Social media has become one of the biggest marketing platforms for eCommerce stores. With Facebook alone having almost three billion active users, the sheer size of the audiences available on social media makes it an essential way to interact with your customers and grow your business.
Because of that, integrating your eCommerce store with social media is something that you must do correctly. If your site is connected to social media platforms, people will be more likely to share content, interact with your brand, and help get your store in front of more people.
But what are some of the essential ways to integrate social media with eCommerce?
Let’s explore them below.
Add Social Buttons on Product Pages
No matter how you look at it, product pages are the most important part of your eCommerce store. It’s where you want most of your site’s visitors to end up, as it’s the driving force behind your company’s growth and sales.
Because of it, you should make sure that users have the ability to share your products on social media. Many people want to show the products they discover to their friends, which can often translate into more sales and new customers for you.
Another way to embed social buttons is to simply link to your social media profiles. Social proof plays a vital role in eCommerce, so having a way for your customers to check out your social media pages is absolutely essential.
They can look at what your brand is about, how people interact with it, and ask questions about the products or shipping if they’re still on the fence about the purchase.
But how can you add social buttons?
While the process might seem technical, if you use something like BigCommerce development services, experienced professionals can help add the buttons and make sure that they fit with your overall design.
Interact with Your Audience
Integrating your eCommerce store with social media isn’t just about having buttons that they can click on. It’s also about actually being present on social media and interacting with your audience.
After all, if all you do is post disconnected content and promotions, people won’t respond positively, and you’ll have yet another social media page that’s low in engagement.
Meanwhile, if you take a proactive approach, you might find that social media becomes your most powerful lead nurturing and sales tool, even without spending on paid advertising.
One of the best ways to engage your audience on social media is to respond to their comments and questions.
Customers love to know that the brand is available on social media, as it allows them to form a stronger personal bond and see what it is about. What’s more, by responding to comments, you can showcase your brand’s unique voice, separating yourself from the competition and forming a more loyal following.
In fact, you might even want to go out of your way to engage customers outside of your own social media pages. For instance, you could use an Instagram management tool to track your mentions and respond to people as they share opinions.
You could even hijack the conversations with your competitors by being helpful and offering solutions in frustrating situations.
Include User-Generated Content
As a brand, you should have a comprehensive strategy for developing shareable content on your social media pages. But at the same time, you should find ways to include user-generated content as well, since it can be one of the most powerful social proof elements you can get.
When your customers are happy with the products you offer, you should leverage those positive experiences and put them at the forefront of your social media efforts.
If the customers are satisfied, they should be willing to share your story with others. And if you want, you can add a little incentive in the form of a discount for a future purchase.
But what should the user-generated content look like?
Well, for the best effect, it should showcase people using your product in action, if possible. Having them talk about their experiences and why the products deliver on the promises is another way to help prospective buyers trust your brand and the solutions that you offer.
The videos should also be aligned with your brand’s values and be authentic, meaning that the people in the videos should be real customers that aren’t paid to endorse you. Influencer marketing can be very effective on social media, but it’s a different type of campaign and should not be lumped in with regular customer testimonials.
Post How-to Videos
One of the best ways to improve the sales performance of your eCommerce store is to show how your products work. Because of that, how-to videos are becoming an increasingly popular marketing tool on social media, as they can cut through the clutter and show precisely how your product functions.
You can create videos that walk through the process of using the products, highlight how they can help in different situations, and talk about which products might be better suited in various situations.
Posting these videos on your social media pages and then linking to the product is a very straightforward, but nonetheless, very effective way of showing real value and getting people to take notice.
If you want to combine how-tos with social media engagement, you could even hold an interactive Q&A session afterward, where your customers could ask questions, get feedback on their specific problems, or even learn more about the features of different products.
Over time, as you develop more how-to and instructional videos, you might find that you will build a significant following of people who want to learn from you, which would allow you to slowly nurture them until they’re ready to become your customers.
Final Words
Social media marketing is becoming an indispensable part of promoting your eCommerce store online. And the best news is that there are many ways to interact with your audience and guide them towards becoming your customers.
By making sure that people can find your social media pages on your eCommerce store, interacting with your audience, posting user-generated content, and creating how-to videos, you can ensure that your social media pages will actually serve their purpose and help you grow your business.