Today we are going to discuss 4 ecommerce social media marketing strategies that will increase your profits, encourage repeat purchases and increase your sales overall.
These tips are for e-Commerce businesses but can also be applied by local businesses who want to achieve the same results.
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Now let’s get ready to dive right in and increase our eCommerce sales.
#1 Social media Marketing Campaigns to drive traffic, increase brand awareness and boost profits.
Did you know that every time you post to social media, that less than 10% off your feed see your post?
That’s because social media platforms like Facebook & Instagram want to make money.
They want you to advertise, and so you should if you want access to thousands and thousands of eyes.
With more than 3 billion active social media users, our brand needs to be advertising properly on the right platforms.
The future is online and we need to constantly evolve and make sure our businesses are advertising on the right platforms,
And our products are visible to the right audiences.
How much Budget do i need for for E-Commerce Social Media Campaigns
You don’t need to have a large budget to start with social media marketing, just start with something
small, and scale up as you see results.
Just remember, the more you have to spend, the more you can test and the bigger the audiences that you
can reach.
Combine irresistible offers, great imagery, creative videos, and have a strategy to up-sell and cross-sell
As well.
Why sell one product when you could provide value to the user, show them additional complimentary
products or services, and sell more upon check out plus down the track post purchase?
With a sales ascension strategy or properly implemented ethical marketing strategies, you can.
#2 Value ladders & Sales ascension strategies must be in place
Are you like many business owners and eCommerce brands that don’t try to up-sell, cross-sell or
provide any complimentary product suggestions on the checkout page?
What about post purchase, what kind of strategies do you have in place?
Do you have excuses as to why you don’t do it?
If you are doing it, well done.
Only in a few instances would cross-selling and up-selling not be a smart move, but in all other instances,
it’s a smart move.
Even if you claim to be a luxury brand, there is no harm in showing a user additional items that they
might absolutely love.
It’s online customer service in a way, and something that you suggest could really capture a users eyes.
What is a value ladder and what exactly do we mean?
A value ladder is also known as a sales ascension strategy in the marketing world.
It’s a way to provide more value as well as increase earnings.
Generally value ladders refer top a ladder, where you start with the smallest offering and work your way
up, and as the price increases so does the value.
But to keep things simple and relevant, let’s consider value ladders as a way to consisten;y provide
Value at every step of the buyer’s journey, pre and post purchase, and find creative ways to make sales and
stay top of mind.
Think of McDonald as an example, they used to always offer you Fries & Coke, and ask you if you want
to upgrade an extra size or get a Mcflurry or a box of cookies too.
Prevent one time only sales and encourage repeat customers
Think about maximising profit at every stage of the buyers journey
Value ladders aside, we always want a strategy to either upsell, cross-sell or re-engage with customers
In order to maximise how much they spend with us.
It’s not manipulative, customers are sometimes willing to spend, but its us business owners who
don’t pay attention to their needs
Asking the right questions, collecting the right data, offering complimentary products, having useful
packages, are all sure ways increase profits at the end of the day
Also, in the business world, sometimes we simply want to attract a customer with a small
initial offering, then once we have them there and potentially have gained their trust, we can always sell to them later down the track,
all you need is an “email” in the marketing world.
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#3 Segmented retargeting campaigns, a way to increase conversions
A huge chunk of your eCommerce website visitors will come to your website and leave without taking
any action.
All the abandoned shopping cart traffic, all the bounced users, what a waste of effort and traffic.
What are you doing to target these people and drive them back to your business, site and store?
How will you retargeting all these people that abandoned their shopping carts, or who left without
making a purchase?
Social media retargeting campaigns is the answer.
How segmented retargeting campaigns work
There are various ways we can re-target users, but today we are focusing on retargeting on social media platforms.
Segmentation works by categorising users into groups based on date, categories they were interested in, products they viewed, and purchase history, and much more…
The abilities that we have with retargeting campaigns via social media these days are phenomenal, but to make it short and simple let’s just touch on the basics.
Also, before you launch any retargeting ads you need to always have good creatives, good photos and videos and it wouldn’t hurt to have some great offers and incentives available as well.
Sometimes a general dynamic retargeting campaign will work, but sometimes you need to get a little more creative and get a little complex in order to increase ROI.
Types of ecommerce retargeting campaigns you could run
These days, we can re-target people who visited your website, certain pages on your website, as well as those who abandoned their shopping carts…
We can also re-target people who watched 50%, 75% or 90% of a video campaign you posted to social media.
We can re-target custom audience lists that you provide, such as people who haven’t purchased in more than 6 months but who are approaching a need for a top up.
