Social media was and remains to be one of the best channels to promote your brand online. About 3.96 billion people already use social media and this massive number accounts for more than 50% of the world’s population.

This means that a sizable part of your audience is already likely using these platforms. To reach out to these people and get them to buy from your ecommerce store, you need to have some powerful strategies in place. 

And that’s not all…

The demand for online shopping has grown drastically in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this trend is expected to continue. You need to be well-prepared to deal with greater competition as more businesses will start operating online.

That said, here are the best Social Media Marketing strategies that you can leverage in 2021 to grow your online store.

Social Media Marketing Strategies for 2021

Here’s how you can market your ecommerce business on social media in 2021 to drive your revenue growth:

1. Embrace Instagram Shopping

Instagram has made it easier for users to shop from their favorite brands without having to leave the platform. While this feature has been around for quite some time, you need to start taking advantage of it if you haven’t already.

However, do keep in mind that you will have to check for your eligibility before you can create the store. 

To enable this feature, you need to establish a business account for your online store on the platform and then connect it to your Facebook Page. You can then upload your product catalog and get the approval for your store. 

For instance, note how Acid League has posted their products on Instagram.

Image via Instagram

2. Partner with Influencers

One of the best ways through which you can promote your ecommerce store in 2021 on social media is through influencer marketing. You can find relevant influencers in your niche using influencer discovery tools and then reach out to them for partnerships. 

Once you’ve partnered with the influencer, they’ll post content related to your brand or products on social media. As a result, their massive and highly engaged followers will notice your brand and many of them may even end up checking it out. Some of them might even buy from you as they trust the influencer’s recommendations.

Additionally, the influencers can drive traffic to your online store by providing their audience with the links to buy the products or services. To further boost the campaigns, you can give a special coupon or discount code to your influencers which they can share with their followers. As a result, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.

You can take this strategy even further by partnering with your influencers on an affiliate basis. In such a partnership, the influencers would be paid a commission for every sale that they drive. As a result, they’ll also put in the effort to boost your sales. To monitor and track such campaigns, make sure you use affiliate marketing tools. 

Finally, if you have an Instagram Shop, the influencers can directly send traffic to it. For example, note how it’s possible to shop for these cut out overalls directly by clicking on the photo.

Image via Instagram

3. Leverage Live Videos

Live videos can be a great way for you to interact with your audience and engage them. You can host a variety of live video sessions to drive this engagement such as:

• Behind the scenes
• Q&A
• Product launches
• How-to videos
• Explainer videos
• Discussions

These videos work well because you can connect with your audience in real-time unlike other forms of content where they would be engaging with you passively. 

What’s more?

You could also bring in influencers for your live video sessions. This can help you reap the dual benefits of influencer marketing and live videos. What makes live videos even better is that once they’ve ended, they remain as regular posts or Stories and continue to garner engagement. 

For example, note how Cosmopolitan partnered with Lauren Conrad for a live Q&A session on Facebook. 

Image via Facebook 

And it gets even better.

Lately, Instagram has launched live shopping features that allow you to sell your products through live videos. Before you go live, you can add up to 30 products to a collection and then showcase them during the live video. Your viewers will be able to buy the products directly from Instagram then.

Image via Glossy

4. Create High-Quality Content

Yet another powerful way through which you can grow your ecommerce store’s sales through social media is by creating and posting high-quality content regularly. When you do so, you’ll be able to generate engagement on social media. You can post a wide variety of content like infographics, videos, images, and more. 

Blogging can come in very handy here as you can share links to your blog posts on social media and drive traffic to them. You can then direct this traffic to your product pages to encourage people to buy from you.

You should also share helpful content that’s aimed at solving your customers’ issues. While this may not directly drive your sales, it helps ensure that your brand remains relevant among them. 

However, while posting content, make sure that you don’t end up posting too often as it may come across as spammy. On the other hand, don’t wait too long to post as that may drive your audience to think that your brand isn’t very active. You need to find a balance between the two and post in moderation.

A great way to manage such a schedule is by using social media automation tools that let you schedule posts in advance. This way, you’ll be able to adhere to your social media posting schedule.

5. Add Sharing Buttons to Your Store

One more powerful social media marketing strategy for your ecommerce stores is that of adding social sharing buttons on your ecommerce store. While this optimization is done on your website, it can help boost your reach and traffic.

It’s recommended that you add sharing buttons to all of your product landing pages. This way, those who are interested in these products can share them on social media among their circles. When they do so, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience and some of them may even check your store out.

And that’s not all…

You should also add social sharing buttons to your blog posts. This should be done to make it easier for your readers to be able to share the posts that they find useful. You’ll benefit from greater reach and traffic when they do so.

For instance, note how Beardbrand has added sharing buttons to their blog posts. 

Image via Beardbrand

6. Leverage Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is a great way through which you can have one-on-one interactions with your audience and customers. This means that you can leverage it to serve your customers better by answering their queries and solving their problems.

Also, apart from customer service, it’s a live chat option that you can integrate with your ecommerce store to provide support to your shoppers in real-time.

This would work well for your online store as about 41% of consumers in a survey said that they prefer live chat over other forms of customer support. 

Image via Kayako

What’s more?

When you integrate Messenger with your website, you’ll also be able to answer customer queries that have come from Facebook Messenger itself. Additionally, you can send out promotional messages to those who have interacted with you on Messenger and drive traffic to your website. 

7. Use TikTok Ads

Organic reach can only help you up to a certain point. However, if you want to flex your reach beyond that, you need to take the advantage of social media ads. 

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn let you run a variety of paid promotions ranging from ones aimed at growing your reach to sales-oriented promotions.

However, in the past few years, these promotions have become expensive. This can push your marketing budget through the roof.

That’s where TikTok ads come in. As it’s a relatively new social media platform, the organic and paid reach on TikTok is high. At the same time, the cost of running paid promotions is low too. 

And the best part?

You’ll have a huge audience on the platform too. It’s one of the biggest social media platforms and has over 800 million monthly active users.

Image via We Are Social

For these paid campaigns, you can define your target audience based on their demographics, location, and interests to target the campaign better. You can then set the campaign goal and budget to get started.

Here’s a tip:

Promote your best performing posts on social media as they’ll be more likely to generate the desired results.

Also, make sure that you regularly optimize your campaign based on the insights that you gather. This can help you improve your campaign results. 

For example, note how Gushers launched a paid promotion on TikTok that helps them engage their audience. 

Image via TikTok

Final Thoughts

Social media marketing is critical for any ecommerce store as people rely on it to discover new products. If you haven’t already done so, you need to embrace Instagram Shopping and use it to drive your sales. It also helps to partner with influencers to give a boost to your reach and sales.

What’s more?

You should also use the shopping feature offered by live videos to further drive sales. Posting high-quality content regularly can also drive your engagement and sales. It’s also essential to add social media sharing buttons to your website to make it easy for your visitors to share your products on social media.

Finally, use social media ads and leverage Facebook Messenger well to grow your store even further.

Do you have any questions about the social media marketing strategies mentioned above? Let us know in the comments.

The post 7 Social Media Marketing Strategies for Your Ecommerce Store in 2021 appeared first on Beeketing Blog.