Despite much of the hype around social media “Buy” buttons and shoppable links, social channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest continue to drive only a small portion of online retail sales.
In fact, according to the Custora E-commerce Pulse Holidata Report, less than two percent of e-commerce sales last Christmas were attributed to social media.
The point is that when it comes to driving sales, businesses have yet to unlock the formula to produce real results from social. Though it is still unsure whether social media will live up to its hype, the following are some best practices for people looking to optimize their return on social media.
Make sure to use the advanced Facebook ads functionality
Facebook’s advertising option provides several features beyond the automated distribution of ads, and it’s in companies’ best interest to learn and implement some of the more advanced functionalities Facebook has to offer.
Facebook’s Custom Audiences allows companies to match their house lists against Facebook data to yield more relevant, targeted marketing messages to consumers.
Take your Custom Audience Ads to the next level using Facebook’s Audience Insights. This often-overlooked feature lets you drill down to specific personas and segments of your custom audience.
For example, if your ad features a new line of women’s yoga pants, you may want to target customers who have bought your athletic wear, then drill down to women who have listed yoga as an interest on Facebook. This feature allows companies to effectively segment their customers to provide hyper-relevant content and move one step closer to achieving a one-to-one marketing reality.
Another useful Facebook Ads functionality enables marketers to A/B test their messaging and creative. As with all A/B testing, the results of Facebook A/B tests enable you to continue to improve, iterate and optimize your marketing.
For example, an e-commerce retailer might use a Facebook ad with a call-to-action to click through to its spring catalog. By testing a few different post versions, the company can better understand which messaging resonates best with their customers.
Make it easy for your customers to tell your story
Some e-commerce brands report significant social revenue coming from for instance Pinterest. However, this revenue is generally being driven by fan-generated content, not branded pins.
For example, a customer pins a picture of himself posing in a t-shirt from a brand’s new line, and someone else feels inspired to buy that t-shirt immediately. It’s like a digital word of mouth — consumers trust other consumers more than they trust brands.
So rather than spending all your time pinning (or tweeting or posting or snapping), put some resources toward making it as fun and easy as possible for your fans to do so. The impact of a tweet from your customers is much more likely to drive sales.
With this in mind, consider highlighting social mentions from fans on your website or running an Instagram or Pinterest contest encouraging fans to post.
Don’t dismiss the more “traditional” marketing methods, like email
Social is certainly one of the sexier online marketing channels today, but given the lack of results we’ve seen from it thus far, it’s important that companies don’t dismiss the value of more traditional marketing methods.
Email continues to be a major player in e-commerce sales. Email drove 20 percent of all online orders during the 2015 Christmas holiday season, according to Custora’s E-commerce Pulse Holidata Report.
Email’s impact was even more noticeable over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, when it took over as the primary channel for online sales, accounting for more than 23 percent of orders.
Therefore, companies should look to leverage social channels like Twitter for capturing email addresses — not just as channels for driving direct sales. Getting into people’s inboxes can be more valuable than driving a one-time social purchase, as it sets up a foundation for continued interaction with a customer.
Final Thoughts
According to a 2015 Global Web Index report, the average person has five social media accounts and spends around one hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day. So although social hasn’t yet lived up to its promise to drive e-commerce sales, companies should try to make the most of their marketing dollars spent there by targeting the right people, optimizing their messages and enabling their fans to speak for themselves.
Written by Jordan Elkind.
Originally posted on marketingland.com