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 for 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 of 2021
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.
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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.
This is a process that takes time, but you’ll see results if you do this properly. Also, you need to know the different types of payment methods you shouldn’t miss in 2021 for your store.
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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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.
Don’t forget to have a good payment gateway like PayRetailers which allows you to receive payments from any country.
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