Did you know that 3 out of 4 customers use social media to make a purchase?

Over the years, marketers are more and more dependent on these platforms and are utilizing them to their advantage. They realized that social media networks offer buyers an opportunity to interact with their brands while researching products/services before making a purchase.

But, how far does social media go into sustaining your business? How do they play a role in your ecommerce business?

These platforms create an online commerce experience that accompanies your customers throughout their buyer’s journey. You can steer your accounts into enticing your customers to visit your stores, make them stay, convince them to buy, and ultimately, make them come back.

We’re going to look at how you can efficiently use social media in favour of your ecommerce website and impact the customers at every stage of their buying journey.

Increases Brand Awareness

The first stage of the buyer’s journey is to attract customers to your website.

According to Statusbrew, there are approximately 3.04 Billion active social media users worldwide. Just imagine the amount of exposure you can get if you market your business on social media platforms, and then drive them to your website.

“Brand awareness is important when launching new products and services, and it drives consumers' decisions when differentiating between competing companies”

Source: baerpm.com

There are many techniques to create traffic to your account and increase your number of followers.

Storytelling

Storytelling or the power of quality content.

Brand awareness isn’t just whether your audience knows the name of your brand, but it’s how well they understand the qualities that make your brand unique.

In order to create this distinction, your content needs to highlight the qualities that set your brand apart from your competitors and to create an emotional bond with your audience.

You can accomplish this through effective storytelling and Nike is the perfect example of a brand centralized around the “human element”.

They don’t just post product related posts but focus on using a human-centric approach and creating an inspirational story around their models.

Their advertising and posts tell a story about achievements and wins.

Source: Instagram.com

The collaboration between Nike and these figures is the key component here.

They feature celebrities wearing Nike items of clothing and it’s automatically related that Nike is synonymous with hard work and perseverance.

This is their way of showing to their users that with Nike, you win. Hence, their infamous tagline and hashtag #justdoit.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers–individuals who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts within their niche.

It works because of the relationship these influencers have built up with their following, and recommendations from them serve as a form of social proof to your brand’s potential customers.

The perfect example to mention in this case is Target collaborating with several influencers.

Source: Instagram.com

Within a 30-day window, Target partnered with Instagram influencers ranging from a dog to a plus-sized model to market its diverse product offerings. The brand worked with two influencers in particular to advertise its easter candy and decorations.

Digital magician Zach King created one sponsored video for Target alongside lifestyle blogger Naomi Davis (@taza).

King expertly integrated Target’s branded messaging into his Instagram feed by sticking to the digital magic trick format he is known for.

Though the word “Target” is never uttered in the video, the presence of a Target shopping cart and bags discreetly encourage followers to head to the store and make a purchase.

At this stage, it’s important to realize that your target audience (or buyer personas) are not actively looking for a product/service.

They are simply visiting different social media channels for, well, social networking. Your objective is to entice them to follow you and engage.

Boosts Customer Engagement and Retention

Content is king.

There are approximately 3.04 Billion active users on social media worldwide.

And the majority are on these platforms for entertainment. This is one of the most important aspects to focus on when generating content.

Social networking accounts have enabled a new way of engaging with your customers. The more you engage the more you turn your page into a community.

Your target here is to let your audience “in”. Don’t be afraid to go for it and use your account to reach out to your potential customers. Consider making them part of your brand.

Humans of New York is the perfect example of how an account can increase its followings through engaging content.

Source: Facebook.com

Humans of New York has a massive following on all platforms because people relate.

They use a combination of relatable content and appealing visuals to create this need to read an entire story.

Hashtags

Take a look at Sezane, a french clothing retailer that uses Instagram as their playground. They employ different methods to engage followers in a playful manner.

Source: Instagram.com

Using the above picture as a reference, we can depict a few strategies they used to entice followers.

Through Instagram stories, they started off by an inviting title, “Let’s play..” It’s informal and suggests playing a game. And after all, who doesn’t enjoy a fun game?

Also, the fact that it’s an Instagram story creates a sense of urgency. The users have to quickly comply before it disappears (because of the 24 h story time frame).

They moved on to push users into following their accounts for a chance to be featured on their social media pages. Using this method, they will increase their followers in an organic way.

Finally, they invited customers into labeling their pictures using the hashtag #sezannelovers. Users now identify as a “Sezane lover”.

Collections

Kylie’s empire was built on social media. She used every method in the book to engage with her already established fan base.

Kylie Cosmetics is a personalized account and this is first of all due to the brand’s name; Kylie.

Source: Instagram

To take it a step even further, she personalizes a huge percentage of her collection and names it according to her family’s names. She is giving a human dimension to her products, to create an emotional relationship with her customers.

In the picture above, you can clearly see that she uses an appealing visual to advertise for her daughter’s collection; Stormi.

Kylie then inserts the link of her website in the caption, fully aware that her followers can’t access it directly. However, it’s there for an easy and seamless process instead of just heading to the “bio for more information”.

Discounts

Mike sport takes advantage of these platforms to promote products and offer discounts on social media. They use the visual as their hook and elaborate more in their captions.

Source: Instagram.com

Free Shipping

Free shipping has increased massively in popularity since 2005, when Amazon announced the creation of Amazon Prime, a membership service offering free two-day shipping within the contiguous United States on all eligible purchases for an annual fee of $79 (equivalent to $103 in 2019), and discounted one-day shipping rates. .

