Have you noticed your Facebook feed change at all over the past year?
Think about new features they’ve added, like buy buttons and the “Facebook Marketplace.”
It doesn’t seem to be a platform for social sharing anymore.
Nope.
Facebook is changing its trajectory. Social selling is growing in popularity. It’s becoming one of Facebook’s most significant streams of income.
Facebook could care very little about organic reach anymore. Think about it: What does Facebook gain from successful, organic posts?
Compared to what they earn from ad revenue and social selling commissions, very little.
This pattern isn’t exclusive to Facebook. Twitter and other social media platforms also focus on making direct sales rather than improving organic reach.
So, what does this mean for your Shopify eCommerce store?
Firstly, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work on your organic traffic. Organic traffic is still significant, and it does work.
But it does mean you shouldn’t use organic reach as your sole marketing tactic on social media. You have to change your marketing strategy to succeed with Facebook’s, Twitter’s, and Pinterest’s new ecosystem, and we’re going to walk you through a few things you’ll want to be aware of as you redefine your social media marketing strategy.
Facebook Shops and Buy Buttons
Have you scrolled through your Facebook feed lately?
You’ve probably seen an advertisement boasting a “Buy” button at some point if you’ve been on Facebook since 2014.
This new call-to-action might be small, but it’s changing the world of eCommerce.
In addition to the buy buttons, Facebook added new Shops for retailers to list their products. According to recent studies, Facebook Shops have increased revenue for sellers by up to 10%.
As an eCommerce store owner, there’s real potential for you to make the most of Facebook’s new buying features. But how can you make them work for you?
- Choose the right products to feature. You won’t present your entire store on your Facebook page, only a few items. The most displayed products will typically make up most of your revenue, so feature products your customers want to buy.
- Make shopping on Facebook an exclusive experience for your customers. Offer flash sales or products not yet available in your store. Create a sense of urgency and uniqueness with your Facebook store to convert more page visitors into buyers.
- Be social. Engage with your fans. Build a trusting, natural relationship with them. Answer their questions promptly. The more personable you are, the more sales you will make.
Twitter Buy Buttons
Once Facebook introduced buy buttons, Twitter raised its native selling feature.
Twitter’s buy buttons work similarly to Facebook’s. Advertisers can feature a product, craft a tweet around it, promote the tweet, and make sales directly from Twitter. Users can save their payment information on their Twitter account and make purchases without ever navigating away from their timelines.
Pretty convenient, huh?
Twitter and Facebook might share similar-looking buy buttons, but you’ll want to use a different strategy for both. Facebook is about building long-term connections with your customers, while Twitter is about impressing shoppers quickly to garner a sale.
Many companies succeed by selling time-sensitive products on Twitter. Information spreads like wildfire on Twitter, so you can make incredible revenue by selling products relevant to current events.
Case in point: The Golden State Warriors recently won the NBA Championship. The team promoted unique t-shirts on Twitter to celebrate. The t-shirts were featured on a singular advertised tweet, and the tweet’s buy button earned the team roughly $125,000 in merchandise sales.
Pretty incredible.
This selling potential is available to you. Sure, making over $100,000 from a single tweet is a stretch goal, but you can use the same strategies to make Twitter selling work for you.
Current events and trending topics are constantly changing, so you’ll need to stay on your toes and be prepared for major events when they happen.
Predictable time-sensitive events, such as holidays, sporting events, and elections, are great places to start. Is the Super Bowl coming up? Create two shirts ahead of time, each commemorating one of the teams as the winner. When the event is over, advertise the product featuring the winning team.
Of course, creating time-sensitive products isn’t easy. Fortunately, there are other strategies you can implement to succeed by selling on Twitter.
Twitter offers some of the most highly-advanced advertising features of any platform. You can make your ads reach precisely who you want them to be.
How can you use this to your advantage?
You’ve heard it before, and listen to it again: buyer personas.
Do you know who follows your Twitter? What are they interested in buying? What can you advertise on your Twitter to appeal to their tastes and make sales?
Analyze your Twitter demographics and get to work. Come up with a plan to connect better with your followers. Pick the right products to advertise, and advertise them only to people with a high chance of buying them.
You can find wild success selling natively on Twitter by crafting your advertising strategy just right.
Pinterest Buyable Pins
Pinterest has a reputation as the forgotten social media platform.
It doesn’t make much sense. Pinterest is a potent tool for reaching new audiences and making sales. And with the introduction of Buyable Pins, it just got even better.
Firstly, Pinterest has always had one of the best social media advertising programs.
Why?
Because you don’t pay for an advertisement until someone clicks on it. You pay by the click, not the view, which saves you money and earns you traffic.
Pinterest also has a reputation for influencing purchases. Pinterest drives shoppers to Shopify eCommerce stores more than any other social media platform (excluding Facebook).
Now shoppers can buy products directly from your ads. They don’t even have to navigate to your store anymore.
Trust us when we say Buyable Pins have much to offer your store.
But why is Pinterest such a selling powerhouse?
Think about your last tweet. How long did it take to earn most of its engagement? Not longer than a day.
The half-life of a tweet is very short. Most tweets reach their half-life at just 24 minutes. Facebook posts have a similarly short half-life, at just 90 minutes.
Not Pinterest. It takes over three months for a pin to reach its half-life. This means your pin has over 90 days to get half its audience.
Your pins stay relevant long after they’ve been posted.
Pinterest also drives sales because of its audience. New reports show 9 out of 10 Pinterest users are first-time buyers.
There are over 60 million Buyable Pins on Pinterest. How can you make yours stand out?
Firstly, you need to plan and design your pin accordingly:
- Use beautiful, eye-catching images relevant to your brand and product.
- Create an emotional connection with your buyer.
- Target your ad to their shopping needs. Are they sure about what they want to buy? Are they looking? Are they stuck on a decision?
After you’ve created the perfect pin, advertise it to the right demographics. Men, women, and teens all use Pinterest, so don’t shy away from the platform because you don’t think your target audience is using it.
Native selling on social media is the future of eCommerce. Sure, you still want to direct customers back to your website for sales, but there’s unlimited potential to be had by selling directly from Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, too.
