What is The Role of Social Media in Ecommerce?

What Is The Role Of Social Media In Ecommerce?

Social media has evolved from just being a platform for connecting people to becoming a crucial part of every ecommerce business. Earlier a business’s presence was signified by a physical shop and advertisements in traditional media. But in this digital era, business reputations are assessed by their social media standing. How can social media help your e-commerce business? Let the e-commerce experts from Perth help you understand all about the role of social media in e-commerce and why it is a necessity.

Why is Social Media important for e-commerce?

Rapid Growth of Social Media

Social media has rapidly grown over time with more and more people opting it to make purchases. Many businesses are already using this platform to reach out to more targets and have more conversions. Social media has proven to be a worthwhile inclusion in online marketing campaigns, making it essential for businesses.

Influence on Purchase Decisions

The information shared on social media platforms has a huge impact on the choices and decisions your audience make while selecting your products and services. It also provides innovative features such as ‘like’ and ‘comment’ options which facilitate simple and active conversations. Consumers around the world use the accessible platforms of social media to learn about products of their choice.

Social shares help you reach more customers

Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have ‘Share’ buttons which allow your customers to share your product and services. Promotional activities get shared quickly on social media platforms – it is an effective way to increase traffic and conversions for your site. Most social media users are likely to purchase products or services that are highly shared.

Social Platforms help you understand customers better

One of the most important ways social media helps your e-commerce business is in understanding customers better. Analysing customer behaviour on social media helps you understand their purchasing behaviour. What are their preferences? What do they share or like or comment on most? Who do they follow? You can use various analytical tools to study customer behaviour. This helps in creating effective marketing campaigns.

Respond promptly to customer queries

Social media allows you to respond promptly to customer queries. This makes customers feel valued and increases your brand value. Customers trust brands that respond promptly to queries and comments. How you respond to negative comments also plays a major role in improving your brand value.

Active Social Media

An active social media presence that engages with customers and share posts regularly show you are quite interested in your customer base. Keeping track of your social media activity is essential because most users rely on social media platforms to research products or services. This gathered information plays a major role in their purchasing decisions.

Cost-effective marketing

Social media also gives you the advantage of a cost-effective marketing channel. The content that you share on your social media accounts should reflect your brand’s authenticity and positive aspects. If customers find your message interesting or appealing, they will share it on their accounts. You are reaching a large customer base at practically no-cost as compared to traditional advertising media.

Popular Social Media Platforms for Marketing

Facebook: The ideal social media platform for building brand awareness and engaging with customers.

Twitter: Suitable for encouraging interaction with consumers, and easy to share valuable content with the hashtag feature.

LinkedIn: Excellent platform for connecting with professionals from similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals.

YouTube: A great platform for businesses who want to utilise videos to promote their brands and increase their visibility.

Pinterest: A platform ideal for offering merchandise exclusively and showcase products in advance.

Tips to use Social Media for your Ecommerce business

Build and improve your e-commerce social media presence with these effective strategies.

• Create engaging content: The easiest way to gain a client’s trust is by showing them how you’ve already helped others like them, efficiently. For each stage in your sales funnel, create content that is generated by users. It marks your brand’s reliability and authenticity and will be powerful in attracting new customers. Learn about your customers, understand what they want and then do targeted promotions.
• Use hashtags: Hashtags are a beneficial tool to increase your brand’s visibility. They can boost sales and drive more traffic towards your brand. Using specific hashtags help people find your content and your brand information more easily. To ensure reaching the maximum number of potential customers, find relevant keywords and use them in your hashtags. Make sure to use unique and specific hashtags for better social media engagement.
• Optimise your social media accounts: Fill in all the fields in your social media accounts for your business. Add all the necessary details, including methods to contact you and the business location. Update the profiles and ensure all the content you have on the page looks pleasing to the eyes. Regularly post on these social media pages; keep them alive and engaging.
• Link your e-commerce sites with social media profiles: The easiest way to convert the social media community into website traffic is by linking back to your e-commerce website from all your social media accounts. Your bio should contain the most updated links to your website. Check the hyperlinks regularly to make sure they’re working. Ensure the landing pages to which the links redirect are attractive and informative. Read here how to create effective landing pages.
• Post high-quality product visual content: Images and videos are more eye-catching compared to textual content. When you upload posts to your social media pages, make sure you use high-quality pictures and videos relevant to your brand. While aesthetics are enticing, they aren’t a replacement for content. Ensure your social media posts are communicative and brand-centric.
• Invest in paid social media campaigns: At times, even if you follow all the social media algorithmic requirements to a T, the engagement could be disappointing. It may be because your brand does not have a significant social media following. If that’s the case, you can try investing in paid social media ad campaigns. Almost every social platform, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, offer an option for paid ads. They will be beneficial in improving your visibility on social platforms.
• Use social media handles to promote: It goes without saying, but your social media accounts are your best promotional tools. Promote your latest product launches, special offers, discounts, etc., on your pages to increase exposure. Offers and discounts will cause excitement in existing clients as well as new clients. Use contests and host giveaways to gain brand awareness.
• Improve customer experience: Your social media accounts are part of the public space. How you interact with clients through these accounts will make a lasting impression on everyone in cyberspace. Respond to any customer query without delay. Be quick, patient and instructive in every interaction.
• Consistent branding: Ensure that your branding is consistent across all channels. Your brand identity should be the same on social media as on the website. The contact information, location details, names, logos and links should be updated accordingly. If there are changes, make sure the changes reflect in all your social media handles, even in the ones that aren’t as engaging as the rest.
• Create shoppable ads and shoppable posts: If you have accounts on platforms that provide services like Instagram’s shoppable tags, make the best out of them. Using marketing services like these, you can tag products directly in social media posts. Shoppable posts will increase your conversion rates and boost your sales. Such services are usually only available once your brand page is marked as a business page.
• Use analytics: Marketing efforts cannot be complete without analysing the extent of success of the strategies. Measure and analyse the effectiveness of your social media strategies will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your digital marketing strategies. Using these analytics, you’ll be able to find the channels and tactics that bring in the best results for your business.

Social media can help your e-commerce business in multiple ways. It is an effective means for reaching out to your target audience, increase traffic and conversion, and to improve your brand visibility. Is your e-commerce business ready for an amazing social media marketing strategy? Contact us or email at sales@computingaustralia.group.

Jargon Buster

E-commerce – Electronic commerce refers to the buying or selling of products online and the transactions of money and data involved in the execution of these trades.
Social Media– Computer-based technology that allows sharing of information through virtual networks and communities.
Share button– A user interface icon to forward content on social media platforms.
Shoppable posts – Is any post where you can tag your products directly in the post.

Updated on 07/07/2021
Added new section –Tips to use Social Media for your Ecommerce business
Added new terms to Jargon Buster