Social media marketing tactics to drive e-commerce success

If you run an e-commerce business, you’ll know that high-quality traffic, continuous flow of prospects and an abundance of sales are the lifeblood of your business. While many businesses have just begun leveraging social media solely for marketing purposes, there is a new trend that is changing the e-commerce game around the globe – social commerce. As consumers become more adept at searching for and discovering new products on social media, taking a step towards selling on these platforms has become a crucial component in every business continuity plan.

With mobile commerce making up a large portion of the e-commerce market, growth in the field is anticipated to rise. Besides the strong smartphone penetration rates, there are 4.35 million social media users in New Zealand, which equates to about 89.2% of the entire population. This makes social commerce an important channel for e-commerce retailers in New Zealand to tap on.

What is social commerce?

Falling under the e-commerce umbrella, social commerce refers to the shopping experience that consumers can have directly on social media platforms. Instead of browsing e-commerce websites, the entire buyer’s journey takes place within the apps, offering an immediate purchase option. 

The appeal of social commerce

According to IBIS World, the annual online shopping market size growth from 2018 to 2023 sits at an average of 10.5%, with the pandemic acting as a catalyst that permanently transformed how locals shopped. While there is still a looming uncertainty on whether brick-and-mortar retail will return to what it used to, one thing is for sure, social commerce is one of the best options for ensuring that retailers still make sales. Capable of cultivating brand awareness and widening reach, social commerce is a practical tool for providing customers with an omnichannel shopping experience. Growing alongside the ever-evolving e-commerce sector, social commerce also allows retailers to get creative with their marketing strategies and ideas without investing large sums on infrastructure due to its low barriers of entry.

Designing a social media marketing strategy for e-commerce

Social commerce encompasses a lot more than merely facilitating transactions on social networks. Covering a wide range of online activities such as having customers talk about your products and services and recommending them, the commitment and efforts required for social commerce can be daunting. From determining if Instagram can help boost e-commerce sales to conducting competitor analysis, several steps must be taken before you can go full swing with your social media strategy. Once the essential components are set in stone, there are social media marketing tips that can help ensure that your social media strategy is the strongest point of differentiation between you and your competition. To set your e-commerce social media business up for success, consider doing the following:

1. Ace the social marketing basics

While most businesses tend to have common goals like increasing brand awareness and community engagement of their social accounts, every marketing strategy needs to have its basics established. Be it steps that must be taken to build a larger following or creating a unique brand voice, time should be taken to define social goals. To set goals that make sense for your e-commerce business, study your target audience to accurately figure out their needs. Data from existing social media marketing strategies or your e-commerce website, can also be utilised for better insights on customer behaviour and plan strategic moves.

2. Use social media advertising

Organic social is no doubt the foundation of every social media marketing strategy. The go-to method of nurturing a connection with customers, organic social keeps customers engaged throughout their buyer journey. But paid social media, also known as advertising, is another marketing tactic that can be used together with organic social for a holistic approach on tackling the e-commerce environment. Social media advertising ensures that your content is shared with a specific and new set of target audience. This is often done through boosted organic content and unique ads. While organic social builds relationships through information sharing and entertainment, paid social is the best tool for conversion. Putting your content on the screens of the right people, it generates leads and attracts new followers.  

3. Be part of the livestream revolution

In just one day, China’s “Lipstick Brother”, Li Jiaqi sold billions of dollars worth of goods on a livestream, according to a report by Bloomberg. Transforming the way brands interact with their audience, livestreams are unlike any other social media format. Tools like Facebook Live and Instagram Live Shopping will keep customers engaged for a prolonged period. In addition, livestreaming gives customers a digitised brick-and-mortar shopping experience since it involves real-time human interactions. Having no limits to the locations from which followers can connect with your brand, your e-commerce business just might attain global recognition through livestreams. Content that was used in the livestreaming sessions can also be repurposed as social posts or stories, saving your marketing time and resources.

4. Provide effective courier services

Even if customers are innately attracted to online businesses and a company has a solid social media marketing strategy that increases their customer base, these alone are not sufficient in keeping customers happy. Providing customers with top-notch delivery services is the best way of retaining a loyal following. DHL Express, for example, has international reach and local teams that offer definite door-to-door delivery around the world. Tapping into such courier services will create a complete social marketing strategy, whereby brands can attract and deliver with ease.

Harnessing the power of social commerce will open doors to new opportunities of optimising customer experience and boosting e-commerce sales. Boasting a strong conversion success factor, jumping on this bandwagon with a robust social strategy is one of the key ways to thrive in the evolving e-commerce industry. Why not create a business account with DHL Express to support the success of your social media marketing strategy today?