Why Social Media Marketing Is Important For E-Commerce Businesses

“We live in a digital age”

 

In today’s digital age, the likes of Google and social media platforms seem like natural infrastructure in our every days lives. This being said, many generations are now using the World Wide Web and creating Facebook profiles which is providing businesses like you and I with the opportunity to connect with our fans, audiences and customers alike.

 

But what are the benefits of channelling your marketing efforts through social media? Here are 10 reasons why…

 

  • It’s free!

What’s more appealing than free marketing? It costs your company nothing to use social media. From Facebook to Twitter and from Pinterest to Google +, accounts are completely free to set up and maintain. There are areas where you can add money to promotional posts but the use of all social media is free!

 

  • Direct contact with your customers

Having direct contacts with your customer’s means you can answer queries and resolve issues as quickly as possible. It creates two way dialogue and if you find the right tone and message, this can give you a boost over your competitors.

 

  • Get to know your target market, up close and personal

You can use social media to ask questions, trial and error what your followers like and learn from their comments. Ensure you record which posts are the most popular at which times. This study is important so you can develop a strategy to reach your audience correctly, such as how many people are online to see your post.

 

  • Target posts at the audience you want

When ‘Boosting’ your posts on Facebook – which is paying to post your post to people who don’t necessarily ‘like’ your page – you can choose the exact audience you would like to target from women aged 24 to 30 or men from London aged 60+. You decide and narrow it down to your exact desired demographic.

 

  • Promote and reward your followers

You can repay ‘Brand Fans’ who regularly interact with your social posts. Whether it is a lady who retweets everything or a gent’ who shares your Facebook posts, you can interact with them and reward their loyalty. This can spark more people to become brand fans who regularly interact with your social on goings.

 

  • All your competitors are using it

Trying to keep up with your competitors can be tough, especially when they are trying to steal the market share. Therefore, work on your social profiles and build a brand persona. This will certainly give you an edge over your competitors.

 

  • Run free competitions

Competitions are fun for all and with the right prize can attract a lot of interaction. Therefore, host competitions on your social platforms like ‘Pin to Win’ on Pinterest and ‘Retweet to Enter’ on Twitter. This will boost your followings, interaction and brand awareness.

 

  • Verify your location

Give your audience somewhere to pin point you. Verify your location on Google+ and allow people local to you to find you with ease.

 

  • Drive traffic to your website

Place promotions, special offers and information updates on your social channels and drive traffic to your website. Give your fans a reason to visit your website with a direct link included in the post. With the right posts, you will soon see an influx in traffic.

 

  • A 24 hour shop for your customers

When you close up for the day or finish your shift, remember, social media never sleeps. This gives your customers access to contact you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year so be prepared to respond out of hours. This will show you are always quick to respond to customers and this may lead to a few extra sales for you.

 

If you made it to number 10 without rushing off to build a Facebook profile, a Twitter page or a Pinterest Account, well done. You are now equipped with the basic skills to run a free and successful social media operation!

 

Why to use social media

Why you should bid on your own brand on Google Adwords

It’s a temptation that if you own a brand, you will get the best position when a user searches for it on Google. But sometimes Google Adwords can be a bit cheeky and favour your rivals.

Let’s analyse this with an example from the tourism industry where is quite common that companies that act as travel agencies (e.g. Expedia or Tripadvisor) try to outplace hotels for their own brand names.

Hotel Mentone is a family run business in Bloomsbury (Central London). In the enclosed image you will see that the top 3 results, the ones that have the yellow ad label on their left, are ads. The first paid results belongs to Booking.com, while the second and third are associated with hotels.com and laterooms.com. The organic result, the non paid, from the hotel website comes in a discreet fourth position.

hotel

As you will have already though these companies are using Adwords to capture traffic from a brand, in this case a hotel, but is a situation that we have seen happening in many sectors. If Hotel Mentone would have their own Adwords campaign they could avoid the middlemen or other rival trying to poach their potential customers.

One of the most important advantages of Google Adword are that results come really quickly as ads start to appear just a few hours after being uploaded. You will also know who is bidding for the same terms as you and you can pause your campaigns, keywords and ads at any time.

 

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