Ecommerce Social Media Strategy

June 7, 2022

If you are looking for increasing sales for your online store, you need an ecommerce social media strategy. There is a huge audience on social media prepared to purchase products on your online store.

We are here to help you set up your strategy and give you tips to be able to get the results you are looking for.

1. Social Media Platforms

Choosing a platform for your marketing strategy is essential if you want to have a successful strategy and reach your audience.

You need to know which platforms your target audience are using and what goals you want to achieve in your strategy like brand awareness, customer engagement and sales. Also you have to consider that not every platform works for every business, so consider your traffic reports to choose the best platform for your audience.
Here are some of the most important platforms at the moment to consider for your strategy: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Pinterest.

2. Content formats

Content is the most important part of your strategy because it is the main part in your entire social media presence. The content is what your audience is going to consume and you want it to be eye-catching, engagging, and enticing. This is why you need to pay a lot of attention to every decision of content strategy that you make and in each platform.

Step 1: Know what works on each platform

Each platform has its ideal content types, so it’s best to start with just one or two if you don’t have the resources to create content for five different platforms.

Facebook

Video

Video content gets the highest engagement of any content on Facebook, meaning video should be a priority on this platform.
There are a few different types of video content you can share: Facebook Stories, In-feed videos, Live videos.
You can use video content to share behind-the-scenes, promote products, relate to your audience, and more.

Text-only

Even if the platform is very visual and creative, you have to consider the power of text-only posts when you are looking to engage with your audience.
Text-only content lets you be a little more relatable and personable, as long as it’s still 100% relevant to your industry and what you sell.

Tagged products

When you upload your product catalog to your Facebook Shop, you’re able to tag products in the photos you share. This helps people find products they love easily, earning you even more sales.

Instagram

Feed Posts

Reels

Instagram Reels are a newer content format, but they’re a significant player if you want to grow your following. Reels are Instagram’s version of TikTok: short one-minute or fewer videos that are bite-sized and engaging.

Video

Like Facebook, Instagram has a variety of video types: In-feed videos, IGTV, Live videos.

IGTV was Instagram’s attempt at letting creators share more long-form episodic content, but it still isn’t as popular as the other types of video.

Stories

Instagram Stories were the platform’s take on Snapchat Stories. These can be photos or videos, and they last on your profile for only 24 hours unless you save them to a highlight reel.
This is a great way to share less styled content than you would in your feed. Instagram also lets you create polls, ask questions, share quizzes, and more within your Stories.

YouTube

Channel videos

Upload any horizontal video to your channel. You can organize videos into playlists based on promotional videos, educational videos, and more.

Shorts

Short, engaging videos. YouTube’s version of TikToks and Instagram Reels.

Stories

Disappearing videos. YouTube’s version of Instagram and Facebook Stories.

Normal pins

A Pin is a photo linking to a webpage. This photo is much more engaging than some of its plain product photos. An image like this increases the chances that someone will save the image onto their own Pinterest boards, expanding its reach.

Shopping pins

Another type of pin is called a “rich pin.” There are a few different types of rich pins that share more information than a regular pin. Your eCommerce business will be focusing on “shopping pins.”

Shopping pins also show up in the “Shop” search results, making it easier for someone in the purchasing mindset to find your product and buy it.

TikTok

Short videos

TikTok videos can be as short as 15-seconds or as long as three minutes.

Short, engaging videos like these are perfect for increasing brand awareness and customer engagement.

Long-form videos

If you are looking to share more information about a topic and create engagement, long form videos are perfect.

Step 2: Curation vs creation

Each platform has its ideal content types, so it’s best to start with just one or two if you don’t have the resources to create content for five different platforms.

Besides creating content for every platform, you also need to know how to distribute each piece of content. Not every post or video you share will be new content from your brand, but you will also post curated content that is repurposed or reused.

Social media management requires a combination of created and curated content. This ensures your social media team or agency is never without some content to share, even when running low on created assets.

Photos are taken for your eCommerce website that you share on social media
TV adverts you upload to Facebook
User-generated content that you ask permission to share on your feeds
Relevant landing pages or blog posts you share on social media

Whereas created content is:

A video made specifically for a Facebook ad
Photos from a styled photoshoot for social media
Branded graphics created to be shared on social media
Captions and copy for text-only posts or to accompany created assets

Step 3: Vary your content types

When you create social media content, it should always satisfy one of four different objectives: to promote, to educate, to inspire, or to entertain. Understanding each post’s objective helps you to be strategic with the content you create.

If they tag a friend or share it onto their page because it’s relatable, even better—it helps to expand overall reach.

Step 4: Create a posting strategy

The posting strategy is a must for your social media, and remember to have a healthy balance between promotional content and organic content. A big mistake many companies make is to be only promotional, so the audience gets tired of your content.

3. Social Media Commerce Tools

The social commerce tools available in every social media site are invaluable to help your business grow and its strategy. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest allow brands to set up their storefront on your profile and with your audience using these platforms you don’t want to miss this opportunity.

You need to create a business account and a Facebook Page , upload your product catalog and you’ll have your platform shop. There are two ways you can do this: with the catalog manager or through a partner program’s integration.

Once you’ve uploaded all of your product information, anyone who visits your profile will easily be able to tap “View Shop” and browse product offerings.

You can also create your shoppable posts that tag your products, making it a breeze for customers to see a product they love in a photo and immediately buy it for themselves.

4. Influencers

Influencer Marketing is a very popular social media strategy to promote your brand to their followers. This industry of influencers is worth 13.8 million, a figure that keeps growing over the years. It is a great way to reach new audiences and get endorsements from people your target audience already trusts.

5. Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are very important for any brand because today, almost every customer reads the reviews before finalizing a purchase. These reviews are essential proof to generate trust for your business. You have to get positive reviews and keep them at front.

Another great way to showcase customer testimonials is by creating graphics with positive reviews and sharing them on your feed or Stories.

To increase the number of reviews, you have to choose from, add a survey to purchase confirmation emails to collect reviews or ask for them on review sites. Screenshot the review or paste it into a branded graphic to share on social media.

6. Facebook and Instagram advertising

Even if organic content can get you far, to be able to achieve the results you are aiming for, you need to start investing in paid social media.

There are two important aspects you have to consider for paid media in Instagram and Facebook: targeting and ad creative. You need to target your right audience and to drive traffic to your online store you need attractive content.