The shift from straight and to-the-point marketing to casual consumer-friendly social media centered marketing is visible in the activities of many brands and sellers. It’s not because other means are less effective. Rather it is for the reason that social media has a firm grip on people now. Most consumers have an online presence in the form of an email id and at least one social media account. Also, most of these people are constantly online through their smartphones and tabs, using their social media accounts and instant messaging apps. Hence, targeting people on social media ponds is really easy, if you know how, you can catch an easy fish!
Building social media centered promotion plans
There are a lot of interesting factors influencing consumers on social media. One of the main reasons is the exposure to the open web for consumer opinions. It has been surveyed that 9 out of 10 people on social media take opinion from other people in their contacts about a product, and some 75 percent of them buy a product just because they saw or read about it on social media.
Hence, building online promotion plans and social media marketing strategies to instigate online shoppers to buy your product has to be worked on sooner than later. And here are some creative ideas to help you plan your social media marketing campaign for catching consumers on these platforms.
Connect back on Social media
You have to realize the fact that you, your website, your product and services would be constantly discussed about, both in your face and behind your back. And most of these discussions originate and continue on social media platforms.
Normally, a positive discussion on your product, generated by satisfied or impressed consumers or visitors, will always act in your favor. But if a wave of negative reviews, words and thoughts starts forming, you must act quickly and show people that you care to settle problems, complaints, and misconceptions about your product and services.
It’s the best way to engage directly with the consumers and visitors, and spread the message that you care about their experiences, and want to give the best quality and service. Resolving the complaint of one customer can spread a positive word about you real fast, and you would be appreciated soon. Moreover, this effort to connect to every consumer on a social media will be rewarded by more positive appreciation and credibility from consumers.
Many businesses have a huge number of fan following on social platforms. But due to the lack of engagement and interactivity with customers and people from the business in real time, they lose their demand over time.
Answer their queries and match up to their expectations
Don’t give your consumers even the slightest opportunity to turn against you on an event of complaint or dissatisfaction. Issues are raised when consumers are stuck somewhere. It may be a query before the purchase or after the purchase. But every query is important, and needs to be answered ASAP! Or else, the disgruntled customers will turn to some other competitor brand, or may shame you in public on the social platform. And you will not love that. Therefore it’s best to meet up to the consumer expectations by answering their queries which they put on social media sites.
Use the power of followers
The smart marketer will harness the power of the fan following on social media creatively. The connections you establish with your fans and consumers on social media can help you get more promotions as people say positive things about you. However, you should not encourage your fans and customers to say only positive things and hide their grudges.
A product cannot be perfect. There will be some downsides or scopes of improvement, and some customers might be dissatisfied for several reasons. And people would love to know all about it, and not just the illuminated positive side of the coin. Therefore, encouraging your followers to speak their mind and give honest opinion or reviews about your products will help others get the picture clear and choose decisively.
However, take care that your followers or users do not spam around at review sites about the product. That will be marked very negatively. Limited amount of reviews, which does not look spammy and also covers all aspects of the product or service, are best accepted by the modern social media centric shoppers. Let it happen naturally, and focus on building healthy relationships with your followers.
Sometimes the negative comments and criticism may batter you hard. But instead of avoiding them, try to face them and resolve the issues for best results. Even annoyed consumers will start supporting you if you respond with patience. If the brand has earned authenticity and credibility in the eyes of users, many consumers will not care for the negative reviews and simply buy the products.
Which social media platforms to target for SMM
Although you may approach all that looks good and promising, you still may be more inclined towards a few for their enhanced suitability towards your product. While Instagram and Snapchat may be the best for one business, LinkedIn may be more apt for another. Some get more traffic flow from Twitter and Facebook than others, while some products get best response through Pinterest and Instagram.
Finally
How you will plan it further depends on the product type, target people, demographics and the habit of people in the area. Not all social platforms are used in all parts of the world. On one hand, the Western world is quite engaged with Snapchat and Instagram while being active on other platforms as well. On the other hand, there are many developing countries where Facebook and Twitter rule. Therefore, your eCommerce social marketing strategy will depend deeply on the demographics you are targeting.
