For quite some time now, the concept of e-commerce has ceased to be a novelty or a field reserved for a few experts. With the widespread use of social media and e-commerce, it’s practically impossible for a business or enterprise to omit the promotion and sale of their products or services through these networks.
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However, there’s bound to be some confusion at first about how to get started in the world of social media marketing for e-commerce.
Therefore, in this article we’ll try to guide you through this universe of possibilities. We’ll show you the impact of social media and e-commerce content, explain how it works and some of the basic tips that will help you understand how social media helps e-commerce. Also, you need to know these internet payment methods available in 2021 for safe shopping.
Influence of social media on marketing
The growth of e-commerce necessarily brought attention to one of the most popular services on the internet: social media.
The interactions which occur in these networks allow businesses to promote and publicize their brands and products. In turn, you establish a direct relationship with your potential target audience, because if you’ve got access to specific communities, your product or service is likely to reach those who are really interested.
For this reason, in the marketing world, a series of terms have been set to try to describe online commerce through social networks.
It is called social e-commerce to differentiate it from the simple e-commerce which is the classic virtual store that you maybe have in your website as a successful e-commerce.
Social e-commerce takes advantage of the benefits of social networks for marketing and business of any kind.
The best social commerce platforms
Take, for example, these e-commerce activity overview by Global Web index, a survey-led research company:
Social selling vs. social commerce
Other key concepts that can help you better understand the impact of social media and e-commerce content are Social Selling and Social Commerce.
Social selling, in the world of social e-commerce, are all those practices and strategies to develop a social relationship between sellers and customers from the sale.
Companies are now transcending the cold-call model or direct contact without prior interaction to a more relational one. In this model, the creation of personal brands, the exchange of relevant information between customer and salesperson, social listening and direct interaction are paramount.
All this is possible because we can establish a much closer contact with our customers on social media, as well as deploying strategies of assistance and loyalty.
On the other hand, the term Social Commerce refers to all the strategies of the marketing world applied to its use on social media, as well as their suitability for the purpose of trade.
This means that the best social media platforms for e-commerce have created precise functionalities to prevent users from having to leave the web and their browsing to make a purchase.
Facebook with Marketplace, Pinterest with Pins and Instagram with its buy buttons are just some of the most important examples.
For all these reasons, it’s very important you know what the best strategies for your business or enterprise are, in order to have a significant presence on social networks besides an online store builder.
How to create the best content for social media
How to use social media for e-commerce
Before you start, you should define which social networks are most suitable for the product or service you’re offering.
Think about the nature of your product and target audience, as well as the level of interaction you’re willing to have with them, because depending on this factor, you can engage in a network with more contact like Facebook or one with less interaction like YouTube, where you can host multimedia content which interests your audience and potential buyers or customers.
Remember that buyers are very knowledgeable on social media.
Try to highlight the added value of your product or service in the best way and enhance your personal brand so when they think of your product, they refer to your brand.
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In turn, try to reach your target audience precisely. While it’s clear that the potential for buyers on social media stems from the sheer number of people who interact with it daily; it’s very likely that you’ll need to make an effort to better characterize what kind of people are actually interested in what you’re offering.
In this way, you’ll be able to focus on developing strategies and interacting with real potential customers on the networks instead of having to think about a very general audience.
The best social commerce platforms of 2021
Social media e-commerce tips and tricks
In addition to these considerations, some of the following tricks will be very useful in your e-commerce social media skills:
- Try to always respond to your users’ comments or questions. This builds trust and credibility in your brand and your product.
- Post engaging content such as photos or videos which generate interest for your customers and your audience.
- Promote your products through various media, even on the same social network. For example, on Facebook you can combine Marketplace with a Fan Page and link it to your website where you can offer more payment methods, such as debit cards or payment gateways like PayRetailers.
- Establish partnerships with influencers or people who can push your brand through interesting content.
- Take great care of the rating systems and your customers’ comments. Remember that one of the characteristics of social e-commerce is the constant conversation between customers and their recommendations.
- Research SEO and search engine optimization methods such as Google to achieve greater visibility.
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What is the role of social media in e-commerce
Social networks are one of the best platforms to keep your followers updated with upcoming events or new product launches. This will make less work for the user, since by following you, they will be aware of all the news without having to go directly to the web.
- New services
- New products
- New updates
- New departments/expansions
One of the goals of using social networks is to increase traffic to the website. Fortunately, this is possible thanks to the creation of quality content, along with a call to action that can lead the user to the website.
Never forget that today, many social networks offer the option of selling through their platforms by being able to link directly to our website, so they can be a complementary sales channel to the ecommerce itself without any extra cost.
Being much more visual and booming, platforms such as Instagram are having great success in direct sales through its “store” button.
We show you the right way to use social media for e-commerce
How social media is changing e-commerce?
What are the benefits of social media for e-commerce business?
Social networks are not only an excellent virtual showcase, but they also generate another series of advantages for the business:
- They generate interaction and trust. The networks are the ideal channel to establish a relationship between business and customer as if it were a physical store. Giving advice, explaining how a product works, resolving doubts about a size, helping to find the most suitable product for a gift… these issues not only generate trust in the user, but also ensure positive comments that can attract other customers.
- They are an additional sales channel. Aware of the impact they have on the consumer’s decision, social media have long had their own sales platform, which allows businesses to showcase and highlight their products and ease the purchase process within the ‘ecommerce’ itself. Facebook Marketplace or Instagram Shopping are two consolidated platforms in this sense, which also do not involve any additional cost for the business.
- They allow market segmentation. With a smaller investment than in traditional advertising channels, social networks are an excellent tool to reach the specific customer profile of each business, based on their place of residence, age or interests.
- They are a source of data. Through the measurement and statistical tools of each social network, it is possible to obtain information on which user profile visits the page or how much revenue is generated, information with which to guide new marketing and advertising campaigns or reorient the content published to be more attractive to the buyer.
The best e-commerce tips for your business
How successful is social media in the e-commerce process?
E-commerce has a promising future. Media such as Insider Intelligence predict a considerable increase in e-commerce from 2022, with a high number of online sales generated worldwide, which is an important reflection of the possible results that investors who get involved with this trend can have.
Among the countries with the fastest developing e-commerce industry are China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany. These countries have billions of dollars generated through this modality, with China being the country with the largest amount, and it is estimated that it will be responsible for more than 50% of the world’s online sales.
Other figures that point to a growth of the industry are:
- Nasdaq estimates that, by 2040, 95% of global purchases will be made online.
- WP Forms claims that there are an estimated 12 to 24 million websites that trade electronically.
- Mobile ecommerce has been on the rise and Oberlo estimates that by 2024, 44% of online transactions will be made using cell phones.
All these tips and observations can help you start managing your business in the world of e-commerce. Using social media for e-commerce is a reality and if you try hard enough, it will be the perfect opportunity for you.
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