For nearly every retailer, their audience is on Facebook. With the company housing 2.4 billion monthly active users, the odds that a brand’s target audience is not present on the platform is almost nil. Facebook gives retailers a myriad of sales options to implement. With the ability to create a “Shop” tab on a business page, sellers can list a wealth of products, thereby allowing consumers to purchase merchandise directly from Facebook.
For retailers, this is a completely free feature that can generate tons of insights around clicks, views, purchases and more for each item. This doesn’t even mention the other Facebook eCommerce features to reach shoppers like granular targeting, tracking and advertising elements.
Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) is another gargantuan sales opportunity for eCommerce businesses, touting over one billion users. Moreover, 59 percent of U.S. millennials use the platform. Instagram’s sales power is derived from its image-centric nature. With features like Shoppable Instagram posts, eCommerce retailers can tag the products shown in images. For instance, if a model is wearing a specific pair of sunglasses sold on the site, merchants can tag the item, highlighting its name, price and purchase link.
This is an essential feature for two reasons:
Before Shoppable posts, the only link brands could highlight were in their bio sections Instagram data from Yotpo shows that 30 percent of users have purchased something they saw on the platform Features like Shoppable posts significantly streamline the purchase process for sellers on Instagram. Check out this in-depth list of Instagram-specific marketing tools that you can utilize to boost your efforts.
LinkedIn is essentially the professional version of Facebook. With over 575 million members, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for B2B organizations. While users can run ads on LinkedIn, a more effective tactic for this platform is to drive eCommerce traffic by starting a group and providing relevant individuals with valuable information related to products or services. Through this portal, sellers can dole out advice, promote webinars or similar events and potentially provide free samples or trials. That said, it is crucial to ensure that business owners only invite relevant individuals to a group and generate an apt name for the community that clearly communicates the topic at hand. Additionally, if sellers are going to developer an active presence on this site, it is important to revamp the company’s LinkedIn profile to help others learn about the brand and showcase industry authority.