The use of social media for e-commerce has become a critical element in increasing sales figures for many businesses. Using social media to drive more sales offers many benefits that will help you build your business. Therefore, it is not too late to be present in these valuable social media channels!
Studies show that after following a brand on social media, consumers continue to interact in different ways.
91% of consumers visit the brand's website or app. 89% make a purchase. At the same time, 85 percent recommend the brand to someone they know.
Let's look at what you can do and what tools and best practices you should use to promote your e-commerce activities with social media.
Social Media Statistics for E-commerce
Social media e-commerce serves as a bridge between brands and potential customers. More and more consumers are discovering brands through social media.
Here are a few new statistics confirming that social media and e-commerce have a strong relationship: In 2025, it is estimated that social networking platforms will reach 7.5 billion users.
46% of millennials and 50% of millennials say they research products on social media.
There is a 36% increase in social media shopping compared to 2021.
US retail social commerce sales will increase 34.8% to $36.09 billion in 2023.
Instagram and Pinterest currently offer the best social commerce experiences for brands. But Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok are exploring new features.
The clothing and accessories industry is the most popular for social commerce. However, there are other successful areas such as electronics, cosmetics, home decoration and consumer goods.
The number of US social commerce buyers rose 25.2% to 80.1 million in 2020 and rose to 90.4 million in 2021.
81% of respondents to a social media survey said Instagram helps research products and services.
What is Social Media E-Commerce Marketing?
Social media e-commerce marketing; It is the use of social media to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, and increase sales for your e-commerce business.
Now that we've identified what social media e-commerce marketing is, let's take a look at why you need this space.
Why Should You Use Social Media E-Commerce? Due to the increase in e-commerce and online competition, you should try all the supports you can get to create solid strategies and sell your products online.
Remember, however, that social media e-commerce is not just about selling your products online. It gives you much more than that. The activities here are not one-off.
It also includes the interactions and relationships you want to build with potential customers before the sale.
There are quite a few social media platforms that provide the perfect environment to allow you to sell your products directly from these platforms without the customer needing to navigate to a different tab.
Purchasing made in this way makes users feel more special and understandable. Because users are on social media, a place where they feel comfortable.
Social media and e-commerce gives you advantages in: You can interact with potential customers before a sale.
Visitors can do their research on your social media page.
It allows you to share testimonials and reviews for your potential audience to read and help them make an informed purchasing decision.
Customers can assist you with word of mouth marketing.
Ideal for demonstrating your company's work environment so your customers can trust you more. Here you can also post other things about your brand, such as behind the scenes with your employees.
Its installation is free.
It creates an enjoyable social shopping experience for customers.
It reduces the time between discovery phase and payment. Thus, it helps you in the sales process by improving your conversion rates.
1-Define Your E-Commerce Company's Social Media Goals
There are two options for using social media for e-commerce: driving traffic to your company's website or increasing sales. Each has its own importance. Here it is important to identify which you value most so that you can effectively plan how to use your resources.
It is very important to set your goals before investing time in strategy and implementation, to be sure before implementing the strategies that will get you to your goals. If you don't set goals, you won't be able to measure your success or reintroduce strategies that worked.
2-Create a Social Media Strategy for Your E-Commerce Company
You should develop a social media strategy for your e-commerce company that considers your goals, resources, and the best platforms to help you reach your customers.
Once you've decided on this point in your strategy, you can work on creating effective campaigns that align with your goals.
If you implement a social media strategy, you can operate on the best platforms to help you be more effective overall.
Get a clear idea of your target audience, where they spend their time and their concerns. From here, do some research to check which platforms are most popular for your target demographic. With this data, you can see ahead of time where your time and effort will pay off.
3-Determine Which Social Media Channels Your E-Commerce Company Should Target
First, look for different ways to advertise and sell products and social media platforms that offer focused targeting. You have to choose channels that will be perfect for your products and appeal to you.
A clothing brand will probably want to use Instagram. Because it is visually oriented and consumers are already accustomed to discovering and purchasing clothes on the app.
Consider which platforms attract your target demographic here. You need to spend time on the platform where your ideal customers spend time.
