According to a recent survey, close to 56.8% of the world's total population uses social media for various purposes, and that number is not going down anytime soon. Although social media content is being consumed by individuals for a variety of purposes, for business organizations it is the best marketing tool of this day and age.
Social Media strategies can be employed by businesses to create, showcase, sell, and distribute their products and content online worldwide. This helps them garner more potential customers and they directly can influence the customer's decisions into buying their products. Any growing organization in today's digital era will definitely understand the power and possibilities of social media in the eCommerce domain.
Social Media in E-commerce :
Social Media plays a pivotal role in driving sales online. The information gathered via social media can be used to improve and enhance marketing strategies and increase customer engagement. They can expand and boost brand awareness among customers and can conduct direct interactions through online promotions and product advertisements. Hence, customers will get more exposed to various kinds of products that can suit their needs that are available at affordable prices. Moreover, the social media landscape has changed drastically, it is more than just Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, a lot of new platforms have cropped up in the last five years that garnered billions of users; they can spread the word and capture the attention of an organization's target audience as well.
Benefits of social media in E-commerce:
Incorporating the usage of social media into the marketing strategies of eCommerce comes with its share of unique benefits. Firstly, it is a very cost-effective marketing and advertising tool, a viral social media post or content can gather millions and views and may eventually end up in sales in a short span of time. It can be used for research purposes and to gather insights about consumer behavior and purchasing patterns. It can be used as an instrument to increase brand awareness and establish a connection with existing as well as potential customers and adhere to their specific needs and garner feedback and suggestions about their services.
Social Media can be a great tool to understand and evaluate the ongoing trends in the market and make business decisions accordingly. It can be used to build brand loyalty and maintain the target buying community of a business enterprise as well.
Brand Awareness:
In today's day and age, there's no other cost-effective marketing and advertising tool than social media. It is the best digital playground to showcase and promote your content, services, and products to your target audience and get an insight into their psyche and communicate with them directly to understand what they lack and how to solve it meticulously. However, creating and building brand awareness is not a cakewalk. You must have a clear and distinct voice and adopt a posting strategy that resonates with customers.
Advertising:
The global reach and rapid growth of social media have made it the first choice for advertising and marketing in various business organizations. Different social media platforms require different strategies and methods of advertising. In the end, it all depends upon the end goal of the business. Sales.
To establish and promote brand awareness among potential customers, you should employ multimedia marketing techniques such as images, videos, etc that drive and showcase the objective of your brand. But if want to increase customer engagement and boost sales you should make use of shopping ads that advertise your products and services and employ product pages for similar purposes.
Social Listening:
When utilized properly, social media can be the golden goose for your brand. Social listening can be defined as the process of going through social media platforms looking for conversations and mentions of your brand. According to experienced marketers, social listening is a good technique to understand the needs of the customers and also get valuable insights regarding how the public sees your brand and also analyze its merits and shortcomings.
Customer Support:
The best way to boost customer engagement and earn customer loyalty is to do the same for them. Always be available to respond to and resolve the queries of the customer. Consistent customer interaction plays a vital role in building trust in your products which may even lead to repeat sales and increase revenues.
Direct Selling:
Nowadays, all major social media platforms have come up with their own built-in selling capabilities. Some of them even joined hands with popular e-commerce platforms to create their own shopping apps. The unique selling point of these platforms is that they give out a unique and distinctive shopping experience that is completely free to use. Hence, they garner more customers without much effort and also have a streamlined sales process.
Content Marketing:
With the help of social media, you can now share sensible and meaningful content and sell products that can provide a sense of value to potential customers by improving and enhancing their lives. You can also make the best use of social media by interacting and communicating with your target audience, gaining their trust and loyalty, and vice-versa and then you will be able to establish your forte by employing various kinds of content such as blogs, articles, videos, infographics, etc...
Product Reviews:
Customers are able to share their thoughts on products or content through social media reviews in real time. Businesses pay attention to these reviews and use them to improve existing products or plan future ventures that meet the needs of customers. The business has no control over what the customers have to say about the product. However, a string of negative responses from customers may affect the sales of products and it will impact the organization negatively.
