Social Media For E-Commerce: A Quick Guide

 

People nowadays spend the majority of their time on social media, sharing posts, liking photos, messaging friends, and creating videos. Aside from all of these activities, people are also using social media as a purchasing guide. According to extensive research, 43% of internet users use social media to search for products and discover brands.

Social and e-commerce is a method of direct advertising and selling products through various social media channels. Customers can buy from their favorite e-commerce sites, such as Facebook or Instagram, via in-app purchases or links to a brand's e-commerce website. Customers can customize what they see based on their preferences, and it uses tailored advertisements and personalization to increase the likelihood of them purchasing a product.

Many businesses are capitalizing on how customers use these platforms to purchase products and expanding their operations to social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest. Social commerce is the marriage of social media and e-commerce.

PLATFORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

There are numerous social media platforms where businesses can engage in social commerce. However, before deciding on a social commerce strategy, consider which platforms your target audience uses the most. Here are the top social platforms that people use on a daily basis.

Facebook

Why are e-commerce brand pages constantly reposting the news feed on Facebook? Because Facebook offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to reach the right type of audience interested in a particular product. The platform is the largest social network, with over 1.65 billion users. People are most comfortable buying products online on Facebook, with 68% of users saying they are likely to make an offline purchase after viewing a product on Facebook.

The most recent Facebook update is designed to make it easier for businesses to sell their products on social media platforms. The new Facebook Shops product, which will be available in beta soon, will allow businesses to create Facebook stores without having their own e-commerce site.

Instagram

According to research, more than two-thirds of people aged 18 to 30 use Instagram on a daily basis. Instagram has a unique feature that allows for two types of accounts: regular and business. Business accounts give you access to insights into personalized posts, as well as the ability to promote and sell products in-app. It also supports shoppable posts with tags that direct the audience to the brand websites.

 Pinterest

Pinterest is a popular platform for sharing images of various items such as food, fashion, home and garden, and beauty. Product Pins on images can be used by businesses to direct users to their e-commerce websites. Businesses can list their products and include a link in their post that directs customers to their websites.

Create Customer Loyalty

Keep your company's social media content authentic and engaging in order to leave a positive impression on your audience and build trust over time. Try out random giveaways on Instagram, either alone or in collaboration with other brands. This will aid in the development of community roots and healthy customer relationships.

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Consumers today are constantly connected to social media. Utilize these platforms to provide your company with an incredible opportunity to connect with a larger audience, drive more traffic, build an online reputation, and increase customer loyalty.

Highlight Your Top Products

Uploading as many products as possible to your social media platforms is always enticing. However, starting with a few best-selling products is the best way to get started. Lower-priced products can truly encourage sales because they are perceived as having less investment risk and serving as a trial purchase by first-time buyers.

Collaboration with influencers or product promotion

One of the simplest ways to get your products in front of a larger audience is to either collaborate with a social media influencer who has followers in your target demographic or promote your products using available social media tools. Influencers can promote or review your product, provide discount codes to their followers, and even host a giveaway.

Understand Your Success

It is critical to understand your success after implementing a social media campaign, and one of the best success metrics is conversion. Brand awareness and customer trust are also critical success factors. Other metrics to consider include traffic to your e-commerce website, customer engagement, increased followers, and sales.

Business strategy and social media

Social media platforms can assist your company in reaching a larger customer base. However, in order to grow your overall business online and not just increase customers, you must have a proper strategy in place. Here's how a good business strategy can help you grow your company on social media.

Customers can buy from their favorite e-commerce sites via social media, either in-app or via links to a brand's e-commerce website. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google Analytics 360, and Google Adwords are all tightly integrated into the e-commerce platform. Synchronize product inventory, customer information, analytics, and social media streams across all channels for real-time customer engagement.

The social commerce platform is inextricably linked to social media. Businesses can improve their operations by integrating these two elements, synchronizing product inventory, customer information, and analytics across all channels, and keeping their audience engaged with the information gained. The vast majority of e-commerce websites use social media at the same time that they sell online