For example, you can see that 60 percent of Pinterest users are women and 98 percent of Facebook users access the site from mobile devices. This way, you can determine which platforms might be best for your business based on the data.
4-Optimize Your Social Media Accounts for E-Commerce
One of the first steps you should take is optimizing your social media accounts. Complete your profiles and add useful information wherever possible.
Make it easy for people to find at a glance the information they need to understand your business and buy from you. Do research to identify relevant keywords and hashtags that will make them visible in search results.
State your location clearly here. Be sure to link to pages where customers can find the products they clicked to see.
5-Run Optimized Social Media Paid Campaigns for E-Commerce Companies
Almost every social platform has some version of paid advertising that can allow you to increase visibility.
There are also different types of advertisements on each social media platform. That's why it's helpful to explore various options. You can try different types of ads on each platform.
You can try retargeting ads on Facebook. You can also use Shoppable posts on Instagram. Taking advantage of the audience targeting features in each would be the right approach.
6-Use Automation Tools
If social media is part of your sales strategy, you should explore automation tools. Automation is of paramount importance to social selling. People expect instant and personal interaction on social media platforms. You will need help meeting their expectations.
Even if you develop a successful strategy, it is not possible to spend every waking moment online responding to comments and answering questions.
Social media is a showcase open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So don't turn people down or ignore important requests.
7-Think Mobile Experience
More people than ever are accessing social media platforms and websites on mobile. However, mobile design is only the first step when it comes to social media for e-commerce. The entire purchasing process needs to be seamless on mobile.
Payment options must be mobile friendly. For example, Apple Pay lets you allow users to make purchases from their phones.
Consider content formats as well. With more than 100 million hours of video consumed on Facebook every day, you should offer videos in vertical format for mobile users.
People love convenience, a personalized experience, and an environment where they can easily navigate and interact with your site.
8-Optimize Landing Pages for E-Commerce
If you optimize your landing pages for e-commerce, you can create a better user experience by providing people with all the information they need to make a purchasing decision.
People logging into your site should quickly realize that they are in the right place. It is important that they move smoothly to purchase the product they want.
Make sure you have well-written product content, high-quality product images and videos in your product descriptions section that summarize product features and benefits.
You can add sizing or specifications to the product page. You should also create clear calls to action to help them convert.
9-Develop a Website with High User Experience
User experience (UX) should be your priority on your e-commerce site. You need to enable shoppers to find products quickly and understand how to move from browsing to purchasing.
The easier you make it for people to buy products from your e-commerce site, the more chances they have to convert from visitor to customer. Here, plain, stylish and simple design always wins you over.
10-Provide Easy Payment Options for Customers
If you're going to run a successful e-commerce site, you need to offer reliable and reliable ways for people to pay for your products and services.
You can explore a wide variety of payment options for your ecommerce business, each with features and policies. Options include Square, PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others.
Some social media platforms allow customers to purchase directly from the app, depending on which features you choose to use.
Some of these options include Facebook (with Facebook stores, Messenger Chatbots, and Ads), Instagram (with Stories, Shopping, Live, IGTV, and Ads), and Pinterest (with Promoted Pins, Rich Pins, and Shopping from View Pins ) .
You can also research third-party websites as a way to advertise and sell your products. Read on to learn more about a few of these that can support your ecommerce business.
11- Advertising and Selling on Third Party Websites
There are other options to increase your sales outside of your website. Third-party websites provide functionality while generating your website traffic and are effective in reaching a large audience.
An example of a third-party website sale would be Trendyol.
Even if shoppers on Trendyol realize that they are buying directly from you and not from the retail giant itself, you can still benefit from the reliability and purchasing abilities of their brands. You can also reach a large audience with a solid intent to buy.
12-Monitor the Success of Your E-Commerce Company's Social Media Strategy
It is very important to monitor the results of your strategy as you implement your ideas. So you can accurately analyze your achievements and areas for improvement.
Choose measurable metrics that represent engagement. You can track platform-specific metrics such as likes, shares, comments or retweets. Monitor your website traffic and how much traffic you get from your social media channels.
