Optimizing Ecommerce: Harness social media for your ecommerce brand
By: Emilia Vieni
If you have an ecommerce brand, you’re probably on social media. This makes sense for the obvious reason of meeting people where they’re already shopping - on their devices. But with so many platforms and so much advice going around, what are the fundamentals to success? With the right tools and planning, you can find your target audience and create a community. Then you can take the next step to reach your goals and sell your products to your online community and beyond. Here are a few tips to get you started on making the most out of social media to enhance your ecommerce brand:
1. Brand first, call to action second
Remember the reason you wanted to start a community on social media. Even if you’re selling a product or a service, there’s a reason people follow you, and that is the content you’re putting out. Focus on your brand’s why first, then add in the sales posts and calls to action. Our recommendation is to aim for one call to action for each line of your Instagram grid, and the rest is all you.
2. Keep track of performance
One of the best tools when using social media for your brand is getting to see (for free, by the way) your post and profile performance. Knowing how many views and engagements your pages and posts are receiving will give you insight into some of the ways you can keep your viewers more engaged and lingering on your page. You can even view how posts perform overall, and how many times your content was “saved” by other users. By knowing what content gets views and what doesn’t, you can save time and narrow down what you need to create and post to reach your sales goals.
3. Heard of Pinterest?
Pinterest is an often underutilized tool with a gold mine of potential (find Cleo’s guest blog on the topic City Mogul’s here). Made up of over 431 million active users to date, Pinterest acts as a tool for visual discovery, with 89% of users going to the platform for one thing: inspiration. Upload, backlink, and create online catalogues for your products that can be viewed with a simple click. The time you invest in using this extremely valuable platform will be well worth the investment. As a bonus, Pinterest pages show up when Google searches a brand or product, so it assists on the SEO side of things, too, when including backlinks to websites and product pages.
4. Audit your accounts periodically
Social media audits give you a leg up on the competition, helping you take the guesswork out of your marketing strategies. All the key metrics that ultimately lead to a higher ROI can be identified and tracked. This can be a great first step when starting a social media strategy for your brand. You can see what your competition, and the companies you aspire to, are up to, to set those benchmarks, and then surpass them.
5. Reward your followers
Everyone loves a good discount, especially on products you’ve been eyeing for the last few weeks (or months). The right sale at the right time should excite and reward your followers while making it easy for you to promote and sell your product. However, too many sales can lower the value your product has to your audience. Partnering with likeminded companies for giveaways is also a great way to show your audience that you appreciate them, and grow your following while you’re at it.
Experimentation and an open-minded approach will help you discover the best social media strategy for your online brand, but it’s like your mom used to say: “be yourself.” When you show up authentically, people will come to you. And once they’re there, it’s your chance to get them interested in your product too.