As of 2023, the global eCommerce sales generated by social media platforms will be approximately 1.298 billion USD. These are the stats that are straight out of a Statista report.
Huge right?
In this digital era, social media and e-commerce businesses are like two peas in a pod. eCommerce marketers are taking more and more advantage of social media to create brand awareness among their target audience and are investing their time in meaningful one-to-one chit-chat sessions with them.
And why should they not? Look at some of these startling stats below:
- On average, a user spends 2–3 hours a day on social media.
- From 2021 to 2025, the growth in social commerce sales is expected to be 30.8% per year.
- Social media has a wide array of audiences, with 90% of millennials being the most active users, followed by Gen X with 77%.
- YouTube is the most influential social media platform for making purchasing decisions.
- Customers who enjoyed the interactive social content of brands are 71% more likely to recommend that brand to their social circle.
And there are a lot more than that.
However, it is easier said than done. If generating sales via social media were that easy, then everyone would be investing in multiple ads and could directly reach their customers.
It takes a lot of mindful social media strategies in order to generate leads or sales and the highest ROI for an eCommerce business. Apart from collecting market data, which is a must, there are some tried and tested techniques that will help you achieve your goals.
So without further ado, let’s dive into them.
What is social media eCommerce marketing?
In simpler terms, social media eCommerce marketing is the practice of taking your online business on social media platforms so that more and more customers can locate you, drive more traffic to your site, and generate more sales.
This is how social media e-commerce marketing can bring so much to your business:
- You can directly engage with your followers and educate them about your products and services. Thus, if you do it well, chances are your followers will share your offerings with their fellows. And this word-of-mouth marketing will aid you in creating brand awareness.
- You can gather demographic insights about your audience, such as age, area, community, gender, and more. This will give you a better understanding of your audience’s tastes.
- Helps you collect industry-specific insights.
- You can directly sell products to your audience by providing a link.
- Boosts your brand’s credibility with social proof validation via customers’ testimonials.
A majority of brands are using the aforementioned social eCommerce marketing tactics to thrive in their online retail businesses. We will discuss all of them in detail in the coming part of this blog.
What are the three pillars of a social media marketing campaign for eCommerce businesses?
When it comes to generating sales for online stores using social media platforms, there are three foundational phases, each of which plays a key role in boosting the ROI of your company. These are social media eCommerce marketing, social selling, and social commerce. Let’s study them one by one.
Social media E-comm marketing
In this phase, social media eCommerce marketers use social media as their key marketing channel to promote their products, services, and brand awareness so that they can drive more traffic to their websites.
Social selling
In this phase, brand marketers identify their sales prospects, interact with them, and nourish them on social media. Consider it a modern approach to building a healthy customer-business relationship by offering consistent support and guidance.
Social commerce
Once the brand marketers know that they have built a significant relationship with their audience, they start selling their services or products to them using different social marketplaces, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and more. So here it is important to know how to boost your online business account on different social media platforms so you can take full advantage of these platforms.
How marketers can use social media channels to boost their eCommerce sales?
Know your potential audience
For the overall profitability of your eCommerce business, it is of utmost importance to know about the demographics of your target audience so that you can market to them in the best possible way. And using different social media platforms can help you achieve your goals.
For instance, Backlinko’s report says that around 71% of the global Instagram audience lies between the ages of 18 and 29 making it one of the top 5 widely used social media apps among youngsters, followed by TikTok and then Snapchat.
But why are we talking about these statistics?
Suppose you are running a clothing business where you provide clothes for every age group. Now that you are aware of the age group statistics of individual social media platforms, you know what kind of customers you are getting from them.
And this universally applies to their area (rural, suburban, or urban), income, and spending patterns. There are more stats you can gather from there, like what kind of content they find engaging, the type of interests they have, their usage time, at what time they are active, and more like that.
This way, you can modify your eCommerce marketing strategy, like targeted ads, accordingly and generate hefty revenue. Knowing the core of your customers’ psychology and their behavioral patterns is the key to taking your prospect sales one step further.
Create content for different marketing channels
You must have heard this saying: “One size does not fit all”. In the same way, “one piece of content can’t be applied to every social media channel”. The key lies in the “relevant content.”.
To maximize the profit of each platform, you need to ensure that the content you create is very individualistic and apt for every platform. Moreover, you need to keep your content informative while keeping in check with their policies.
For example,
According to a Google report, YouTube allows its videos to be 60 seconds (for YouTube shorts) and up to 15 minutes (for long formats) by default for non-verified creators. Now, you need to create an engaging video that fulfills these parameters.
