7 Ways to Improve Your eCommerce Performance Using Social Media

Social media promotion (SMM) has long been a must and effective tool for online stores ranging from small niche stores to multi-billion dollar brands. In this article, you will learn why an online store needs SMM promotion, which platforms to focus on and how to attract customers from there.

Benefits of SMM

Attracting targeted traffic to the site;

Increasing coverage and traffic from social media networks at least indirectly help in the SEO promotion of an online store;

Social media helps build closer relationships between businesses and consumers. Social media posts provide insight into the daily lives of customers, which helps brands create more effective marketing strategies;

Gaining trust and loyalty. Customers check a company's online presence and social media activity, and reviews and brand mentions play a vital role in online business.

The main advantage is increasing brand awareness. Even if the user does not immediately make a purchase, he will remember you, and people trust familiar objects more. As a result, if necessary, the user can remember your store, or click on your link when searching in Google.

How to increase sales on social media

If you are determined to use social networks to promote your online store, we offer 7 basic rules that will help you get started and get the first results.

1. Promotion

Let's dwell on the issue of promotion. It is advertising that will help the target audience learn about the product, i.e. potential buyers. First of all, you need to understand - who is your customer and where he is? A series of steps for targeting (identifying potential customers):

We determine the geography - to which regions the deliveries are made.

Gender - some products are more bought by female or male audiences. 

The age for which the product is most interesting.

Interests.

Education and work.

It is very easy to indicate this at the stage of creating an ad.

Setting who to show your ads to will help you find and attract customers. The most interested buyers can be found in narrow-profile groups and communities. 

2. Post interesting and useful content

Don't just use your pages to publish posts about promotions and products; instead, engage with quality content. Publish posts in different formats: videos (including live broadcasts), stories, polls, photos, or plain text notes.

We would also like to mention photographs - make and upload only the highest quality photos. Nothing influences the conversion rate of an online store more than a high-resolution photo showing a product in a real-world setting. Post photos and videos that show how customers use your products.

Another working idea is to offer a bonus for unpacking filmed videos, and use the resulting videos on product cards on the website of the online store to increase conversions and on third-party platforms (for example, YouTube or Facebook) to reach a new audience.

It's a good idea to start a blog where you can write useful articles on your topic. Blog articles will attract visitors from search engines, and article announcements on social media will keep your store interested and also attract visitors to your site. With the right approach, ordinary blog readers can be converted into buyers.

3. Make a content plan

If you decide to get serious about promoting your online store on social media, you should create a content plan and stick to it.

A well-written plan contains:

Clearly formulated goals: increasing awareness, loyalty, the number of sales, becoming an expert in your field, etc.

Audit of the current state - where your accounts are, which platforms you will abandon, and which should be added; how competently the current pages are filled, what content you have now and how it works;

Publication plan - what day, what social network and what you publish;

Tools and methods for analysing results. For example, if your goal is to drive traffic to your website and sell products, then make sure you have Google Analytics.

A plan like this takes time, but it’s worth it — it’s more efficient and less stressful. If you publish 1-2 posts chaotically, you will only waste your time and energy. Also, make sure that your content looks as pleasing and engaging as it can. Find a good web design agency and you can be at peace. 

4. Create videos

Some statistics on why you should use video to promote your online store:

54% of surveyed users see more videos from brands and companies they support;

87% of professional marketers use video as a promotion tool;

Video content has the highest ROI of any other content type, and 88% of marketers are happy with their results.

Videos get 12x more shares than text and images combined.

Several ways to use video to promote your product:

Product videos. This is the easiest option - just show the product from different angles.

Reviews and comparisons of goods. Best suited for hardware stores, but can also be used for clothing, cosmetics, baby products, and more.

Training videos. Shoot a short video that shows you how to use the product and why it's worth in general. It would be difficult to show all this with the help of photos and text, but a short video will quickly give the buyer an idea of how and why to use the product.

Short ad-hoc videos. Sometimes a few seconds are enough to win over the user.

5. Interact with your audience

Social media is an ideal platform for direct interaction with potential and existing customers. Follow comments and reactions, connect with the audience, ask questions, and thanks for sharing your content. This is a great way to show concern and interest in meeting their needs, which can have a big impact on building trust.

Here are 2 ways to interact with your audience:

Join thematic communities. This is a good way to follow thematic discussions, relevant materials in your field and publish your content - photos, videos, article announcements or polls in order to get the opinion of the target audience.

Connect and collaborate with opinion leaders (influencers). A product or store is much more attractive if it is not recommended by a billboard near the road, but by a living person who is trusted by the target audience.

6. Simple ordering 

Transitions to other sites, the need to register, requests for the right size and model - additional barriers to purchase. On the way, the client gets lost and changes his mind. A personal message, a comment under the post to call back a store employee - this is how to make a purchase quickly and easily.

7. Quick response

A call or message to the buyer with the specification of order details, delivery times, availability of goods, cost. Make sure that your customer doesn’t wait. That way you show him that you respect him and your professionalism. 

Conclusion

Social media promotion is an extremely important part of an online store's marketing strategy. With the right approach, you can increase brand awareness, drive more traffic, increase sales, and increase customer loyalty, which ultimately benefits your entire business.