What Social Media Platforms Are Best for Ecommerce Marketing
For decades, the key to marketing and advertising was placing an ad in front of the most eyeballs possible. But today, things are a little different. With a few quick clicks, any brand, large or small, can build a social media page that appeals to millions of potential shoppers without spending a single cent. Not only is social media cheap, but it enables two-way conversations between brands and consumers, transforming the typical marketing model forever.
Now customers can share their delights and grievances with a global community, interact with brands and spokespeople and even share their experiences using your products.
The point is to create a very real relationship with your customers. But with so many options out there, it can be hard to know which social platform is right for your ecommerce store. Don’t feel daunted. You make these kinds of decisions all the time: high quality vs inexpensive, PayPal vs Bitcoin, Shopify vs Magento. Why is this any different?
Below are a few tips to introduce your e-commerce site to social media marketing.
With nearly 2 billion active Facebook users, Facebook is the head hound of the big dogs. In fact, most web users find a brand’s Facebook page more useful than a company website and will actually visit the former first. This make a lot of sense since consumers are more likely to see your Facebook posts several times a week than visit your homepage.
Thinking about using Facebook to promote your ecommerce site? There is no shortage of methods to do just that. Try posting one or two updates each day promoting your products, upcoming sales or contests. Recently, Facebook launched Dynamic Ads which tracks a user’s browsing information to provide targeted product advertisements.
Twitter is something of a different animal. Communications are shorter (140 characters) which means that your long-form messages are probably best for another site. Instead, think about tweeting inspirational quotes related to your industry, linking to important videos or blog posts or sending alerts about new products, discounts and sales.
Keep in mind that social media is often a public forum for customer complaints. As one Twitter user noted, Twitter “becomes a customer support channel whether you want it to or not.” Address any customer requests quickly to stymie negative press. On the flip side, be sure to promote positive comments by retweeting and thanking the original poster. It’s just good etiquette.
At its core, Instagram is meant to be a mobile photo sharing app. Which is why you will often see successful brands encouraging their shoppers to post images of themselves wearing or using their products, sometimes in exchange for coupon codes or mutual self-promotion.
Instagram is also experimenting with advertising and direct ecommerce from their platform. Like the pictured product? Just tap the image to be redirected.
Last tip, be sure to use plenty of relevant hashtags to help users find your content.
Snapchat
Snapchat is notoriously difficult for non-Millennial users to understand. Why would anyone want a 10-second photo or video message that can only be viewed for 24 hours? While Snapchat messages are swiftly lost to time, the platform is comparable in size to Twitter and has more engagement than any other social media platform!
Use Snapchat to give your viewers a quick look behind the scenes of your ecommerce business; tease upcoming promotions and product releases; or just provide a little personality to your brand. Snapchat also allows for ads and customized geofilters.
YouTube
It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So, what is a video worth? Online videos are tremendously popular, with adults spending almost 5.5 hours with online video content every day!
If you want to go viral, or at least get noticed, try posting videos that are both informative and entertaining such as short cooking tutorials, trendy clothing combinations or funny self-parodies. Take the opportunity to address common questions related to cleaning, repair and troubleshooting.
In the end, your business doesn’t need all these platforms to make a statement. But it helps to use a combination. Experiment to see what feels right for you and your customers.
We hope you found the above promoted content as entertaining and helpful as we did!
