What more should you do to sell on social media
I had a meeting with a fashion boutique owner the other day who happens to be in the same social networking group as I do. We were having a coffee and getting to know each other when we started discussing social media for business.
‘I have an online store. I thought that was enough’, she said.
She very well may be right.
Depending on the industry, she might be doing the right thing by selling on BigCommerce, Amazon or Shopify.
However, if you want to stay ahead of your competition, if you wish to take your business to the next level, then you might have to change your preference according to the changing preferences of your potential customers.
Be where your customers are
When it comes to the internet and social media usage, Australia has some of the highest penetration numbers.
With 88% (21.74 million) internet users, 69% (17.00 million) active social media users and 78% (19.16 million) unique mobile users, Australia is definitely in the top five regions globally across all measures.
Also, the Australian market shows the fastest social usage growth on mobile with over 7% growth year-over-year.
This is the social scene that e-commerce brands are now racing in. As a social media marketer, you will be running a risk by not focusing on the latest updates - especially of those platforms that hold the most promise in the digital marketing world - Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.
For example, on Instagram alone, there are multiple ways to reach your potential audience.
- Taggable products
Rolled out in September 2018, the Instagram ‘Shopping Tag’ allows you to tap-and-view product information and price up to five products. You can find the ‘tap to view’ icon to the left bottom of your post thus allowing the shopper to view the product details without leaving their IG page.
- Instagram stories
In June 2018, Instagram rolled out its ‘Shopping in Stories’ feature. The update allows the viewer to simply tap on the ‘product stickers’ of their favourite products to more about the product using IG story.
- Shop while you explore
A shopping channel in the ‘Explore’ section, personalised to meet the interests of the user - how cool is that? The channel showcases shopping posts from the brands the user like and follow thus allowing the brand to reach a whole new set of audience with potential followers.
- Check-out on Instagram
Checkout on Instagram is the latest from the platform and is only available in the United States. The feature is still in its beta version. It allows the user to shop for products directly through Instagram without leaving the platform.
On Facebook, you can influence your audience through:
- Facebook Stories
Facebook stories have an active 150 million daily active users. The latest Call-To-Action stickers for business pages provide businesses with direct response tools.
- Messenger ads
With the traditional Facebook traffic Ads, you will never know who visited nor you can contact them once they leave. However, with the Facebook messenger Ads, you get higher conversion rates, customer contact information and the opportunity to follow-up. - Dynamic Ads
Dynamic ads allow businesses to create highly personalised automated ads to promote your products.
