5 Tips For Helping Your Ecommerce Site Compete With The Big Boys
If you are running an e-commerce website, it can be assumed that you are familiar with social media. However, you may not be familiar with the many ways you can use it to compete with the big boys.
Get a Boost With Facebook
One of the simplest, cheapest and most effective means of marketing on social media is by utilizing the Facebook Boost option. Once you place a post about your product on Facebook you have the option to Boost that post. What that means is that you set a budget of, say, $5 that you wish to spend to advertise that post to as many as 10,000 people who Facebook believes might be interested based on their preferences.
Send Samples to prominent Instagram Users
The second most popular way to market your product is by sending free samples along to influential Instagram users who specialize in your market. The way to find these popular accounts is through WEBSTA, a site which catalogs the most popular and trending Instagram hashtags.
Simply search for your market or similar product and then browse the most-followed users who are displayed. Users who display both high numbers and contact information tend to be the types open to product placements and marketing opportunities. These people can have an enormous reach, and their recommendation could yield you significant results.
Reddit and Subreddits
If you are not on Reddit you need to be. Along with their front page which displays the most popular topics, They also feature subreddits which cover practically any and every topic under the sun. If you sell vintage Star Trek toys, there will be a subreddit for it.
Search for your market and simply engage with the community. Don’t make blatant sales pitches, though. Instead, engage the users in conversation, just like in real life. You may offer some keen insights and wisdom as well. After all, you are an expert, aren’t you? You can certainly refer to your site, but don’t come across as sales-pitchy. They do have rules about that sort of thing.
Tweet To Your Market
In much the same manner as you would use Instagram and Reddit to seek out people receptive to your market, you can do much the same with Twitter. Simply Search for people who have an interest in, say, vintage Star Trek toys. Follow them, and you may be surprised how many follow you back. Then you can market your product. But, be sure to pepper your advertisements with other interesting bits of information.
You want to build a subconscious trust in your followers’ minds, so that when they see your brand they are not put off, but are genuinely eager to see what you have to say.
Blog, Blog, Blog
Lastly, it is an easy and worthwhile effort to write a blog on your site. In here you want to mention other people in your market whom you follow and who have posted things that your audience might find fascinating, or at least mildly interesting. Influential Instagram users, popular Twitter accounts, YouTubers, and bloggers who have garnered a large audience are all fair game. Not only write about them, but then drop them a line to tell them that you have. That gives them the opportunity for some shameless self-promotion, and will mention you and your product in return.
Today’s Social Media Marketing is so much more innovative and fun than yesterday’s stale newspaper and radio ads. Today you have the ability to compete in a large market, and do it on the cheap. All that is required is some time and a little creativity. Unlike the results you would receive placing a small ad in the local media, you can have massive, exponential results, just like the big boys.
Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who has worked in eCommerce for the last five years. She currently writes for Rakuten Super Logistics and recommends them for all your ecommerce fulfillment needs to further your success.