October 06, 2022

16 Tips to Boost Social Media Marketing for Your Ecommerce Business

16 Tips to Boost Social Media Marketing for Your Ecommerce Business

Are you using social media marketing to its fullest potential to generate results for your brand? Here are 16 Tips to Boost Social Media Marketing today!

As of 2022, 3.96 billion users log on to social media platforms daily. That’s 50% of the world population. With so many people to sell to, every ecommerce business should succeed, right? Unfortunately, only 10% make it past the 4-month mark. Every ecommerce business owner knows they have to be on social media, but only a few are getting it right. Are you wondering how to improve social media marketing to get better outcomes? We've collected 16 of the best tips on how to increase social media presence for business success.

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Importance of Social Media Marketing for Ecommerce

Social media marketing helps you connect with potential and current customers, build relationships, and increase brand awareness. When done right, it leads to more sales and conversions for your business. Some valuable stats that highlight trends:

However, given the competition and many social channels, you must be strategic with your social media marketing. Only large brands can afford to be everywhere—most ecommerce businesses have tight profit margins and limited budgets. That's why creating a strategy that works for your business is essential.

How can you do that? Here’s a round-up of our best social media marketing tips for strategizing:

1. Identify Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives help you focus your marketing efforts on areas with the most significant impact. For example, if your goal is to build brand awareness, you create and publish informational content and wait for organic growth. You only start running ads after you have a certain number of followers.

On the other hand, If your objective is to sell X number of products in the holiday season, you can plan and run targeted ads from October. Ultimately, you need to answer this question—“What do I want to achieve with social media?”

2. Define Your Target Audience

With the amount of competition out there, if you sell to everyone, you sell to no one. Successful ecommerce business owners find specific niches that they can dominate.

For example, your target audience could be working women with three or fewer children who love outdoor adventure. The more specific you get, the more social media marketing success you will experience.

Try to get into the mind of your ideal customer and imagine why they would buy from you. Consider these questions:

  • Who are they? (Demographics like age, gender, location, etc.)
  • What do they do? (Their occupation, interests, and hobbies)
  • What do they want? (Their needs, goals, and pain points)
  • How do they talk? (The language they use, including slang and jargon)

3. Choose the Right Social Media Platform

Every social media platform attracts a particular audience demographic. For example, 31% of Facebook users are in the 25-34 age group, while 25% of Tiktok users are 10-19 years old. You can concentrate your efforts on the top 2-4 channels determined by your target audience, and product category.

Here is an overview of the top 5 social media platforms based on the number of users:

  • Facebook – 2.89 billion
  • YouTube – 2.29 billion
  • WhatsApp – 2 billion
  • Instagram – 1.39 billion
  • Facebook Messenger – 1.30 billion

4. Explore Alternative Platforms

It's okay to focus on the mainstream social media platforms, but don't overlook the potential of alternative platforms. These are useful to connect with new audiences and tap into trends. For example, Snapchat and Pinterest are very visual channels that can give you new product ideas.

You can use them to showcase new releases and your product photography to drive traffic back to your website. Just remember to review your target audience and see where and how they spend their time online.

5. Create Your Brand’s Story

Everyone loves a good story. When it comes to social media, your story is your brand. It's the foundation of everything you post and share.

When Nike said, "Just Do It," they didn't just mean go running. They appealed to the rebel in all of us, the person who challenges norms and strives to be extraordinary. That is their brand story, and it's a great example of how compelling a strong brand story can be.

Your brand story is more than just a description of your products or services. It should include the WHY behind your business:

  • Why did you start it?
  • What do you stand for?
  • What problem are you solving?

Being a storyteller makes engaging with your customers easier and connections deeper.

6. Increase User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is social proof that your customers like your products. It's also a great way to get free content for your ecommerce business.

You can also leverage the power of influencer marketing, especially since 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations. Influencers are individuals with a large social media following who can help promote your products or services.

Some tips for UGC include:

  • Host contests - give prizes for the best photos of customers using your products.
  • Give free samples - to people to recommend your brand on their social media.
  • Request influencers to feature your products for a commission
UGC content by Casper - Pet beds

7. Publish Consistently

A consistent social media presence builds a following and keeps your brand top of mind. Optimum posting frequency varies by channel but helps to drive organic growth. For example, Instagram head Adam Mosseri recommends sharing two weekly posts and two stories (temporary content) daily for organic growth.

On the other hand, Twitter requires 3-5 tweets a day, but only one should promote your business. The rest should be informational or engaging. Sticking to a regular posting schedule is hard work. Tools like Twitter tracker help you monitor channels and automate social media tasks.

