Social media marketing is the “go-to” strategy that most ecommerce site owners use to boost their sales.
Why you might ask?
It’s simple: Nearly everyone’s on social media.
And because you’re supposed to be where your customers are hanging out, then it makes perfect sense for you to be on social media platforms.
The only problem, however, is that it isn’t just your customers who are on social media, your competitors are on there, too — lots of them, for that matter.
That is why, if you want to generate more ecommerce sales, then you need to learn how to use social media marketing effectively.
You need to make sure that you’re doing your social media marketing right.
One misstep, and you might find yourself losing hundreds, if not thousands, worth of online sales.
To help you get more sales out of your social media marketing campaigns, allow me to share with you these six stips.
1. Optimize your social media profiles.
You’ve most likely read about this countless times already, but it’s still worth mentioning.
You’ll be amazed by how a lot of ecommerce entrepreneurs are still neglecting their social media profiles.
Here’s the thing: The design of your eCommerce website can make or break your chances of success. The same thing is true with your social media profiles.
So, before you begin promoting your products, you first need to make sure that your social media profiles give an impressive first impression.
They should also look and feel similar to your eCommerce website. You need to use the same color palettes, graphics, style of writing, etc. That way, your brand image is consistent, making it easier for your customers to identify your business page or account quickly.
Also, set up your business pages so that your customers can immediately buy from you.
Facebook, for example, allows you to include a native store on your business page.
To set this up, click on the Settings link on your Facebook Business page. Then select Templates & Tabs on the right sidebar.
Click the Edit button and look for the Shopping template.
Then click the View Details button, followed by the Apply Template button.
Now, you can start uploading the photos of your products so that people can browse through them the moment your page goes live.
2. Upload UGC posts.
User-generated content (UGC) are pieces of content created by your social media followers or customers.
UGCs can do wonders for improving your sales because they act as social validation.
The reason why this works is that 92% of your customers are willing to trust and buy a product recommended by other people.
The tricky part here is getting your customers to create UGC posts and share them on their social media accounts and yours.
An effective way of encouraging your followers to post something about your brand is by hosting a contest using a tool like AddShoppers or Rafflecopter.
Aside from collecting UGCs that you can post on your feed, contests can also increase your account’s engagement levels.
The higher the engagement happening on your page, the more likely your posts will show up on their news feeds.
3. Match your posts with the season or special events.
Creating a social media marketing campaign centered around holidays and special events is another way to boost eCommerce sales.
Seasonal marketing campaign offers a lot of opportunities for all businesses, big and small. If you can grab consumers’ attention with a unique campaign, either through creating holiday packaging designs for your products or providing special offers, you’ll be well on your way to pulling in additional revenue.
Tools like PromoRepublic can help you find out when specific events are happening. You can then create your posts and schedule when they’ll get published in advance.
Upcoming events along with suggestions on PromoRepublic’s calendar dashboard.
4. Invest in social media ads.
Social media ads boost sales in two ways.
First, you can control who sees your ad, increasing your chances of getting relevant traffic only, or those with a strong intent to buy.
Second, you can retarget those who never completed their purchase on your eCommerce website.
So, when someone abandons their shopping cart and checks their Instagram account, Instagram will show your ads on their feed.
Seeing the ad will remind them to check back to your site and complete the purchase.
5. Apply the “Less is More” principle.
A common mistake that online store owners make when it comes to social media marketing is they try to promote their products to as many channels as possible.
This technique is problematic for two reasons:
First, each social media channel works differently. So the way you promote your products in each of these channels also varies.
Unless you have a team dedicated to creating the posts for each of your social media accounts, you’ll be spreading yourself too thin and not have the time to do other things like order fulfillment.
The second problem with this approach is it can be quite costly since you’ll have to pay for all your ads on varying platforms.
A better approach would be focusing your social media marketing efforts on 1 – 3 channels that are bringing you the most sales.
This way, you’re only amplifying the number of customers and sales you’re receiving.
You can find which channels to use by visiting your Google Analytics and then going to Source/Medium under Acquisition.
Based on the results for this website, Pinterest is the best channel to run a social media marketing campaign followed by Facebook and then LinkedIn.
6. Focus on building relationships first.
The moment you set up your social media account, it’s understandable that you’d want to promote your products ASAP.
Don’t!
When planning your posts, follow the 8-1-1 formula where:
- 8 of your posts share valuable information to your followers,
- 1 post is a soft-sell of your product, and
- 1 is a promotional post.
As you can see, the formula focuses more on helping your customers, not selling. This helps you start building a relationship with your followers.
By shifting your focus on relationship building, you’re also providing them with a positive experience with your brand.
The idea is, by the time you promote your product to them, they’ll be more willing to buy from you since you’ve already established a level of trust and relationship with them.
Get creative and boost your eCommerce sales with social media marketing.
Social media can be a noisy place, filled with countless businesses promoting their products and services.
Applying any one of these social media marketing techniques can help you cut through the noise and boost sales.
Start by choosing one of the techniques shared in this post and incorporate it into your overall eCommerce marketing strategy.
Track and monitor the results your eCommerce site is getting from applying the technique you’ve chosen so you can find ways to further improve it based on your business’ dynamics.