By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 12th, 2024
Survival in today’s competitive marketplace requires more than just running a functional store. Merchants must brand their businesses to distinguish them from “the pack.” Check out how Facebook can help you build brand awareness.
Successful branding depends on connecting with existing and potential customers in a meaningful way. The most efficient route to accomplishing this is being where they already spend time—on social media. According to eMarketer, Facebook is “still the most-used social network among all age groups, except for teens” with 169.5 million users in the U.S. alone. With that in mind, here are four ways ecommerce businesses can use Facebook to sell and brand.
Posting Relevant Content
Social media provides a great platform for brands looking to connect with consumers. The key to success in this arena is posting genuinely interesting, relevant content. In other words, the most successful ecommerce brands use platforms like Facebook to provide value to followers.
Yes, many followers “like” and follow companies on social media so they can keep up on discounts, promotions, contests and announcements. But an over-promotional social media strategy can actually push people away. Constant updates can become a thorn in the side of even the most devoted customers.
Effective branding via social media calls for a balanced approached. Many social marketing experts recommend following the 80/20 rule; 80 percent of your posts should be specifically non-promotional. The other 20 percent can then include persuasive calls to action.
Non-promotional content includes relevant, interesting and shareable content. Figure out what matters to your audience, then craft content around these topics. Creating helpful, detailed how-to guides is a great way to get started. You can also enlist the help of influencers within your niche to generate appealing content.
The goal here is to get people liking, commenting, sharing and perhaps even visiting your company blog for more. Diluting the promotional nature of your content strategy makes it all the more potent when you do post a link to a product or sale.
Providing Customer Service
People used to pick up the phone or draft an email to reach customer service. While these methods are still in play, many consumers are turning to social media with questions and comments. Smart Insights reports “90 percent of users have already used social media as a way to communicate with a brand or business.” It’s highly important to devote a healthy chunk of your customer service efforts to responding in a timely, professional manner on sites like Facebook.
Your followers want to know you’re listening. Make sure your brand is equipped to address everything from pre-sale inquiries to pieces of post-sale feedback on Facebook, both through private messages and public comments.
Facilitating Frictionless Commerce
It’s important for merchants to maintain sight of their underlying purpose, serving as a reliable ecommerce business. What is an ecommerce business? Most experts define it as a company whose purpose is to sell products or services to buyers online. Facebook can help here, too.
The best ecommerce platforms now integrate with Facebook to provide a frictionless commerce experience for users. This means customers can purchase products directly through Facebook instead of needing to interrupt their browsing experience by rerouting to your store. Eliminating this hurdle to making a purchase will increase sales and boost customer loyalty.
Launching Paid Ad Campaigns
Naturally, you can also target Facebook users with personalized ads to drive desired actions. Retargeting campaigns—those showing social media users’ products they previously used or added to their carts but did not buy—are particularly effective.
Is your ecommerce business using Facebook to its fullest extent? If not, it’s time to start.
