In a world where we are inundated with information on many platforms — from Instagram to Twitter and Facebook –, it’s a challenge to stand out from the crowd.
Social media is a powerful tool for companies to elevate brand awareness and sales, with many relying on social media for eCommerce sales. Figuring out the perfect social media strategy for your company can be tricky, but our experts at Catapult Revenue have got it down to a science.
So, you’ve started posting on social media platforms, but you’re just not seeing the payoff.
While social media allows your company to instantly post, sharing your message with the world, if you haven’t established that audience yet, your content is quickly lost amongst the sea of posts, pictures, and videos. But that doesn’t mean success on social media is out of the question.
Whether you can’t quite pinpoint what mistakes you’re making or you’re not getting enough engagement on posts, our team of experts has all the tips and tricks you need for success using social media for eCommerce digital marketing.
To boost your success on your social platforms that will then convert to sales, we share the fundamentals of using social media for eCommerce. Here we’ll cover top mistakes eCommerce social media marketers make, eCommerce’s fundamentals that encourage engagement, and content opportunities for a social media plan and budget.
Ready to start seeing success with your eCommerce efforts on social media? Let’s dive right in and get your social media strategy on track, saving you time, energy, and money while maximizing sales.
Before we get into the fundamentals, it’s first important to address the common mistakes in social media strategy that we see most. Your social media marketing mistakes can have a big effect on eCommerce sales. And who doesn’t want to optimize sales?
To ensure you’re avoiding the biggest errors that hinder sales, let’s go over the most common social media strategy mistakes.
Yes, you read that right – the message shouldn’t be all sales, sales, sales. When building a large, successful eCommerce company, social media should serve as a tool to engage your target audience. Yes, the audience you find will be the one you’re selling to, but you first need to build that audience and engage them when it comes to building up your social media platforms.
Imagine if your favorite brand only ever shared messages with their latest product and prices. We get it – it’s about sales, but no one wants to see that as the only message on their feed, not even from their favorite brand. Instead, amongst these posts focused on sales, share other relevant content to your target audience.
You’ve targeted this audience, you know they are interested in what you have to offer, but you must share content that they want to see, too. This relationship is what will pay off most with your eCommerce sales.
Consistency is key! Random posts here and there won’t serve your company in the long run, producing little engagement. Before investing time and money in your social media marketing, you have to have a strategy that ensures consistency. But how?
The first step is creating a content calendar laying out what you will produce for the various social media platforms and when you will post. This will ensure that you engage with your audience regularly.
As we mentioned earlier, social media platforms are flooded with information, and one post a month won’t cut it with all the other posts flooding in. Instead, set a goal to engage your audience a few times a week, aiming for daily interactions. This engagement is a simple way to ensure you avoid the most common social media marketing mistakes with your eCommerce company.
Okay, you know what mistakes to avoid, but it’s time to make sure you nail your social media marketing for a successful eCommerce strategy. But how does eCommerce use social media? We have the answers.
To equip you with the foundation you need for a stellar eCommerce strategy, let’s go over the fundamentals.
So, how do you engage customers? Well, there’s actually a pretty clear formula.
When creating content for social media, 50% of your content should be purely educational. These are valuable materials to your customers, helping them solve their problems and answering the questions they have.
The next 35% is all about entertaining – and this can be educational, too. To do this, we recommend using multiple forms of content, not just written posts and blog posts, to engage the audience with more information. Accompanying written content with videos can amplify your results, pairing the two together to get more social media traction.
The last 15% is promotional content. Yes, really – that’s it.
With this ratio, you’re sure to be successful on social media, but with time. As you may be coming to realize, social media doesn’t provide instantaneous results – it takes time to boost brand and product awareness. But with consistent posts and the right formula of content, you’ll start seeing the payoff.
Content doesn’t have to rely on your internal team fully! This is where user-generated content (UGC) comes in.
User-generated content refers to when a customer or influencer receives a product from you, and they can open it, share them using it, and review it. All of this together can amount to the most powerful, authentic content – and authenticity is something shoppers love to see.
Don’t underestimate the power of UGC!
When it comes to influencer marketing, you want to consider someone with a strong social media presence who has the clout (and relevancy) to share your product. These “influencers” can be anyone from a prominent speaker to a director of an association or anybody who is a figure amongst your targeted audience who speaks to them and has the credibility to convert their social media sharing to sales.
For this strategy, it’s important to reach out to the influencers relevant to your company. And the content you ask them to create doesn’t have to be simply promotional! It can be educational, too.
This is a powerful solution that frequently costs less than other marketing strategies – proving to be a real bang for your buck.
Once you start seeing the traction with your target audience, it will be important to engage them on social media.
If a customer posts any questions or comments, be sure to respond. If they DM or Facebook message you, message them back! Your responsiveness allows you to conveniently interact with your customers, creating a relationship that keeps them coming back for more.
Now that you know the fundamentals, it’s time to think strategically. Our experts at Catapult Revenue have the answers to perfect your social media strategy. Here’s what they have to say.
The first step for a successful social media plan for eCommerce marketing is to set a goal. For this goal, focus on something meaningful, like sales. This can be something like, “we want to make X amount this year.” It’s clear, simple, and gives your social media strategy a direction.
Once you have your objectives, it’s time to make a plan.
To build out a plan to meet your goals, consider, “how are we going to get there?” This will include building up engagement, communities, and subsequently, sales.
Consider how many followers and likes you need to achieve your goal and how much engagement will be required to set expectations. An expert digital marketing company can help you figure out this plan, so you see success in line with your goals.
Budget time!
When it comes to a budget for your social media plan for eCommerce, consider what you are looking to spend to acquire new customers and new sales. It’s important to think about budgeting early because without considering a budget, hitting your goals will be incredibly challenging.
At this time, also consider what matrix you will use to determine if your social media strategy is heading in the right or wrong direction. Once you’ve figured out the measurement, measure consistently, and consistently look at ways to improve on that matrix.
Your social media strategy is sure to succeed with these fundamentals and tactics, generating sales for your eCommerce business. To get started with your eCommerce social media strategy, contact Catapult Revenue for an in-depth audit and marketing strategy. We work with clients as their digital marketing partner to boost eCommerce sales in real-time.
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