On the other hand, platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Moj are known for greater user engagement with their content. So, try to make engaging reels with every possible filter and transition effect, so your audience finds them irresistible.
And in a similar way, you can start creating relevant content for other platforms.
Marketize your content on different platforms
If you are only using your website as the one promotional strategy to generate sales for your eCommerce business, then, sadly, you are already missing out on a hell of a lot of opportunities.
But we are saying that?
According to a report, as of 2023, the number of worldwide users of collective social media or messaging apps for android and iOS will be over 4.48 billion.
Massive, right?
Now, imagine if you got your hands on even 0.01% of these numbers according to the demographic region. How much would it bring to your business?
We understand that websites are great for promotional blogs or running product-specific ads, but promoting your services on different social media channels can do more than that for you. You can take advantage of interactive and highly engaging media formats (including static posts and video reels) and unparalleled story experiences.
It is an undeniable fact that social media is an emerging and powerful tool in the present world, especially for those who are more likely to start a new venture or have already gotten their foot in one.
However, it is crucial to keep in mind that your social media eCommerce marketing strategy should be relevant to the channel you choose. For example,
If your business caters to mainly older people, then Facebook can be a good idea to redirect your strategies. Here, you can send notifications to all your old or new customers to like your page by giving them your site’s link.
On the other hand, if your ideas and services align with young mindsets and creative work, then Instagram, Tiktok, or Snapchat can be good ones to run targeted ads on.
In a nutshell, social media gives you a wider audience reach and more potential to generate prospects and leads for your e-commerce business. So market your content very strategically. One wrong move and your engagement rate will go straight to zero from the sky.
Harness the power of influential marketing
As per a report by Influence Marketing Hub, 42.3% of brands consider influencer marketing as one of the primary aspects of driving conversions and sales. These include all nano, micro, and macro marketing. And well, they are not even wrong.
Did you know that the influencer market is expected to grow to $16.4 billion by 2022, up from $1.7 billion in 2016? An example of how this industry is benefiting online businesses This means even your $1 spent on them will be worth investing in.
So what exactly is influential marketing? And how can this industry be profitable for your eCommerce business?
In simple terms, in influencer marketing, a business ties up with an influencer who has a loyal audience base and has a huge impact on the followers’ actions. The influencer creates content related to your brand’s offerings and raises awareness among the audience about your products or services. You can use contract templates to make an agreement with them. This way, you get actionable results from people who would otherwise not be aware of your brand, which aids in boosting sales conversions.
This part of influential marketing works differently for different platforms. For example, where websites can take advantage of it via guest posting, taking advantage of it on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat is a different ballgame.
Moreover, keep in mind that when choosing influencers, make sure that their interests align with your brand. For example, you can’t hire a beauty influencer to promote a technical product. This won’t contribute anything to the sales funnel. So, it would be wise to hire someone from the same niche within the beauty community.
Proactive Customer Support
With more and more customers shifting to social media for their products, eCommerce companies have their chances to convert them into potential leads with their unexceptional services.
However, a number of companies are losing this opportunity because of their laid-back attitude. In the present world, no one has the time or patience to wait hours for a reply. Everybody wants a prompt response.
The situation is even worse than losing significant leads. According to a survey, half of the customers who are not getting a quick response from the business pages are reporting aggressively on social media, turning all your efforts into a nightmare.
Contrary to this, when customers are properly engaged on social media platforms, more than 55% of customers are sharing good words with their fellow customers about your brand, resulting in indirect free promotion of your products.
Therefore, it is crucial that, in order to leverage the full potential of social media channels for your business, you hire a separate professional customer service team that is there for your customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.You can use cloud contact center to provide services like that.
Different queries and channels require different types of support. For example, you may require a team for social DMs or an email expert who can quickly revert back to the customer’s query or some order-related issues.
Additionally, you can share links to FAQs or other helpful links with your customers so that they can get their questions answered without wasting time. To ensure that your services are implemented timely, you can also take advantage of various social media management tools or turn on notifications for 24 hours a day.
On top of that, while implementing all these, make sure you maintain full transparency with your users about the brand’s services or product-related topics. People appreciate honesty, and this ultimately helps in building trust over time.
Final Words
Still not convinced to give social media a try for your eCommerce business? Ok, then let the data do the talking itself.
According to a report by Statista, worldwide social eCommerce sales are expected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2026, up from $992 billion in 2022.
Surprisingly shocking? We do too.
So, stop waiting for your resources here and there, and start taking advantage of social media platforms for your eCommerce store today! We guarantee you will see your returns multiply within a significant period of time. Although for that, you need to keep your strategies updated with changing market trends and emphasize quality services.