4 Tips to Boost Your Online Sales with Social Media
Social media platforms provide you with an endless source of potential clients. At home, at work, in the metro or on the bus, people from all around the world are connected 24/7. Creating an account on social network is a fantastic way of advertising your products or services for free (… or almost for free in some cases)..
1. Get to Know Your Customers and Their Habits
Building a long-term relationship with your clients isn’t always easy, and to avoid losing your time, it is important to be able to measure your audience’s levels of engagement, the social media platforms they use the most and those that relate most closely to your industry or segment. Evidently, this doesn’t mean that you have to totally give up on other social networks, but becoming more aware in this way gives you an idea of where to dedicate the most time and resources, which gives you the chance to get creative and improve your visibility. If you know how to gauge these elements properly, you’ll be able to closely track and measure the conversion rates of your page without wasting valuable time and effort.
(Via GIPHY)
2. Interact with your Customers
What is the best way to engage your customers? Getting to know them, their preferences, their motivations and what inspires them. The best way of doing this is to interact with them and listen to what they have to say about your sector and your brand. It is important to encourage your clients to share their opinions on the products they like and/or dislike, and crucially, to let you know why they like it or not. By the same token, you should also urge them to ask questions directly via such platforms, opening up possibilities for informal dialogue. Moreover, with a view to fostering a loyal relationship between you and your customers, it is important to share stories that relate to your industry. This will further encourage internet users to share your posts and it will greatly increase the impact of your communications efforts on social media.
Your community manager should be highly responsive when it comes to the latest trends and viral sensations, and they should always benchmark and/or keep an eye on your competitors for the benefit of future social media communication. Moreover, online customer reviews are read by a lot of potential customers, so one bad comment or review can have an influence on, or even jeopardise, future sales. As a result, it is important to ensure that your CM devotes a reasonable amount of their energy to customer service and outreach.
(Via GIPHY)
3. Be Mobile Friendly
If you still don’t have a mobile site, then it’s time to get one! Your mobile presence is essential in the age of the smartphone. Most people these days use social media principally via their mobile phone. If you publish information about products, sales promotions or even blog articles on social media, then users should have access to your website as quickly as possible via their smartphone.
When it comes to online shopping and ensuring greater conversion rates, the mobile experience has to be as smooth and streamlined as possible. Indeed, an encounter with a low-performance or poorly configured mobile site will immediately make your brand seem less credible. Most customers will shy away instantly, leaving the path open to your competitors.
(Via GIPHY)
4. Simplify the buying process
Some social networks have introduced “buy buttons” to allow customers to purchase in a safe, transparent and easy way directly via their platforms. This speeds up the buying process and greatly increases the chances of potential transactions. Facebook is one such social media platform with an integrated “buy button”. But FB’s specificity is that it features both a public and a private one. You can advertise your new products, publicise unique sales events and be in direct contact with customers. Pinterest has also integrated this feature, with the goal of allowing users to purchase directly via the platform. Given the speed of “repins” (similar to retweets on Twitter), this can be a really useful function, granting users access to a buying platform where they can purchase your products.
(Via GIPHY)
Boosting your online sales through the use of social media is not a complicated affair. But it does however take time and commitment. You need to listen out to what your followers have to say and make use of their comments to improve your service. Moreover, don’t forget that the shopping experience is a huge part of the deal and even the best product’s sales will suffer and fall victim to a site inadequately adapted to current purchasing mechanisms.