Evolving Role of Social Media in E-commerce

Social media has allowed digital marketers to evolve by acquiring, retaining, and upselling customers. It has played an important role in the business marketing strategy by generating leads, increasing online traffic and helping in creating an online presence. There are approximately 3 billion people who are active on social media. Thus, a well-planned social media campaign would help e-commerce businesses to achieve their desired goals.

Importance of Social Media for E-commerce

Social media influences every person everywhere. Over the years, social media trends have changed. It started with posting photos, but now videos and short reels are in trend. As per a survey, approximately 88% of marketers received a positive return on investment through video content. Thus, let us check out the importance of social media in the e-commerce business:

• Rapid Growth: More and more people opt to make purchases via social media. Every business uses social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter etc., to reach more targets and conversions. It has proven to be a worthwhile inclusion for businesses in their online marketing campaigns.
• Influences the Purchase Decision: Social media information has a huge impact on the audience’s purchase decision while selecting products and services. These days, influencers play a huge role in impacting the decision-making procedure of consumers. The features like comments start the conversation.
• Helps in Reaching more Customers: Social media platforms are the best way to promote and share your products and services with more people. Many social media users buy products or services that are widely shared. If your business has started a promotional campaign, you could effectively increase conversions and traffic to your site.
• Better Understanding of Customers: In any e-commerce business, you should know what your customers prefer and their purchasing behavior. Thus, you could use various analytical tools to track what your customers shared. Also, you could use a private messaging service to know your customers. A survey shows that approximately 49.4 percent of customers like to connect to brands via private messaging.
• Cost-Effective Marketing: It is a cost-effective marketing technique for the brand. The content shared on the social media accounts reflects the brand’s authenticity and positive aspect. When customers like the post, they share it on their accounts and help you reach a large customer base.

Tips to Use Social Media for E-commerce

Social media has proven to be an effective way to generate more leads. A survey shows that around 75 percent of people have bought something they have seen on social media. With these tips, you could build and improve your social media strategies:

Engaging Content

The easiest way to gain a customer’s trust is by showing them that you understand their needs. You should always create content that engages users. When there is a lot of user engagement on your posts, it showcases the brand’s reliability and authenticity. It is a way in which new customers could be attracted.

Using Hashtags

Hashtags help in increasing the brand’s visibility. They help in improving sales and generating more traffic toward the brand. Try to use specific hashtags in this way, and people will easily find your brand’s information. You can even use relevant keywords in your hashtags. This helps in reaching potential customers. Also, try to use unique and specific hashtags for better social engagement.

Optimize the Social Media Accounts

Regularly post on your social media accounts and keep your customers engaged. Your social media handle should be up-to-date with details of your business. You should insert the way to contact you and the business location. You should also update the profile by posting synced posts.

Link E-commerce Sites to Social Platforms

The easiest way to drive social media users to your website is by linking both. Your social media bio should have all the updated links to your website. Also, the landing pages where the links are redirected are informative and attractive.

High-Quality Visual Content

Images and video content are always more eye-catching than textual content. When you post content on social media pages, then ensure you use high-quality images and videos. With good aesthetics, the content becomes eye pleasing. Visual content should be brand-centric and communicative.

Promote Brands Via Social Media Handles

Social media is your best promotional tool. Thus, you should promote your latest product launches, special offers, discounts etc., on your page. This increases excitement among the customers. You can also contest and host giveaways to create hype among customers.

Consistent Branding

Ensure that your branding is consistent across all channels. For instance, your brand identity should be the same on your social handles and your website. The contact information, location, logos, links and names should be updated. It should be reflected on all your social handles if you make a change.

Conclusion

Social media helps your business in many ways. With the e-commerce business, social media has evolved, and many users shop via social media handles. The 2019 survey states that 72 percent of American adults use social media in some form. Thus, businesses need to make the best use of social media platforms.