If you own a virtual shop, you constantly consider expanding your consumer base and monetization strategies. It is completely clear to us. That’s why in this article we’ll go through some of the most useful social networking sites for online stores.
Shopping on social media is a blast
One of the most rapidly expanding segments of the Internet economy today is the online retail industry, specifically eCommerce. This is mostly attributable to the CoVD-19 pandemic, albeit the underlying tendency predates this particular outbreak. Internet shopping is popular because it saves customers time and effort. You get the picture: shopping online has a lot of advantages: you can do it whenever you want, you don’t have to leave the house, the products are all neatly organised and described.
One must constantly consider the other side of an argument. And that’s what you face in the world of online retail: intense competition and rising expectations from your clients. Making a compelling offer that ticks all the right boxes and attracts potential buyers takes a lot of time and effort. Maintaining open lines of contact with your clientele and closing transactions are two of the most crucial tasks at hand. Social media is, perhaps, the most effective platform for this purpose.
The Top Social Media Platforms for Online Stores
In this piece, we’ll be discussing the top 3 social networking platforms for online retailers. You will find these three channels invaluable regardless of the nature of your business, the nature of your offerings, the nature of your target audience, or the nature of your marketing plan.
Here are some specific social media sites for marketing online stores:
eCommerce-friendly social networking sites include Facebook
When people think of online purchases made through social media, Facebook is always the first thing that springs to mind. With over 3 billion active users every month, it’s an undeniable need for your marketing plan. The social commerce potential of Mark Zuckerberg’s platform is fully realised on it. This is why they keep adding new features for online shops.
When trying to reach a specific demographic, how useful do you think Facebook would be? First, let’s go through the three components:
Methods of Facebook usage
Advertising on Facebook
Shopping on Facebook
When considering how Facebook is used now, it’s clear that it’s much more than just a social media site. Each day, we utilise it to get our news, shop, and look for freelance and full-time work.
Customers spend over twenty hours every month, on average, using the Facebook app. And do you know that Facebook has close to 60% of the social media user market? It speaks a great deal.
Facebook is now our major method of communication and organisation.
Advertising on Facebook
It ranks among the top performance marketing strategies for its efficiency and adaptability. Targeting users who, depending on their individual traits, are more likely to be interested in your offer is now possible with Facebook Advertising. Thus, if you run a snowboarding gear store, you can simply keep tabs on all the snowboarders in your area, country, or even the planet. Facebook, in particular, provides a wide variety of ad styles and targeting possibilities (over a thousand in total).
The primary concerns of any online retailer should be:
- Picture Ads
- Advertisements sent via Messenger
- Collection ads
Shopping on Facebook
We already informed you that Facebook has a firm grasp on the possibilities presented by social commerce. The Marketplace, an area where both users and businesses may showcase their wares, marked the beginning of their “career” in this field of online commerce.
These days, you may connect your Store to your Facebook or Instagram account. Facebook advertisements and the Facebook Stories feature also provide links to this section.
Improve your online purchasing experience with Instagram
More than 2 billion monthly active users are on Instagram (monthly active users). A number of its features and customization possibilities are similar to those of Facebook, another popular social media site (which, since the same company owns it, is quite obvious). However Instagram is a totally other animal.
If we had to choose between these two platforms, we’d go with Facebook because of its greater adaptability. The platform allows users to write and read articles, join and contribute to forums, exchange media, and more. Photographs and videos are the primary focus of every Instagram post and profile.
Yet, if the presentation’s aesthetics aren’t top-notch, it’s not likely to succeed. Furthermore, the desktop edition of Instagram is limited in comparison to the smartphone app. Quit harping on the negatives now! To what end might this medium be put to use?
The first step is setting up shop on Instagram, where customers may buy things and read about the origins of your company. To make your store’s selection more unique, you may group goods into themed collections for things like new arrivals, presents, seasonal trends, and more.
After that, there are product pages, where you may post whatever customers need to know to make a purchase from your catalogue (prices and product descriptions). There is also a checkout option, so you may complete your purchase without ever leaving Facebook (available only for US-based users).
Well, you may choose a jacket you like, click over to the associated Instagram store, and select the desired colour and size. It happened really quickly.
What makes Instagram special? It’s a great platform upon which to showcase your products’ visuals, to begin with. Instagram is the best platform to showcase your items if you have interesting, high-quality photos of them.
The second benefit of product tags is that they allow you to tag items in various images and then bring customers who are interested in those products to your profile. Using Instagram ads tagged with products is another way to boost the method’s effectiveness.
Lastly, so-called product releases are another way to publicise sales and new inventory (again, this option is for US-based profiles only).
In addition, Instagram features a distinct retail section. It’s a curated hub where users can learn about and shop from emerging businesses and special deals tailored to their own tastes.
