If you haven’t branched out and tried selling your product on different social media platforms, now would be a good time to try. There are larger audiences that can be tapped into that go beyond those customers who just visit your website or store.
Here’s a brief rundown of some social media platforms to consider, and how to begin the process of using these channels.
Let’s start with the heavy hitter: Facebook.
While Facebook’s audience and purpose have changed over the years, Facebook is still the leading social network with 2.91 billion monthly active users according to Statista.
Almost everyone is on Facebook and you need to be there too. Setting up a Facebook business page can help with your sales since there’s such a wide audience.
Once you have your business page set up, click the shop tab. Follow the instructions and provide the necessary details. Know that Facebook requires your company to sell products within three days and use a shipping service with tracking capabilities
The pending orders tab will inform your company if you have orders and is easy to use.
For payment, you can link directly to your bank account. You will need your tax information, including business name, EIN and your name.
Before you start selling, make sure your profile is set to public!
The products you sell should each be listed with a photo-1024x1024 pixels is recommended-and try to use authentic photos. Keep your product descriptions brief. Facebook allows just four variations of products, and you need to spell out the descriptions.
Another key selling point for using Facebook is the ability to use Facebook Messenger. Businesses and customers traded 20 billion messages per month in 2019, per socialmediatoday.com. This feature allows for ads and chatbots, which are key tools.
Use the chatbot to help answer questions that your customers may have and keep it simple. Using a conversational tone will help since it won’t feel forced or possibly turn away a potential customer. We recommend having an option to direct them to an actual person who can help answer their question. This can help lead to potential sales and avoid disappointment.
Facebook ads provide a potential cost-efficient option for your advertisements but, generally, spending more will lead to better results. You can gather information on your audience, and that allows for more targeted ads that can better reach the audience you are targeting.
Some potential targeting options include age, gender, location, and interests.
As we always stress, create engaging ads that will lead to conversions. Using multiple ads at the same time can work since you can compare data, and also allows for targeting of different audiences. You can utilize different types of ads such as prospecting and retargeting, and lookalike audiences will help find potential new customers.
There are lots to like about using Facebook!
Instagram has a massive audience with nearly one billion monthly active users that tends to be on the younger side with two-thirds of the audience younger than 34, according to Statista.
The key to utilizing Instagram effectively is, obviously, strong images and videos. You’re going to need captivating visual elements that will stand out among the crowd and appeal to a younger audience. If this is your niche, great! If not, Instagram may not be the best fit.
Instagram offers quite a few options for selling your product once you set up your page, including stories, shopping, Instagram Live, IGTV and ads.
Setting up your page is easy since you can fill your profile with your products, and customers can click on the “shop” option to access your catalog. You can list the price, a description of the product and links to similar products or your website’s product page.
One important note: To use Instagram’s shop features, you must have a Facebook store page. On the bright side, this provides two opportunities if Facebook is a fit for your company and this also makes setting up your Instagram store quite easy since you can link to your Facebook page. It can take a few days, though, for the process to be approved.
Before setting up the “shop” tab on your profile, you must publish an Instagram shop post. You can tag your products in the posts and that will create a link for purchases, and you can do the same for stories. You’re allowed between 5 to 20 products in a posting.
Instagram ads can help increase sales and traffic, but are a costlier option that can cost roughly $5 for 1,000 impressions. You will want to make sure you are targeting the right audience–lookalike audiences can again be a useful tool–and use authentic imaging/videos to drive home your point. Instagram is all about being trendy and using catchy images.
Pinterest doesn’t have the pull of Facebook or Instagram but 431 million monthly active users–per Statista–is still a large audience to target. It’s worth utilizing in your repertoire.
This platform is again centered on visuals that can help influence others to buy similar products or make similar recipes, among other purposes.
Pinterest is quite easy to set up and use and offers several options. Promoted pins provide advertisements that reach targeted audiences and generate strong engagement. Rich pins can only be created by business accounts and have four different types: app, product, recipe and article. Rich pins are the most useful for shopping. Shop the look pins allow users to, as the description says, shop the look! This allows users to find the specific clothes within the piece.
There is a strong audience to tap into here, especially for shopping.
SNAPCHAT
Snapchat is a strong option with its 306 million daily active users, according to Statista.com. It also trends younger, which could align with your brand, and relies on video.
Prepare to pay, though: Snapchat offers costly options.
Snap Ads are interactive video advertisements with strong engagement rates. Sponsored Lenses creates filters that can be used, and are even pricier, running in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Snapchat Discover puts your story at the top of user’s feeds for $50,000 per day. Yes, those working on tighter budgets are going to pass on Snapchat.
But if you have the resources and your video game is strong, this is a viable platform.
While you may think of Twitter as a place for news and commentary, it’s still a useful tool for advertisements since it averaged 330 million monthly active users in 2019, per Statista. Twitter can really help raise your brand’s awareness and presence.
Twitter’s biggest selling point may be that it’s cost-efficient. One-thousand paid-for impressions can cost between $9-$11, and website clicks can cost between $0.25-$0.30.
Promoted accounts help expand your outreach by showing your page to people not following you already, while promoted trends place you in the top trends for 24 hours. This can be useful since individuals see those trends quite easily and may be intrigued to learn more.
Website cards can help with driving traffic via call-to-action prompts. Twitter reports website cards lead to 43% more engagement than a tweet.
LinkedIn serves a different function in that it's primarily business-oriented, but with nearly 740 million members–according to kinsta.com– it’s certainly worth utilizing.
Since LinkedIn is used more by business professionals, it skews higher in age demographic.
Social media channel B2B marketers prefer LinkedIn to distribute contact, according to Linkedinselling.com, and 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn.
These are strong signs.
LinkedIn provides three options: sponsored content, sponsored InMail, and text ads. The CPC averages between $2-$7 but can go up to $12, making it a pricier option.
There is audience targeting, but not as advanced as the aforementioned companies' options.
SO, WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS PARTNER?
Well, aren’t we glad you asked! DigiCom is a proud Facebook Marketing Partner. We’re obsessive data-driven marketers pulling from multi-disciplinary strategies to unlock scale. We buy media across all Facebook platforms and placements, provide creative solutions alongside content creation, and conversion rate optimizations. We pride ourselves on your successes and will stop at nothing to help you grow.
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