You could retarget your best buyers lists, as well as custom audiences based on categories and products that a user has shown interest in the last time they were on your site, and way more.
All of this segmentation allows us to run strategic and creative more personalised campaigns that tempt a user to buy.
It’s all about providing value, knowing what a user wants and likes, and launching targeting ads that really hit the spot for them.
That’s good marketing.
One example of retargeting of retargeting using segmentation and data;
“ If Amanda purchased a product from us 4 months ago, and we know that these particular products only last 6 months, we would know that she’s due for a top up.
We would then run a campaign displaying to everyone like Amanda who purchased products in that category, and show them the latest product that we have, as well as show a product demonstration that shows Amanda and everyone else why they need the latest version of the product.
By providing this level of personalisation and pairing it up with a “Thank-you for shopping with us, and here’s 20% off your next product offer, we are increasing the likelihood of purchase.
As opposed to general campaigns that don’t knowledge what a user is interested in or when they interacted from you last
Creating retargeting ad sequences based on user behaviour
You don’t expect one Ad to work do you and all of a sudden convert all your eCommerce shopping cart abandoned users do you?
You need a variety of Ads, offers and creatives for you to have success.
Not everybody is available to make a purchase the first time they see your Ad, nor would they respond to your first retargeting ad either.
What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for a second person, that’s why in certain instances, we may want to show 2-3 ads to a user, in order to increase likelihood of purchase.
We could try different ad copies and media and display these ads at different times to see which one works, variety is always needed.
Example of retargeting Ad sequences
Let’s say we want to target someone who abandoned their shopping cart.
We could create 3 retargeting ads that display at different times based on action a user has or hasnt taken yet.
Day 1-3 Post shopping cart abandonment
The first retargeting ad could be a general “dynamic” retargeting ad that shows the user the items that they abandoned in their shopping cart, hoping that they would come back and purchase.
Day 3-7
We could offer free shipping if they still haven’t purchased, along with a product demonstration video ad that really shows the users what they are missing out on
Day 7-14
If still no purchase, we could offer Free shipping & buy 2 get 1 Free, as well as some happy client video testimonials or fun ” unboxing / unveiling video’s”
You can be as creative as you want, the goal is to provide variety in your ads and offers in order to find the winning retargeting ad that drives a user back
“We all know it takes an average of 4-8 touch points with a business until a person converts. Don’t expect people to book or buy the first time around.. Let retargeting take care of that”
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#4 Segmented re-engagement campaigns to increase your sales
Re-engagement campaigns are absolutely the way to keep previous customers around and encourage repeat eCommerce sales.
Not many businesses look after previous customers, a newsletter campaign is not an effective re-engagement campaign either, it doesn’t have the same intent.
I’ve read that it’s 7 times easier to sell to someone who has purchased from you before. So why spend money only on new customer acquisition campaigns when you can focus inwards and spend some time, energy and maximise your current customer base?
So much money can be made by simply nurturing your current customer lists, having consistent ways to stay top of mind, and letting them customers what new products and services you have in stock.
Finding ways to re-engage, reward and encourage referals, exciting people with incentives and deals, and making an effort to stay relevant and not be forgotten.
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It’s Not All About New Customer Acquisition
It’s not all about new customer acquisition, and that’s the mistake most business owners make: Setting up strategic re-engagement campaigns in a segmented manner, that address various stages of the buyer’s journey is key.
This allows you to launch campaigns with a certain user in mind, as opposed to blasting one message to a large list and expecting great results.
We suggest you combine email marketing campaigns in conjunction with social media marketing campaigns to really reach your audience across multiple channels.
As an e-Commerce brand, or even a local business owner, you would have a CRM full of customer lists and data, if you don’t, now is the time to set things up.
Bonus Tip: There is huge power in growing your email list, don’t make the rookie mistake of thinking there’s not. Social media platforms will come and go, but your list is always here to stay.
Keeping your email lists groomed and segmented is the key, making your messages engaging is a must, and having strategies in place to attract new users and subscribers is an absolute priority.
What are your thoughts?
That was a long article, and if WordPress didn’t glitch and delete my work twice, it would have been twice as long .
Have any tips of your own to share?
Comment below and don’t forget to share the article and show some support.
The Author’s Final Thoughts
I hope you are all implementing these four strategies into your eCommerce marketing business right now.
As technology evolves, so much our marketing strategies.
Don’t forget that these tips are useful even for non eCommerce businesses.
It is standard marketing practice these days.
If you have trouble implementing any of these, simply schedule in for a discovery call.
Let’s chat and see how Black Sheep Cyber can help you with your online marketing needs.
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