HOW TO INTRODUCE YOUR SHOP TO SOCIAL MEDIA
EMMA
July 10th, 2019
Do you want to reach a wider audience? Sell to more people? One of the best ways to do this is by introducing your eCommerce store to social media. One (or more) of these channels can seriously improve your visibility in the vast online world, and ultimately help your shop grow. You need the right tools to get going though, and either migrating to Shopify or upgrading your Magento store are two sure-fire ways to get started.
The only thing you need to do is to decide which social platform best suits your business.
Daily users: 400 million
Say it fast and with a story. Instagram stories are lifesavers for busy entrepreneurs. With a 24-hour life-span, stories are expected to be a little rough and ready. It’s a way of engaging with your audience, and linking to your products, your page, and your competitions, but without having to get the lighting ‘just so’. Your feed is for carefully crafted posts, your stories are for reaching the masses – fast. Direct your viewers using stickers and arrows or a short and sweet call-to-action: swipe up; link in bio; follow the hashtag – you get the idea. Or place a link directly into the post. Viewers can tap and instantly be redirected to your page or product.
Good for: Time-poor entrepreneurs
Daily users: 1.2 billion
If there’s one social platform that has diversified for world domination over the years, it’s Facebook. What started out as an exclusive online space for university students, now monopolizes the online social sphere, and it’s branched out to events, businesses and into the marketplace. Facebook Messenger is even being used for responsive AI (instead of a Chatbot service) and can be a secret power tool for eCommerce. It can offer an easy way to utilize dynamic data – that’s putting your store in front of the right people. If you want to run a dynamic Facebook campaign, you’ll need a Business Manager account. But that’s it. As Shopify is already partnered with Facebook, it cuts out a lot of the leg work. You can automatically set up a marketing campaign with CTAs and buttons to your store, and Facebook will continuously read your audience and respond.
Good for: Dynamic campaigns.
YOUTUBE
Daily users: 30 million
It’s been said a hundred times: video is king. We are increasingly consuming video content over any other form. Videos keep our attention for longer than words, meaning brands can get across their message or enticing product much more effectively than using words. Plus, YouTube videos are recognized by Google, clocking up those search rankings and making you more visible. Video content doesn’t have to be earth-shattering. We’re not talking Blockbusters. Straight-forward explainer videos may help your audience understand your product; succinct customer reviews could support a campaign, or imaginative animations can hook your viewer. This is where it pays to know your audience. Create video content that they’ll want to see.
Good for: Improved SEO and time spent on your page.
BLOG
If your store doesn’t have a blog, it’s time you got one. It’s a powerful tool (yes, still) and simple to integrate with your Shopify store. A blog is one of the most effective ways to generate traffic to your products and your store. You see, all those users browsing and searching, they may well land on your blog post before your product page or homepage if it’s got something they’re interested in. Blogs are widely regarded as purveyors of trusted information. 81% of US online buyers stated that they trust information and advice that they read in blogs. It’s also a great way to generate content to email to existing customers and potential leads. After all, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to speak to your audience. Again, check out your customer personas, and start writing some content. Shopify has even packaged up four blog post templates that you can try out if you’re stuck with how to get started.
Good for: Generating traffic and supporting email marketing.
When you migrate to Shopify, one of the first things you’ll notice is how much easier it is to integrate any of these social channels. Shopify has made it easy to install all of the above into your store and help you sell through them.
After all, ‘user-friendly’ is one of Shopify’s key USPs, so it makes sense that it has easy-to-use, enabled sales channels that tap into the most popular platforms. A Magento upgrade will also help to support social media integrations.
It’s up to you to choose a platform that can be adapted for social use. After all, your eCommerce life is just easier when everything operates from one place.