When Social Media Meets ecommerce

Understanding the relationship between ecommerce and social media is essential when it comes to building your brand, connecting with your target audience, and launching a social media strategy for ecommerce sales. As digital marketers, it is our jobs to stay on top of the latest best practices and industry trends. But let’s be honest, there is not enough time in the day to keep up with the ever-changing world of digital marketing. Which is why I’m here to help you out!

How to Build a Social Media Strategy for ecommerce Sales

Let’s get the ball rolling with some stats that highlight social media’s role in ecommerce businesses – the good, the bad, and the ugly.  

• Research predicts that online sales will continue to gain market share year over year, growing from just under 13% of retail sales in 2017 to 17% by 2022. (source)
• Before making an online purchase, 38% of shoppers research brands on social media channels (source)
• 78% of consumers said that brand’s social media posts influence their purchases
• 88% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

These statistics are great and all, but they mean nothing unless you truly understand why they are significant. Let’s dig a little deeper to see the story behind the statistics. Online sales are going to continue an uphill trend for at least another four years, which means that there is going to be an increase in active and engaged online consumers. A large group of these consumers will spend some time prowling the social media channels of brands before making any final purchasing decisions. The vast majority of these shoppers will let their findings sway their decision of whether or not they want to purchase a specific product. Most importantly, potential buyers will rely heavily on the thoughts and opinions of customers who have already purchased the product and will take this into consideration before making any purchases.

Just from these four stats alone, it is clear that social media is a key element to a successful ecommerce marketing strategy. Now, let’s take a look at some social media strategies that ecommerce businesses should be utilizing and why they are effective.

Relationship Management
This sounds fancy (and kind of boring) but all it means is that social media platforms are a perfect way to build relationships and connect with future and current customers. The average person spends almost two hours a day browsing through social media, so why not use some of this time to communicate with your followers. This provides the perfect opportunity to showcase your brand personality, while simultaneously learning an abundance more about your potential customers. Who knows, you could learn a thing or two about what consumers like and dislike about your brand.

Promote with a Purpose
Don’t you love scrolling through social media and being attacked from all angles by ads that you could not care less about – oh, you don’t like when that happens? Here’s a wild idea…utilize customer data you have gathered to create ads that are targeted at consumers you actually want to engage with (aka, your target audience). Bonus points if you add a special social media incentive, like Target below:

The Power of Influencers
We already know that consumers tend to look to one another when purchasing products online, which is why influencer marketing is one of the most popular social media marketing tactics right now. Not only is it more organic, but it is also another great way for businesses to connect with consumers. Last but not least, it helps brands build trust with their followers. Consumers trust the opinions of the influencers that they follow, therefore they have a certain level of trust for any brands or products that are recommended by the influencer.

For example, Panda Planner promotes to new audiences with attractive video roll, clear “Shop Now” call to action, and a link to read user reviews:

At the end of the day, there are no set-in stone rules when it comes to leveraging social media to promote your ecommerce business. Every brand is different, so it is up to you to test and decide which marketing tactic is going to be the most beneficial – happy marketing!

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