Social Media is Evolving into a Marketplace

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Social Media is Evolving into a Marketplace

Ecommerce businesses are learning how to take advantage of the social media marketplace

To succeed in any business, you have to take your business to people instead of waiting for them to come close to it. This is particularly true for online businesses especially e-commerce business that caters to B2B and B2C segments. With the majority of the population spending more time on the social media networks, it becomes imperative for e-commerce business to tap into the immense potential of social media for business gains.  As the social media has now become a religion for most people and is an integral part of our lives, online businesses have to rework its marketing strategies with social media in mind. Considering that approximately 217 million online shoppers in the USA spend an hour and 40 minutes every day on the social media on an average, e-commerce has to include social media in its marketing plans.

Reputation building on the social media

 Even before you start marketing, building brands and reputation is critical for making your brand easily recognizable to prospective customers. The social media is a great place for building a reputation and placing your brand on a pedestal much above your competitors. The social media networks provide endless opportunities for advertising your brands and building trust that gains wide outreach. Although the social media is not a marketplace, it has enough capabilities of driving traffic to websites and increases the marketing prospects. How best you can convert leads into sales is what makes the real difference in results. In this article, we will explore the growing role of the social media for complementing e-commerce SEO SEM services.

Advertising on the social media

The cost of advertising can be a cause of worry for businesses especially when traditional advertisements have proved detrimental to online businesses.  The best thing about online advertising that the return on investment and the outreach you achieve completely justifies the cost. An advertisement on the social media platform would never let you down regarding the returns it can provide. Another very interesting aspect of social media advertising is the endless opportunities for customizing advertisements that no other media can offer. You can create advertisements based on various demographic factors like age, sex, preferences, geographical location, etc. to create the highest impact that can provide high ROI.

E-Commerce businesses have realized the immense potential of advertising on the social media that enhances traffic to the websites and have been using the social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and other channels quite aggressively. It is easy to set up advertising campaigns on social media platforms, and it is even easy to track the returns from it.

Listen to customers

Good marketing is not only about talking to customers about upholding brands and products but also gathering customer feedback. The only way to survive in an intensely competitive market of e-commerce is to listen to what customers have to say about your business so that you can improve fast by meeting their expectations. The social media platform can become an extension of your customer service, as more customers would prefer to communicate on the social media rather than sending out e-mails or letters.  Listening to the voice of the audience could open the gates of new opportunities, as the social media is the best place to identify influencers who play a critical role in online marketing today. There is nothing better than listening to customers to gain valuable insights about your business that shows the way to cut through competition.

Engage with the audience

Customers must not only trust your brand and business but should also stay loyal to it – this is the secret of succeeding in business today.   It all begins by closely engaging with customers and building close relationships that they would value and be ready to pay back when the need arises. Besides actively engaging with customers, you should try to delight them by surpassing their expectations. In addition to advertising on social media, e-commerce businesses have the opportunity of addressing the issues that plague customers to win their confidence and place the brand and business as the most chosen one.

Private messaging is taking over

Whenever we refer to social media networks, we point to the public platforms of Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. However, an interesting trend is gradually emerging that have caught the attention of analysts.  People are now turning more and more to private messaging services that promise much larger scale of engagement.  If you look at the user base of messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and Whatsapp you would find enough evidence in support of what the experts feel.

Billions of users crowd the messaging apps and marketers are keen to take their business to places that customers frequent.  Technology has supported this move by providing opportunities for using Chatbots and AI for creating virtual personalities that can engage in real conversation. It has become easier to resolve customer complaints, offer recommendations and answer questions about products and services. Customers too are more inclined to contact the business through private messaging than using the public social media platforms. 

Turning to in-app purchase

The process of buying online has to be simple so that it is easy for customers to complete the purchase. For e-commerce businesses, the maximum hurdles come from the design of shopping carts that often become a stumbling block for customers who find it difficult to complete the purchase. Similarly, e-commerce platforms that take a longer time to load experience high bounce rate.  The social media has made the process of buying a breeze as you can quickly buy products on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.  Considering the convenience of using Apple Pay for buying online, it is just a matter of time before e-commerce adapts the in-app purchasing model to expand its reach and multiple sales.

Selling through social networks is on the anvil, and it is no more a question whether or not e-commerce sites should use the social media for marketing because it would become almost mandatory. As social media has impacted our lives, it is now set to impact businesses too.