By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Reviews Content Team
There are a variety of ways in which you can market your ecommerce site so that you can increase visitors and ultimately your revenue. Some marketing strategies can be very expensive to learn like pay per click advertising, and other marketing techniques can take a lot of time to learn and perfect. If you are new to ecommerce or a even seasoned veteran, there are still probably some online marketing techniques which you can learn to help grow your business. Below we have put together some social media tips for ecommerce sites, as well as some on-site ideas to improve marketing efforts.
1. Build a community and products will sell
If you spend all of your time pushing products or services to people via social media, then you will get some sales, but you will also turn off a lot of people and potentially lose some of your customers. This is why you need to focus on building a community by connecting with customers and giving them insight into your ecommerce company. Social media is a great channel to increase sales, but it has to be executed correctly or it could have dire consequences. Figure out a ratio of community versus sales communication that works best for your ecommerce site. Most likely something like 80/20 or 90/10, where you only push products, sales, or promotions 10% or 20% of the time.
2. Figure out which social media channels work best for your ecommerce site
Not all ecommerce sites sell the same products, and therefore they also have different demographics when it comes to their customer base. Not all social media channels will be right for your business, as your customer base might not even use Facebook or Twitter. Make sure to review your analytics, and search online to see what social media channels your customers are using. You might even try to poll your customers on their favorite social media sites as another way to get insight on where else you can connect with your customers.
3. People love exclusive offers or contests promoted via social media
Social media marketing is perfect for promoting exclusive deals and offers. Make sure to utilize channels like Twitter and Facebook to give your followers and fans a special promotion via these social media sites. Many ecommerce sites will run coupon codes only on Twitter, or have a contest just for their Facebook fans. Vanns recently had a Facebook contest where they asked their fans to submit pictures of their old televisions for a chance to win a new 55" LED HDTV. Running promotions or contests like this is a great way to retain customers as well as they will continue to check back to see what new promotion or deal you may be promoting.
4. Utilize BOGO and bundled products to increase sales
Not all products you decide to sell on an ecommerce site will be a big success, in fact you may cycle out some products with poor sales so you can make room to test new products. Implementing a BOGO (Buy one get one free) or bundled product offering to your site is a great way to draw in visitors and unload some of your products that are not selling well. When you bundle products, you can give customers a way to still buy a top selling product, but then have a chance to get a significant deal on a couple other items you want to unload. make sure you have the right ecommerce software solution that can accomdate a BOGO or bundled product offering.
5. Reward users for referring real friends and family
Word of mouth advertising is a great way to build a bigger customer base, and have more people discover your ecommerce site. One of the best ways to do this is by implementing a refer a friend option, so that happy customers can share your ecommerce site with their friends and family. Many ecommerce software solutions offer a way for you to add in a refer a friend feature (sometimes called "tell a friend"), but why not take that to the next level and reward the referrers? A great example is group buying site, Groupon, which offers $10 in Groupon Bucks for each friend that you refer to their ecommerce site. Just make sure you have proper security in place to ensure noone takes advantage of your reward system.
There are a variety of ways in which you can market your ecommerce site so that you can increase visitors and ultimately your revenue. Some marketing strategies can be very expensive to learn like pay per click advertising, and other marketing techniques can take a lot of time to learn and perfect. If you are new to ecommerce or a even seasoned veteran, there are still probably some online marketing techniques which you can learn to help grow your business. Below we have put together some social media tips for ecommerce sites, as well as some on-site ideas to improve marketing efforts.
1. Build a community and products will sell
If you spend all of your time pushing products or services to people via social media, then you will get some sales, but you will also turn off a lot of people and potentially lose some of your customers. This is why you need to focus on building a community by connecting with customers and giving them insight into your ecommerce company. Social media is a great channel to increase sales, but it has to be executed correctly or it could have dire consequences. Figure out a ratio of community versus sales communication that works best for your ecommerce site. Most likely something like 80/20 or 90/10, where you only push products, sales, or promotions 10% or 20% of the time.
2. Figure out which social media channels work best for your ecommerce site
Not all ecommerce sites sell the same products, and therefore they also have different demographics when it comes to their customer base. Not all social media channels will be right for your business, as your customer base might not even use Facebook or Twitter. Make sure to review your analytics, and search online to see what social media channels your customers are using. You might even try to poll your customers on their favorite social media sites as another way to get insight on where else you can connect with your customers.
3. People love exclusive offers or contests promoted via social media
Social media marketing is perfect for promoting exclusive deals and offers. Make sure to utilize channels like Twitter and Facebook to give your followers and fans a special promotion via these social media sites. Many ecommerce sites will run coupon codes only on Twitter, or have a contest just for their Facebook fans. Vanns recently had a Facebook contest where they asked their fans to submit pictures of their old televisions for a chance to win a new 55" LED HDTV. Running promotions or contests like this is a great way to retain customers as well as they will continue to check back to see what new promotion or deal you may be promoting.
4. Utilize BOGO and bundled products to increase sales
Not all products you decide to sell on an ecommerce site will be a big success, in fact you may cycle out some products with poor sales so you can make room to test new products. Implementing a BOGO (Buy one get one free) or bundled product offering to your site is a great way to draw in visitors and unload some of your products that are not selling well. When you bundle products, you can give customers a way to still buy a top selling product, but then have a chance to get a significant deal on a couple other items you want to unload. make sure you have the right ecommerce software solution that can accomdate a BOGO or bundled product offering.
5. Reward users for referring real friends and family
Word of mouth advertising is a great way to build a bigger customer base, and have more people discover your ecommerce site. One of the best ways to do this is by implementing a refer a friend option, so that happy customers can share your ecommerce site with their friends and family. Many ecommerce software solutions offer a way for you to add in a refer a friend feature (sometimes called "tell a friend"), but why not take that to the next level and reward the referrers? A great example is group buying site, Groupon, which offers $10 in Groupon Bucks for each friend that you refer to their ecommerce site. Just make sure you have proper security in place to ensure noone takes advantage of your reward system.
