An eCommerce business without an active social media presence is automatically an online store missing out on market opportunities. Today social networks are too important a sales and brand promotion channel to abandon or leave in inexperienced hands. If you have an online store and want to promote it, just commit to the social network that best fits your marketing strategy.
If you’re still unsure whether to be on social media, this figure from Puro Marketing will clear up many doubts: “In Spain, 8 out of 10 people use social media”. That’s a huge number of people in our country with a presence on one or more social networks, so we’ll explain why you should make your online store social.
Social media: direct communication with customers?
As we’ve mentioned, many users regularly use social media throughout the day. This constant presence of potential customers leads many online stores to focus on building positive feedback with these users.
One supposed advantage of this social presence is that any customer can send complaints or praise to the brand through a comment, post or tweet. This can be a double-edged sword, especially for large companies, because certain situations must be handled with a good social media strategy.
For small eCommerce businesses with a limited presence, it can be a way to boost promotions and offers, run contests and build brand awareness. At this level, small online stores’ social networks become a kind of word of mouth that can help increase customer-company interaction.
Many will say what matters is what you say, but we say what matters is how you say it. Original content created for each social network can drive eCommerce sales. Creating specific content makes users appreciate the brand reaching out to its followers.
Creating exclusive, original content on social media brings many advantages:
- Build loyalty: valuable content is what builds loyalty, on any social network.
- Interact: listening to and knowing what your followers think of your brand helps improve your positioning and adds value to your posts.
- Promote: creating special offers or exclusive promotions for followers on different social platforms can make them feel part of the brand.
This added value in your posts should be driven by predefined goals. An effective social media strategy must anticipate the level of engagement its interactions with users will generate.
In upcoming posts we’ll look in depth at each social network where a good social media strategy can be carried out. But first, let’s be clear: today, not being present on what we’ll call the “conventional” social networks can harm an online store’s image. An eCommerce business must show its drive to evolve and surprise its followers every day, and platforms like Facebook or Twitter are a good channel for that.
Likewise, being on networks like Facebook, Twitter or Google+ with profiles that look abandoned, with no posts for months or unanswered user comments, can create dissatisfaction with the company. We’d be damaging the brand’s image on a channel as important as social media.
You need to post just the right amount. Not too much, not too little. That’s why setting a social media communication strategy helps you stay organized with posting or themed calendars.
One way to be original on these channels is to feature your About us section in original posts. This becomes a new way to reach and interact with users by showing the company’s more human side.
There’s life beyond Facebook and Twitter
We should keep an eye on new social platforms as they emerge, or even aim for visibility on less widely used ones, such as Vimeo or Tumblr.
Believe it or not, many online stores still haven’t embraced Instagram as a new social channel for engaging with users. Many of those that do use it treat it like a “catalog”, a practice not to overdo, as it can put people off in the long run.
Many social platforms are succeeding right now, especially among younger generations, such as Snapchat, and it will be worth following how they evolve and whether they become part of online stores’ social strategies.
How do you boost your online store’s social media?