Free Shipping Benefits:

• It’s easy to explain to customers.
• It responds to customer expectations.
• It has a positive effect on conversion rates for customers.

Source: Twitter.com

Fluffy Knittens uses this method to invite customers to buy their products and not worry about the added cost.

Giveaways

Source: Instagram.com

Here’s an example of an Instagram Giveaway organized by The Messi Store, which is “the official premium lifestyle brand of Leo Messi”.

It’s quite obvious that the main fan base are fans of Leo Messi. Therefore, a ball signed by their idol was a fantastic prize and motivation to participate in the promotion.

The social media giveaway had more than 10,000 participants commenting on the post and tagging their friends.

Contests

Source: Twitter.com

For one week, Footlocker posted a #HorsewithHarden contest on social media accounts. They asked fans to shoot a video of their most creative basketball shots and share them with the hashtags.

The cherry on top was the fact that the NBA star recreated the best submissions on the Footlocker’s feeds in a faceoff against the internet.

Unsurprisingly, Footlocker’s youtube subscriber rate skyrocketed by 300 percent.

“Whatever your approach and the tools you use customer engagement can take you far. Farther than just about anything else in today’s competitive business environment..”

Source: Forbes.com

Once you attract users into your account with engaging content, it’s time to convert them into potential leads.

Call to Action

Using these tools optimize your buyer’s engagement with your brand, however if there is a good pattern you still a CTA (Call to Action) button that will push an direct your audience to your commerce site.

Source: Instagram.com

Users love video.

In fact, time spent watching videos on Instagram was up more than 80% year-over-year in 2017.

And Oreo has taken note. That’s why they’ve made it easier than ever before to use video for their brand and push users to watch the video.

This feature will ultimately generate more traffic to the pages, website (landing pages) and expose your business to more clients.

The best way to do so is by staying true to your own identity and maintaining this social connectivity.

It will help you create a “lead magnet” that will provide you with gathering information of potential customers, or simply put, leads.

Improves Customer Retention

20% of your customers generate 80% of your sales. In other words, it is more profitable to invest in a customer than to acquire a new one.

Social media is fast becoming the preferred medium for customers when they want to communicate with a brand. They turn to your accounts for help or inquiries.

For this reason, it’s necessary to provide an impeccable shopping experience, polished profile, and unique customer care services for the long term.

Customer service is no longer a luxury but a necessity that you can’t overlook.

Customer Service

Amazon has one of the best customer care services through an independent account “Amazon Help” on Twitter.

Source: Amazon Help

This service allows customers to express their concerns or feedback on the platforms and customer care agents will follow up with each user.

The fact that they managed to insert as many languages as they can in the description, shows that they care about their customers on an international level.

They don’t assume that English is the predominant language and create this personalized and somewhat relaxing experience for their users.

Loyalty Points

Sephora’s loyalty program is a rewards program that enables clients to score more points by buying from their online or offline stores.

Points = rewards

This allows customers to collect points with all of their Sephora purchases, opening up deluxe product rewards, moving up levels and allowing customers to take advantage of seasonal promotions.

There is also a free birthday gift for every member to combine the element of surprise into their program.

Reposts

Reposts are usually a method brands use to interact with their audience directly. They want them to feel part of the brand.

Whenever you feature someone on your page they will feel a sense of belonging and will keep on checking further updates.

There is a relationship now between you and your customer and it will make them think twice before moving along to someone else.

Source: Instagram.com

Hotel customers are always hard to please. It’s hard to recreate a “home away from home” perfect for everyone. But, simple methods can help with sustaining a happy customer.

Rixos Hotel and Resort uses this method to maintain a good relationship between the customer and themselves. They provide an opportunity to be featured every wednesday. So, every wednesday someone has a chance to get featured.

This is a win-win situation in which the client is featured and the brand retains a happy customer.

To recap

The impact of social media is inevitable for your online business’s growth. It is a powerful tool if used smartly and efficiently.

Since most of your audience is already using social networking sites, pairing your business with social media is a must. It should be an opportunity for you to create a digital footprint and ultimately generate sales.

Social Commerce: A critical Ecommerce Trend

Social commerce is selling your products on the same social media platform directly. This 2020 trend is growing exponentially and has no signs of slowing down.

Even if it could be a convenient and frictionless sales channel, it has its disadvantages. These might include:

• Lack of credibility
• Security and privacy issues
• Lack of inventory management
• Lack of automation and integrations
• Doesn’t work on all age groups
• Difficult to measure

Social media should complement ecommerce businesses. It shouldn’t be a stand-alone platform that you can rely on to generate profit.

You can use these platforms to further bridge the gap between your online store and your online marketing strategy.

About

Ecomz is an award-winning ecommerce platform that allows merchants to create their dream store, manage it like a pro, grow it better and faster. It is the only solution that offers the ultimate shopping experience to customers thanks to an AI recommendation engine, a suite of advanced marketing apps, and innovative multi-channel capabilities.

Ecomz operates in more than 55 countries, serving more than 7,000 merchants helping them generate over $50M in sales. Named 2018 Top 5 B2B website by Seamless Conference, 2017 Top 10 Business by ArabNet, Ecomz has also been recognized by Google, Disrupt San Francisco (TechCrunch) and MIT Silicon Valley Program for its achievements and has been awarded by the 2018 Touch Innovation Program (TIP) and BLC Bank’s 2018 Brilliant Lebanese Award (BLA).