6 Top Strategies for Boosting the Social Media Presence of Your ECommerce Store By James Tredwell on November 1, 2021 At present, over 3.6 billion people use social media, and this huge figure is expected to reach over 4.41 billion by the year 2025. Social media was designed to socialize and connect with people. But the surge in user count inspired businesses to enter the unexplored territory of social media. Today, businesses cannot think of ignoring the power of social media. Take a good look at the following statistics to understand why? – On average, people use social media platforms for 145 minutes daily. Around 54% of people on social media use social media to research products, and 71% of people are likely to buy them via social media referrals. 39% of customers trust brands only after interacting with them on social media platforms. Below is an image that depicts the activities of social media users leading to brand building and engagement. These numbers illustrate how social media presence can impact the success goals of businesses. Whether you are new to the world of social media or want to improve your strategies for achieving better results, this blog has got you covered. #1: Post Engaging and Informative Content Creating high-quality content that adds value to the users helps in establishing a positive brand image. More than that, it acts as a catalyst in winning the trust of users. To ensure the best ROI, you must begin by researching the latest trends in social media content. There are plenty of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, floating in the digital space. It can be overwhelming to choose the right platform for your eCommerce business. First and foremost, you should identify your target audience and the platforms they use proactively. For instance, more than 50% of Instagram users belong to the age group of 18 to 34 years. By these statistics, we can draw the given conclusions – Most users on Instagram are youngsters. The prime focus of Instagram is sharing image content. Video content, stories, and reels are secondary types of content on Instagram. So, to engage users on Instagram, you need to create images and write text along with relevant hashtags to reach a wide range of audiences. When in doubt, reflect on the given questions and then begin the content creation journey. Who is your target audience? What content works best for the platform? What type of content are your competitors sharing? How can you create content that adds value to users? Be realistic and post informative content consistently as it helps not only in engaging the customers but also in retaining them. #2: Collaborate with Social Media Influencers A social media influencer is someone who can influence the decision and thought process of customers as they interact with your brand. But the question is how? Social media influencers have an extensive number of dedicated followers. Their recommendation or feedback about your eCommerce store can boost brand awareness and even fetch you customers in the long run. A recent report stated that 14% of social media users between the age group of 18 to 24 years and around 11% of millennials bought the products based on influencer’s recommendations. The number of followers are crucial but when collaborating with an influencer it’s wise not to go only by the number. More followers don’t necessarily relate to success. Sometimes, influencers with fewer followers might bring the Midas touch to your eCommerce services. For instance, here’s the profile of Hailey Knott. Although she has just 4000+ followers on Instagram, she has been approached by renowned brands like The Body Shop for product endorsements. There’s no hard and fast rule for choosing the right social media influencer for your brand. Generally, influencers are categorized as follows – Nano-influencers – Influencers with 10,000 followers or fewer on social media. Micro-influencers – Influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers on social media. Macro-influencers – Influencers with 100,000 to 1 million followers on social media. Mega-influencers – Influencers with 1 million+ followers on social media. You can give preference to the niche of the influencer’s audience and collaborate with the one that resonates with your brand personality and ethics. #3: Respond to the Social Media Comments One of the primary goals of setting up a social media profile is to reach out to the audience. Interaction with your customers can play a pivotal role in making your eCommerce business stand out. When someone leaves a comment on your post, it gives a picture of what’s going on in their mind. If customers are happy with your services, they may leave positive and nice comments. On the contrary, upset customers may write not-so-nice things. You must acknowledge their views and respond in both cases. Reciprocate the positive comments with positive words of gratitude. In case of negative comments, here’s what you should scrutinize – Inspect if they have misunderstood the meaning of your post. Write a humble reply to clarify what your post is trying to convey. Understand if they genuinely had a bad experience with your brand. Begin by sincerely apologizing. Ask the customer for complete details of the issue so that you can address their problem. Analyse if they are trolls who are intentionally spreading lies or rumours. Trollers are attention seekers. They write something nasty to grab your attention. It is natural to lose patience while dealing with trolls. But you must keep in mind that your brand’s identity is dependent on what you do! So, ignoring them completely could be the best response. #4: Leverage Short Form Video Content Videos of babies playing with dogs, food recipes to try in lockdown, fitness videos, and a lot more! The trend of short videos has taken social media by storm. When it comes to the social media marketing of eCommerce brands, the trend can be leveraged to boost brand visibility. 84% of social media users have admitted that they invested in a product after watching a brand’s video. There’s a plethora of platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels – that you could try for your eCommerce store. What can you do to create an effective short-form video exactly? Make videos of not more than a couple of minutes. Promote and publish UGC – User Generated Content that the audience can relate to! Create videos that add value to your customer’s shopping experience. Share informative tutorials about using the products. Consider the ‘What is in it for me?’ (WIIFM) factor from the audience point of view. Post videos of your staff to form a human connection. For instance, behind-the-scenes videos can help make your social content more relatable and effective. Short-form videos are quick and easy to consume. Try to come up with new themes that reflect your brand values to take advantage of this trend. #5: Invest in Interactive Online Ads Social media advertisements are becoming a staple in the world of digital marketing. What are the advantages of investing in paid ads? They increase the number of visitors on your eCommerce website, boost engagement ratio, and drive sales. Unlike organic posts, paid ads on social media can help you reach a wide range of target audiences within no time. Besides sustaining traffic, it hammers your brand’s name in the minds of social media users that can make you popular effortlessly. To identify your target audience, you can use various filters and settings that can help you connect to the audience with better chances of liking your brand or even buying your products. You can target people by their gender, hobbies, location, age, and other interests. Here’s a snapshot by the Pew Research Center to help you understand the concept. Small businesses and startups who are short on a budget can benefit from social ads because of their flexible pricing. The price is decided as per the length of the campaign. You can measure the success of the campaign by the impressions and conversions you get by the end of it. #6: Don’t Miss Out on Social Media Analytics The guessing game doesn’t work on social media. Believe only in the numbers you see. By that we mean, stay laser-focused on your goals and track your activities with smart analytics tools like – Sprout Social TapInfluence HubSpot These tools can help you identify your best and least performing content and give a clear picture of your social media presence through various metrics. For instance, these tools can help in tracking metrics such as impressions, referrals, response rate, response time, and most importantly conversions. The insights derived from such analysis can help you make more informed decisions. To Sum Up Being in the eCommerce industry, you must have a strong social media presence to foster the growth of your business. We have outlined these strategies by precisely evaluating the current trends on leading social media platforms. We’re sure the tips and tactics shared above will help you set actionable goals for your eCommerce store and up your social media game. Go ahead and implement these strategies to take your venture to the next level. Author Bio Aanya Rachel is the Content Manager at The Address, a coworking space in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge, experience, and extensive research in this field. She writes on a wide range of topics related to coworking, the growth of remote workers, startups, and real estate.
