words Al Woods
According to social media stats, 53.6% of people worldwide use social media. It has become one of the fastest and simplest ways to connect, find goods and services, and simply have fun. But not only individuals can benefit from social media.
With the help of Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, ecommerce marketers can reach the target audience, boost brand recognition, and promote their goods and services cheaper and faster.
Along with competitor analysis, content marketing,and strategic planning, social media presence has become a great instrument for businesses of all shapes and sizes. And in the article below, we are going to tell you why you should also try it.
Why Your Business Needs Social Media
Many ecommerce businesses have limited budgets and need to plan their promotion and growth attentively. Fortunately, social media marketing is quite affordable and can even be done on your own. For example, you can scale ecommerce with SEO, influencers and create useful guidelines with minimum interference. But why should you turn to social media? Let us enumerate the most important reasons:
- Brand recognition. Being present across several platforms and regular posting help users notice and remember you.
- Sales increase. It’s much simpler and quicker to sell goods and services online.
- Customer feedback. Users can share their experiences and reviews using the convenient time and method while staying anonymous.
- Search for employees. Brands can post job alerts and reach the maximum number of potential candidates.
Social Media Platforms to Consider
Investing in digital marketingin 2021 is a great idea. When doing everything properly, you can get a high return on investment, reach the target audience faster, and get other advantages without much effort. For this article, we have chosen four major platforms to consider, and below are going to talk about the ecommerce opportunities that they offer.
Number of users: 2.89 billion monthly
Market capitalization: $967 billion
Almost every business, big and small, has its audience on Facebook. Thus, adding this platform to your marketing strategyis a great way to reach potential customers quickly and without any fuss. On Facebook, ecommerce projects have access to numerous sales options, including advertising, tracking, calculating clicks and views, and even selling through the platform. Plus, Facebook is good for link building,and you can direct potential customers to your blog or website.
Number of users: 206 million daily
Market capitalization: $49.45 billion
When it comes to social media marketing,we can’t fail to mention Twitter. According to statistics, 42% of US adults use it on a daily basis. People love short and to-the-point messages and head to Twitter if they want to find out the latest news. Not the most obvious advantage of this network is that many ecommerce ads are published on Facebook and Google, so it is cheaper to run ads on Twitter. Plus, you will find less competition there.
Number of users: 1.36 billion monthly
Market capitalization: $102 billion
Instagram is owned by Facebook and remains one of the best platforms to market an ecommerce business,especially if you sell products or services that can be visualized. Good-looking pictures and short posts make Instagram a great marketplace, not to mention its Checkout and Shopping features.
For example, shoppable Instagram posts take customers to product description pages with prices and detailed information. The Instagram Checkout is still in the testing stage and is going to allow users to shop and pay without the need to go to another site. You can also switch to a business account and track user engagement, schedule stories, add a contact tab, and much more.
Number of users: 454 million monthly
Market capitalization: $33.92 billion
You might be surprised to find out that many companies use Pinterest for ecommerce on a regular basis. Considering that millions of users plan their purchases by scrolling the Pinterest feed, it becomes a great network to connect with the target audience. Using the rich pins feature, you can include links, reviews, and recommendations to side posts. Pinterest also gives a chance to make purchases on the platform without a need to switch between several websites. Finally, it allows creating a business account with lots of analytics and insights.
Tips on Creating and Promoting Content
After choosing social media platforms, you should work on the content strategy and planning. Luckily, there are many content types you can use. For example:
- Promotional posts. While creating useful posts is good, you shouldn’t forget about motivating users to try your goods and services. This can be done with the help of free shipping, discounts, loyalty points, and referral programs discussed in promotional entries.
- Micro-content. Users are flooded with information and often don’t have time for long reads and 20-minute video tutorials. That is why Snapchat videos, GIFs, and short posts are extremely popular.
- Hiring a social media influencer. They have a loyal audience who is eager to follow the recommendations. If you market your business through influencers, you will surely reach lots of potential customers.
- Blogs. While many businesses concentrate solely on social media networks, blogs drive lots of traffic as well, so don’t neglect this instrument.
Not depending on the approach you choose, don’t forget to make the content dynamic. Purchase the right equipment and use video editing toolsto create professional and interesting clips.
It is not necessary to create a unique video from scratch. With the trend for retro waves, you can get old videos out of storerooms, process them properly and put them into production. Remember that old formats can be difficult to open on new hardware. So be sure to read tutorials, such as how to open VOB files, on the Internet.
Conclusion
Even though new social media appsand platforms emerge on a regular basis, the networks discussed above remain industry leaders. If you want to improve brand recognition and market your goods or services, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest can be more than enough.
But don’t forget about using best practices of successful businesses, various marketing instruments, and networking. Only a set of approaches can provide long-term results.
