Part
of the challenge of running a thriving Ecommerce store is keeping up
with changing shopper habits and trends. And, with
nearly
30%
of the world's population now active on social media – and rising –
it's never been more clear: your store
needs
to get social!
Not
only are social platforms a phenomenal vehicle for reaching new
customers and providing great service – social signals also play a
role in your search rankings.
But
what makes a winning social strategy for your store? Here's our quick
guide...
1.
Decide which platforms are right for you
This
is one of the most important decisions you'll make, and our advice is
to avoid biting off more than you can chew. It might be tempting to
establish a presence on every social channel you can find, but there
are only so many hours in a day, and the most important thing is to
keep every channel up to date and well-maintained.
A
lot of your social success will simply boil down to 'being
available.' Customers can, and will, provide feedback on your service
and products in a highly public way, and it's important that these
comments are dealt with swiftly and satisfactorily. An
Edison Research poll suggests that 79% of customers who complain on
social do so in the hope that their friends will see their
dissatisfaction – and 77% of these users expect a response
at
least
on
the same day.
Related
reading: How to unlock the true value of Pinterest for your Ecommerce
store
TOP
TIP:
Start
small, with maybe 1-3 accounts to begin with. You
can always set up new channels at a later date if you find you have
the time.
2.
Set your goals and metrics
The
first step to achieving success is to define exactly what 'success'
looks like, right? But a surprising number of businesses completely
neglect this step when it comes to social strategy.
Right
off the bat, you want to be specific about what you want to achieve –
doing social 'because everybody else does' shouldn't be your main
rationale!
Whether
you want to drive more traffic to your store, deliver better service
or boost your brand profile, you should put this into a documented
strategy – ideally with specific targets and performance indicators
so you can monitor your progress down the line.
3. Integrate
your store with your social channels
It's
really important to make sure that your store and social channels are
connected. Users should be able to share your content and products on
their social feeds – so make sure to include social share icons on
these pages to make this process easy.
Equally,
you should promote your own content and product pages on social, with
links to your site to help generate more traffic.
4.
Plan ahead – and batch process the mundane stuff
There's
no getting around it: effective social marketing
does
take
up time. This can cause problems for businesses with limited time and
resources, but there are ways to be smart about this and lessen the
load.
For
one thing, you don't want to get caught up in the daily grind of
worrying about what to post. Creating a solid editorial calendar that
lays out your posts 2-4 weeks at a time will lets you get this whole
job taken care of in half a day or so. You can then use scheduling
tools – Tweetdeck, HootSuite, Hubspot, Raven Tools and more – to
schedule your posts ahead of time.
All
you need to do then is monitor your channels for incoming messages
and posts, so you can ensure they're properly replied to.
5. Act
like a person, not a brand
When
you put together that editorial calendar, make sure you're mixing up
your content. The most effective social channels are great because
they focus on
engaging
with
customers rather than just selling to them. Themed days are a great
way to do this – so maybe you'll run a featured product once or
twice a week, but the other days you could focus on industry news,
useful articles, or off-topic and humor.
Before
you make a post on social, ask yourself: does this add value to my
target audience? Is it something
I'd
like
to see? Your users will be happy to see a little bit of content about
your products – after all, they chose to follow or like your page –
but this is only one component of your ideal posting output. What
users really respect is a brand that can engage with them on a
personal level.
6. Track your ROI
Just
as a lot of businesses neglect to set goals and targets, many
struggle with gauging the ROI of their social channels.
Now,
there are certain things you
can't
measure
– brand awareness being the main one.
But
you
can
definitely
track
some key metrics. You could use Analytics software to measure how
much traffic comes to your site from social. Or you could deploy
visual tracking tools – Crazy Egg's heat maps, or ClickTale's
recorded user sessions – to evaluate their experience on your site
and track conversions.
Closing
Thoughts
Over
the last decade, social media has become intertwined with almost
every aspect of our lives – and online shopping is certainly no
exception.
As
an Ecommerce merchant, it's important that you embrace this
opportunity to engage with your customers. An active social presence
is going to help you deliver top-line customer service, grow your
audience, promote your products and, ultimately, drive traffic that
converts into sales.
Our
advice is this: avoid spreading yourself too thinly across many
different channels, make sure you respond publicly to all comments
(particularly negative ones!) and set goals. These key points are
going to form the basis of a social strategy that wins. Good luck!
Enjoy
this post? Check out our FREE e-book, '
13
Conversion Mistakes Smart Ecommerce Owners Make.