8. Keep Up the Conversation With Your Audience

When you're out on your first date, you don't want the conversation to be one-sided, right? The same goes for social media management.

You must keep up the conversation with your audience by responding to comments and questions. 40% of customers expect businesses on social media to reply within the first hour. Failing to do so could damage your brand and turn customers away. You should make an effort to address common questions, respond to reviews, and address concerns. This improves customer service and brand accessibility.

Most platforms have a "trending" section that shows what's currently popular. You can also follow social media experts to get their insights on the latest trends, such as:

  • 82% of the content is already video - it will continue to dominate
  • 74% of businesses plan to invest in audio-only content
  • Augmented reality, like bunny ears on your selfie, increases click-through rates by 33%

Of course, you don't have to jump on every trend. Just remain updated on what’s new and see if you can apply any of it to your ecommerce business.

L'Oreal augmented reality app lets you "try on" make up on a real-time image of your face

10. Use Hashtags

Hashtags increase the reach of your posts and connect with new audiences without spending much money. For example, #newproduct or #favorite are popular tags. Simply include relevant hashtags in your posts to help reach people searching for that topic.

What makes a great hashtag? It’s short and sweet, and it uses relevant keywords. However, don’t go overboard! Too many hashtags in one post can come across as spammy. Even Twitter doesn't recommend it.

11. Create Memorable Images

When it comes to your ecommerce business, high-quality product photos are a must. But don't stop there – you can also use images to show off your brand personality, tell a story, or promote a sale or special event.

Make sure your images are always on point by following these tips:

  • Use bright, vibrant colors
  • Maintain consistency across all platforms
  • Avoid using too much text
  • Use correctly sized images for each platform–this will ensure they look sharp and don't get cut off

You can find plenty of tools and resources to help you create professional-looking images without breaking the bank. For example, you can use image generator tools like Instant Banner Generator or Canva free account. You can also use free stock photo sites like Pexels and Unsplash.

12. Use Video Content In Your Strategy

Videos are entertaining and shareable, which makes them an excellent tool for boosting your reach. In addition, 59% of marketers say video marketing delivered positive ROI. So if you haven’t used video in your social media marketing strategy, now is the time to start. You don't need to produce Hollywood-level videos, either. Simple smartphone videos can be just as effective for stories and reel content.  

13. Take an Integrated Approach

Your social media strategies should integrate well with your overall marketing efforts. This means creating content and campaigns that work together to promote your brand and product.

Go for the omnichannel approach. Omnichannel marketing means using offline and online channels to reach your audience. This includes your website, email, social media, and traditional channels like newsprint and radio.

Omnichannel strategies allow you to provide a consistent message across all channels and reach your customers at different touchpoints.

14. Use Automated Tools

Managing a social media campaign is challenging, especially if you have a small team. Luckily, many great automated tools are available to help with various aspects of your social media marketing.

Automation helps schedule posts, analyze your social media analytics, publish simultaneously to multiple channels, and more. It frees time from repetitive tasks so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Plus, it can help keep your social media presence consistent, even when busy. For example, Audience Intelligence gives you deep insights into the social media users engaging with your content.

15. Promote and Advertise

Organic social media reach is your word-of-mouth growth. Your followers like and share your posts, driving a new audience to you. However, most social media channels limit organic reach.

For example, Facebook shows free posts to only 6.4% of people that like your page. Paid ads and sponsored posts are critical for reaching a larger audience and promoting your products. You can use advanced targeting options across platforms to get very specific with who sees your ads. For example, you target people by age, location, gender, interests, and more.

16. Review your Strategy Regularly

Lastly, remember to monitor your social media performance regularly. Most platforms have built-in analytics tools to help you track your progress. For instance, Facebook Insights lets you see how many people your posts reach and what type of engagement they’re getting.

You can use analytics tools to track your audience engagement and ad performance. This will help you understand what’s working well and areas of improvement. You can also tweak your strategy to match changing business goals.

Conclusion

Social media marketing can be a great way to connect with customers and promote your ecommerce business. However, it requires effort and strategy to impact sales positively.

First, you must understand your target audience and find their preferred channels. You can then combine informational content with sponsored posts to build your initial fan base. Regularly create and publish entertaining videos, images, and other content.

Stay on top of current trends and encourage your audience to share and generate content too. Following these tips, you can create a more effective social media strategy to help you achieve your business goals!

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We hope our tips on how to boost your social media marketing will help you to effectively rejuvenate your social media marketing efforts and grow your sales this year! Read more about video marketing tips and tricks to engage your followers even more.