Your eCommerce business may do most of its sales through the website, but there’s significant value in maintaining an online presence elsewhere, too. Social media sites offer an affordable means for marketing and promotion. You don’t have to resort to paid ads when you’re using social sites right. These pages will draw plenty of attention on their own. Try these tips to make the most of your social presence.
- Share Your Office Space
Let your social media followers peek right into the office by sharing some inside looks on your social media pages. Your products are already on display on your eCommerce site, so it’s important to use your social presence to offer something different from time to time. Snap pictures of your employees enjoying your traditional Friday morning donut feast, or post a sneak peek at your latest development as it’s sketched out in the R&D phase. Social sites offer the perfect platform for inviting your customers to take a virtual tour of your workspace.
- Create a Value-Added Proposition
What can customers gain from following your social sites? If you’re only offering a new way for them to see product posts, these shoppers are less likely to opt-in. Add more value to your social connection and you may get the likes, follows, and shares that you’re after. Consider using your social media pages as the exclusive platform for hosting contests, offering coupons, or sharing discount codes. Provide a clear perk for connecting on social sites so customers have a compelling reason to give these pages their attention.
- Integrate Social Media in Your Website
While you want your social sites to point to your store, you should use navigation in the opposite direction as well. Make sure your eCommerce store points guests back to your social pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sites. For this, you’ll need to choose an eCommerce platform that allows for rich social media integration. An option like Magento eCommerce websites will allow you to install a number of extensions such as Sociable and Facebook Link so visitors can jump from page to page easily while sticking with your brand. If you are putting together a social media marketing strategy and are looking for some tools to help take your content to the next level, look no further. You can use BuzzVoice to buy engagement services for Instagram, Facebook & Youtube!
- Engage in Conversation
Remember that your social media sites aren’t meant to be used as billboards. Avoid any marketing strategy that’s static. Social media is just as it sounds – social! Use these pages to interact with your audience. Follow your customers back for two-way interaction. Reply any time a customer tags your business, leaves a comment, or posts to your page.
You can also use your social sites to engage in a larger conversation. Pay attention to what’s trending in the world and add your company’s thoughts and opinions where appropriate. While this can obviously be a tricky landscape to navigate, you’ll gain a lot of attention when you utilize trending tags appropriately.
Social media is a powerful tool that every eCommerce company should be using. Create a strong, branded presence and interact mindfully with your audience to make the most of your opportunities here.
