The sphere of social media has opened up several possibilities for online businesses — with the rise in online sales, e-commerce sites today have a lot of competition, and the only way for them to stand out is to market themselves through various channels of social media. Now, integrating social media with your e-commerce platform creates improved opportunities for consumers to search, find, use and adopt various brands, inadvertently becoming its non-official influencers. There are many benefits of adopting a social media-first presence for your ecommerce business, some being:
Become Omnipresent
The average person today has at least eight social media accounts, or even nine for people aged between 16 and 24. So, having your brand on at least some of these accounts means that you can integrate yourself into a consumer’s life — this means that every screen that the person decides to use will display your brand. The well-known rule of ‘seven’ advocated by advertisers states that prospective clients should come across your brand and its message at least seven times before they make an informed purchase. This can be achieved easily if your brand’s visibility is consistent on multiple social media platforms, which in turn helps increase both brand awareness and product/service awareness.
Increase Credibility
Almost every consumer today researches brands and their products/services online before making a purchase decision. They do this not by browsing through websites and reviews, but by also going through various forms of social media. The number of likes and followers a brand has greatly affects its credibility and value. Having at least 40 reviews about the brand makes most customers feel a sense of legitimacy and brands that respond to negative reviews or complaints are seen by 30% of people in a positive light. Thus, social media makes online reputation management easier as customers can see how the brand deals with different situations.
Create a Community
Building a community brings together people with like-minded interests who are able to share content and discuss content. Doing this around a brand or product can lead to user-generated content (UGC), and most people trust user-generated content a lot more than marketing gimmicks. So a community can help build trust in the brand and its products while simultaneously cutting through the noise and clutter of other campaigns.
Seeing that social media has a great many benefits, integrating it with e-commerce increases sales and creates a more seamless experience for customers. All this has changed the way brands are discovered and purchases are made online. Being easily seen and available is a significant advantage that no brand should miss out on, especially in a day and age where every brand vies for the attention of customers online.
