When your business is centered around eCommerce, it means you’ll have to think outside the box when it comes to creating your social media presence.
This is especially important when the audience of your small business is on a platform like Instagram or TikTok that primarily uses short videos to keep them engaged.
The good news is that it’s not impossible. You’ll have to get innovative and analytical. Here are some of the top social media do’s and don’ts for your eCommerce small business to help you get your products into the hands of more customers.
Do Choose Your Platforms Wisely
Not all social media platforms are created equal. The most important thing to figure out is where your audience is having the conversation. This requires learning more about your ideal client and doing a bit of research.
For instance, Pinterest is an incredible platform for businesses in the home decor industry. If you sell fire pits online, you’ll want to showcase beautiful imagery of your fire pits in outdoor homes, hotels, and other various locations.
It’s a great platform to use because the primary users of Pinterest are women who are active shoppers between the ages of 30 to 49 years old. However, you might not have as easy of a time selling fire pits through TikTok since the median audience is around 10 to 19 years old.
Do Be Consistent with Everything
Consistency is the key to building your brand and growing trust with your consumers. Everything from the messaging, colors, and aesthetics should match throughout every platform you use. Consistency is important when posting on social media as well.
Social media users that don’t share content regularly will have a significantly lower engagement rate which is the key to getting more of your content into other people’s feeds. You will also see more people unfollow or like because they don’t find value in your profile.
Do Make Sure to Capitalize on Social Media Shopping
Most social media channels offer opportunities for users to shop within their platform. Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest all have ways to either add shops to your profiles or to tag products within your content.
When a user clicks on one of the products, they can purchase directly through the app itself. Take a look at the platforms you are currently on. See which ones offer online shopping and set up your digital social storefront.
Don’t Spam Your Products
The last thing anyone wants to see in their newsfeed is a blast of posts being asked to make a purchase. Social media’s sole purpose is to build a community and share educational, entertaining content.
A community should be about building a relationship with your customers rather than pushing your products on them.
Don’t Use Product Images
Just because you’re an eCommerce store doesn’t mean you should only use your product images in your posts. Realistically, no one finds those to be engaging.
Focus on using high-quality images that resonate with your audience. This is why many eCommerce stores use affiliates or otherwise known as “brand ambassadors.”
These ambassadors will get a discount on their products as long as they are creating content and tagging the company in their photos. It’s a great way to have quality content created for your business instead of having to create it yourself.
Don’t Forget About Engaging
If you’re seeing little to no growth on your profiles and you aren’t seeing any engagement within your posts, it’s probably because you aren’t engaging yourself.
Algorithms are used within social media platforms to determine what content is presented in a user’s newsfeed. Algorithms take into consideration how active you are using the platform as well.
When a channel notices that you aren’t actively engaging with others, they’ll be more prone to think it’s a spam account.
Their goal is to curate a feed that brings the user back to the platform. If the content seems spammy because the user doesn’t engage, your content won’t be seen nearly as much.
This also gives your small business the opportunity to be a part of the conversation. It’s a direct line of communication with your target audience.
If you interact with someone on a post that has relevant information about your industry, they might want to take a look at your profile to see if you have content they may find useful or interesting to them.
There are tons of ways to enhance the social media accounts you already have. It’s also okay to rethink your eCommerce social media strategy altogether. Do a proper analysis of the channels you currently have. See if you are stretching yourself too thin or what platforms you that are lacking attention.