Using Social Media for increasing eCommerce sales is an important part of any company’s marketing strategies today. However, a lot of companies still struggle to convert social media followers into revenue. This post suggests ways through which eCommerce stores can leverage social media to improve their sales.

The world has never been as connected as it is today and social media is now an important part of our lives. Today, companies everywhere are using social media in new and interesting ways to increase their ecommerce sales.

For an eCommerce business, social media marketing plays a highly significant role. Today, more people shop online than every before. Studies across the world show that more than 50% of all active social media users turn to their social networks to make important buying decisions. Also, almost 70% people say that they trust information they receive from their peers about any product that they have an interest in buying. Therefore, eCommerce stores today take Social Media very seriously. But before moving on to ways of using social media for increasing eCommerce sales, lets get something clear.

Set Clear Goals and Targets

One common misconception among a lot of business owners is that social media marketing will directly help you boost sales. This is not entirely true. Social media can help with increasing awareness about your company/brand, it can help boost quality of customer service and help you follow-up with your customers but it can’t directly drive sales. So first set your expectations and then set goals and targets.

Setting clear goals involves having a clear idea of the following:

• Amount of traffic expected
• The number of people to reach out to (fans and followers)
• The expected ratio of conversions from visitors to customers
• The kind of posts and the engagement expected from the posts

Key strategies to follow to use social media for increasing eCommerce sales:

1. Sharing is caring: Social media marketing is all about reaching out to your customers to build human relationships with them. Nobody logs on to Facebook or Twitter with plans of buying something. But  they do get information about what they want to buy through various social media platforms. Share relevant information that can engage your customers and gain their trust.

2. Reviewing and tracking progress: Keeping track of trends and delivering regular updates to your team members is one of the most important strategies to add in your social media marketing plan. Reviewing historical performance of data and analysing customer behaviour with the content on various platforms to leverage your strategy is also paramount.

3. Optimizing social media performance: Optimizing is a continuous process which involves a lot of research into trends and keywords. Incorporating keywords that have a high conversion rate can not only help you reach out to a larger audience, but can also help you gain followers outside your direct audience. Posts should be visually stimulating as it has become clear that image-driven marketing on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram account for a significant number of conversions.

4. No sales pitches: Use your posts and not sales pitches on social media to educate and engage your customers. Sales pitches usually drive customers away instead of engaging them. Creating a balance between promotional posts and posts that put your customers’ needs first is the right approach. A company that builds real relationships with its customers is far more likely to succeed than a company that has the best product but only pitches sales to its customers.

5. Engage your customers: Encourage your customers to share their stories through photos and posts about your products on various media. Interact directly with your audience, regardless of whether you are getting sales from them or not. Respond promptly to comments and take active part in discussions. Show your customers that you care about them and your product. This will go a long way in building trust. One of the advantages of social media eCommerce is that it has bridged the gap between a business and a customer, enabling you to build long-term relationships with your consumers.

6. The power of Influencers: People who are active online and have a strong following can boost your brand’s image. Maintain healthy relationships with bloggers. Reach out to celebrities to support your brand by talking about it and endorsing it. Building effective social media partnerships with influencers will benefit both parties and will also help you gain amazing amounts of trust among your prospective consumers.

7. Use paid services: Paid advertisements on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms are a way to dramatically boost website traffic. Usually they are usually highly targeted to specific audiences. You can also enlist the help of companies, like aveJana which offers a one-stop solution to help you use social media for increasing ecommerce sales.

8. Short, sweet and tweetable: Short and visually stimulating posts that are easy to read and pass on are preferred by customers over longer posts. Keep your updates concise to engage more. The use of HashTags in your posts effectively can help you dramatically expand your reach. It also gives your posts that uniqueness that most customers are looking for. Strategically placing buttons for customers to easily tweet or share your posts on your blog is highly recommended. Make use of the wealth of resources available online to help you easily share important information.

9. Be Consistent: Consistency in posting content that is valuable for your customer is also very important. The frequency of the posts may vary but a steady stream of useful information is hard to ignore. The availability of tools that help you automate your marketing saves time and it makes sharing really easy.

Conclusion:

Social media marketing has taken over the world like never before. Developing key strategies and building relationships are the most effective tactics that you can rely on. Some of the most successful businesses today use social media more than advertisements for increasing eCommerce sales. People are sick of the overflow of ads on various media and prefer to be engaged and enthralled. If you can use Social media effectively, then the world belongs to you.

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