaviour. Customer age, gender, and career will help you to build an effective social media marketing strategy. Understanding the hobbies/interests of the customers will help you generate content that resonates with them. Identify the social platforms where they spent more time. Customer location is an important aspect to consider. Local businesses can focus on customers from specific areas. For international business, even knowing the country of origin of the customer will help a lot. All these can give you an insight into how to carry out your social media marketing strategy more effectively.

Decide On What To Post

Offer your audience consistency and variety at the same time. Your audience will eagerly wait to hear from you if the content adds value and is consistent. E-commerce businesses depend heavily on images — regularly sharing product images and lifestyle posts that feature these will bring you more website traffic. Feature positive customer testimonials or content generated by influencers that cast a positive light on your brand. You needn’t stick to your products and services. Posts can be about your business domain or about the latest trends in the industry. Product images, demo and unboxing videos will help customers know more about your products.

Be transparent and let your customers know how your product is being made. Always keep your customers engaged with quality content. You should have a proper content plan to post for every week. Plan and schedule it ahead. For instance, post a testimonial every Thursday and a short video every Tuesday. Schedule and prepare content weeks ahead rather than searching for some random stuff to publish every day. Present the right mix of content to your audience to keep them well- informed and engaged always.

Select the Right Channel Wisely

Choose the social media platform where your target customers are most active. Never try to expand your presence on all available social media platforms, it may negatively affect your marketing strategy. Build a strong digital presence only on one or two channels that you can effectively maintain. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each channel and plan your strategy accordingly. Ensure that your business profile in the selected channels contains all relevant information needed by the customers. They should be able to figure out what you do, products and services you offer, the domain of expertise, etc. Set your brand name as the username or handle. Or let something that undoubtedly reflects your brand be your username on all selected social media channels.

Social media channels are fast, effective and an efficient way to build your brand and boost conversions. With the right techniques and consistent effort, you can humanise your brand and make it one that your customers would love to follow. You can rope in new customers, deliver responsive customer service and build a strong build that stays at the top of their mind. Whether you are an established brand, a small business or new to the online community, social media is a necessary part of your marketing strategy.