Tips for maximising social commerce

Here are some ideas for maximising social commerce in your marketing campaigns:

1. Add a call to action button

Facebook allows its users to add a call to action button right on their pages. This button will appear next to your ‘Like’ button at the page header. You can choose from a wide range of call to action buttons including ‘Book now’, ‘Sign Up’, ‘Shop Now’, ‘Play Game’, ‘Contact Us’ and ‘Watch Video’. All you need to do is ensure that the button matches with your business objective. This can significantly increase your e-commerce conversions and boost profits.

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2. Connect with influencers

Every social network, whether Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest, has influencers. Social media influencers are considered experts and thought leaders in their field, and usually have a huge following. Therefore, you need to take time to find the influencers in your field. You can build a relationship with them by leaving comments on their posts and sharing their content. Once you have established trust, they might return the favour by sharing your content with their fans and followers. People are more likely to make a buying decision when they see an influencer endorsing your brand.

3. Build communities

When using social media for e-commerce, don’t make the mistake of bombarding people with promotional messages. Instead, you need to focus on building relationships first. Focus on offering the members of your community useful information which will improve their lives. Let them see your genuineness in wanting to help them. This way, they are likely to be more responsive when you present your promotional messages. The entire idea of building communities is to help your brand build a long-term, trustful customer relationship.

4. Be sincere

In your interactions with prospects and customers, you need to be as sincere as possible. Avoid the temptation of sharing falsehoods in your content in an attempt to win more customers. In addition, don’t make promises that you can’t fulfill. Take time to respond to comments, both positive and negative, left by prospects and customers. When you make mistakes, be sure to take responsibility. Let your fans and followers know that you are taking action to remedy the situation, and keep them updated on the progress.

5. Make use of ads

Posting Facebook ads is a powerful way of reaching your desired target audience. You can narrow down your audience based on factors such as geographical location, gender, sex, age, interests and career. Being able to connect with a specific target audience will enhance your chances of creating more awareness about your brand and thus increase your sales.

6. Keep track of your progress

Monitoring the progress of your social commerce campaigns will give you an idea of what is working and what you need to improve. You can use monitoring tools such as Hootsuite, TweetReack, Klout, Social Mention, Twazzup and HowSociable.