How to Use Social Media for eCommerce

Social media for ecommerce is simply the process of selling products (whether digital or physical) on social media platforms.

When you have an ecommerce business, its success heavily relies on having a good social media marketing strategy for ecommerce.

Ideally, you want to use multiple marketing channels. If your social media marketing strategy for ecommerce has a tight budget, you might want to market your business organically.

In other words, without paying for advertising. Luckily there are many ways you can do so. You can use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and promote your products through engaging posts and by rewarding your audience for sharing your posts.

Organic marketing though can take time, this is why it’s best to invest in a paid social media marketing strategy for ecommerce too.

If you’d like to take your social media marketing to the next level, and increase the results you’re getting from your current marketing efforts considerably, download my FREE Instagram report, titled The Top 15 Instagram Marketing Strategies That Drive Traffic And Sales. Simply enter your name and email and I’ll instantly send you the report.

Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow you to reach thousands of people through their paid advertising network and therefore easily sell on Facebook and sell on Instagram your products.

When using social media for ecommerce, the wide range of audiences you can target within minutes are a fantastic opportunity to ensure you spend your budget wisely and your ads are only shown to people who are most likely to follow your call to action.

Another social media strategy for ecommerce is to pay social media influencers.

Social influencers are usually:

• Self-made internet stars
• Well-known in their industry
• Have high engagement levels on social networks
• Have authority and credibility in their industry
• Have large and specific audiences

What this means is, if you are lucky enough to get your brand endorsed by social media influencers, you can very quickly start to sell on Facebook or sell on Instagram.

When using social media for ecommerce, instead of waiting for online influencers to find you, you can actually start looking for them and offer a deal for them to endorse you.

In order to identify online influencers for your Facebook ecommerce and Instagram ecommerce strategy, you can start by performing a simple Google search.

For example, should you want to find influencers in the health and beauty industry, look for “health and beauty blogs”.

Once on the blog, make sure it is being updated regularly and that the content is aligned with the values of your brand. If the blog is being updated regularly, that means it’s still active.

If so, explore the person’s social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube.

Should their audience size, video views and engagement rate be much higher than the average audience size of social media users in your industry, you could consider partnering with them to endorse your products as part of your Facebook ecommerce and Instagram ecommerce strategy.

In order to receive endorsements from social media influencers, you will need to find out more about them such as their story, how they prefer to work with brands and what projects they are working on.

Then, when you’ve collected enough information, it’s time to develop a relationship with them.

It can start by simply engaging with their content, or initiating a social media conversation with them. Then, nurture your relationship with them further by consistently and authentically participating in the online conversations they take part in.

Next, make an offer in writing if you prefer. You can draw up an offer outlining the partnership, what is expected from both parties, the deliverables, how payment will work and how long the campaign will run for so you can more easily sell on Facebook or sell on Instagram your products.

Whatever your request is, make sure it is clear. A mistake people make when reaching out to influencers is remaining vague by making statements such as “we should work together”.

Instead, be specific about what you have in mind for your Facebook ecommerce and Instagram ecommerce strategy and make sure your request is a win-win.

Another social media strategy for ecommerce is displaying your website URL on as many places as you can.

You can first add your website url in your banner. Your Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin banners are the prime real estate of your social media accounts and therefore help you sell on Facebook and sell on Instagram.

It’s what people will look at first so it’s a great opportunity to let them know about your website before they even start browsing your social media accounts.

You can create your own banners and add your website url using tools such as canva.com.

Alternatively, hire a graphic designer to design them.

If you’d like to take your social media marketing to the next level, and increase the results you’re getting from your current marketing efforts considerably, download my FREE Instagram report, titled The Top 15 Instagram Marketing Strategies That Drive Traffic And Sales. Simply enter your name and email and I’ll instantly send you the report.

 After you’ve uploaded your social media banners, write a description in the “about” section of your accounts. Your description should be a call to action, such as “visit our website for more information”.

Facebook also allows you to have a call to action tab below the banner of your Facebook page, so make sure you customize this tab so it redirects to your ecommerce store which will help you further to sell on Facebook.

In addition, with a Facebook page, you can have static tabs on the left hand side of your Facebook page.

By default, when you create a Facebook page, you have a few tabs such as “home”, “photos”, “videos” and “posts” but you can add more that redirect to your ecommerce store.

For example, you could have a tab called “buy one get one free” that redirects to a special offer on your website, you could have another tab called “50% off” that redirects to your items currently on sale on your website.

Another social media strategy for ecommerce is to leverage the power of word-of-mouth from your existing customers.

Get in touch with your existing customers incentivising them to publish a review on your Facebook page about the products they’ve purchased, or posting pictures of them using the products they’ve purchased from your ecommerce store.

This will help spread the word about your ecommerce store as their friends will be able to see their post.

When they do, you could give them a voucher or a discount for their next purchase.

You could also publish a post promoting your ecommerce store on any social media platform you use, inviting your followers or fans to share the post for a chance to win the item advertised.

For example, if you’re selling cosmetic products, choose one to display on a post, and add the caption “share to win”. Then, whoever shares the post, reach out to them with instructions on how to claim their gift.

Alternatively, you could provide a discount coupon instead of a product, which incentivises them to visit your website to purchase something and take advantage of the discount.

If you’d like to take your social media marketing to the next level, and increase the results you’re getting from your current marketing efforts considerably, download my FREE Instagram report, titled The Top 15 Instagram Marketing Strategies That Drive Traffic And Sales. Simply enter your name and email and I’ll instantly send you the report.

Remember to also subscribe to our Youtube channel for the latest social media marketing tips and tricks.

About the Author