Social media is one of the most powerful tools that businesses can use to build an audience and drive sales. It’s relatively quick and easy yet very cost-effective, but like any other marketing tool, there are potential pitfalls brands should watch out for to avoid costly mistakes.
4 Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes eCommerce Brands Should Avoid
1. You’re not optimising the shopping experience
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with social media marketing is not streamlining the shopping experience. You need to consider your social media presence from the consumer’s perspective, which means anticipating how they discover your brand, interact with your posts, and ultimately learn more about your business.
A complicated shopping experience can lead to customer inaction and lost sales. By optimising it for users, you can more effectively promote your products and increase profits.
Tips to optimise the shopping experience on social media:
- Use the shoppable post feature and tag specific products on your posts.
- Make sure that any posts and ads you create lead to the appropriate content.
- Group your posts into categories to make shopping for similar products easier.
- Link to landing pages that feature product recommendations.
2. You’re not on the platforms where your actual customers are
When it comes to setting up a social media presence, it’s important for eCommerce businesses to take a strategic approach. You want to make sure that you’re investing your time and resources in the right platform – one that will be most effective for reaching your target audience.
Being on the right platform will help you reach your target audience easily and increase your chances of generating more leads or sales. Otherwise, you run the risk of missed opportunities, wasted resources, and even poor engagement.
How to find your social media audience:
- Create a social media strategy to pinpoint where your target market is most active.
- See which platform your competitors are getting success and more engagement.
- Use social listening and social monitoring tools to tune into your market and understand them better.
3. You’re forgetting the social proof aspect of social media
While posting consistently is great, you also need to position your brand as a trustworthy part of people’s lives. This is where the concepts of social proof and community-building come in, which help you expand your reach and connect with more customers.
If you forget about this aspect, you’re missing opportunities to persuade people to buy from you. You won’t be able to convince people to get to know your brand and trust you, which translates to lost potential revenues.
Ways you can improve social proof:
- Showcase positive reviews and testimonials to show people that others already trust you.
- Feature user-generated content and build loyal followers around your brand.
- Complement product and promotional posts with community-related or brand-building content.
4. You’re not responding to user enquiries fast enough
One of the main reasons why social media is a valuable tool for marketing is that it provides a two-way communication channel between businesses and customers. Customers expect prompt responses to their inquiries and complaints. By using social media, you give customers a platform to air grievances, send feedback, and ask questions. In turn, you should quickly respond to their inquiries.
How to improve your responsiveness on social media:
- Use a chatbot to respond to basic, repetitive customer enquiries.
- Use tools that consolidate enquiries from multiple social networks into one easily manageable platform.
- Create templates or scripts to speed up response time.
- Build a helpdesk or similar resource platform where you can refer customers to.
Take Control of Your Social Media Marketing Today
Social media can be a powerful tool for businesses to generate leads or sales. Still, it’s essential to avoid common mistakes that can harm you reputation and bottom line. Leverage your online presence with the help of social media marketing experts here at Digital Animals.
Reach out to our professional team of digital marketers to get a curated social media marketing action plan that is designed to help you avoid these social marketing mistakes for eCommerce brands, attract more customers, and make more sales.
Get started on your organic marketing campaigns today. Let’s talk about your SMM needs.