Marketing is one of the major concerns of e-commerce businesses to promote the brand and grow sales.

Here are some of the best e-commerce marketing campaigns from popular brands that you can consider for your eCommerce business marketing. 

1. Dollar Shave Club: Our Blades Are F***ing Great

The most effective e-commerce marketing campaigns don’t rely on tricks; instead, they concentrate on excellent content. You want something that promotes value, makes your brand stand out and makes customers think about your product differently.

Dollar Shave Club outperforms the competition on all of these fronts, thanks to hilarious and amazingly viral video campaigns that got men talking about razors.

The most well-known example is Dollar Shave Club’s initial commercial, “Our Blades Are F***ing Great,” in which the company’s creator argues for $1 razor blades while touring a bizarre workplace. The fundamental product is always presented in the best possible light; the candid approach is simply a strategy to attract your attention, while the commercial is fully tongue-in-cheek.

Dollar Shave Club received 12,000 conversions in two days as a result of this promotion. Meanwhile, the video’s popularity continues to grow, with over 27 million views on YouTube alone. Startup marketers may learn a lot from Dollar Shave Club’s success in providing entertaining and informative content.

Dollar Shave Club’s ad on YouTube

2. Blue Apron: Referral Marketing Campaign

Blue Apron is another excellent example of an e-commerce marketing campaign that you can utilize to get ideas for your own. This meal kit service launched a referral scheme in order to gain more users.

Blue Apron used email marketing and other techniques to persuade current subscribers to invite their friends to use Blue Apron as part of this referral program. New subscribers would get complimentary meals and delivery, while the referrer would get referral credits toward their subscription.

Along with the main means of referral marketing, the brand used the marketing strategies like display ads and podcasts to get more subscribers. 

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As a result, their referral program was responsible for 34% of their new client acquisition.

Blue Apron used the strength of its customer base to help them sell its brand and gain new subscriptions. It’s a highly successful approach to generating new leads for your business.

Hence, you shouldn’t be afraid to use the power of your existing subscribers! Your customers can frequently function as your best salesperson with the help of your referral program and user-generated content. 

3. Beardbrand: Content Marketing

One of the finest e-commerce marketing initiatives is Beardbrand. Beardbrand focuses on giving good information on its variety of beard, hair, and body products to its audience as a men’s grooming firm.

We’ll use Beardbrand’s content marketing strategy as an example. Their content marketing strategy is critical to their success. Beardbrand is a successful e-commerce business because it creates content that its customers want, such as why or not to grow a beard or why to have a buzz cut.

Beardbrand is an excellent illustration of how content can help you acquire qualified leads and convert them into sales. Leads are more likely to choose Beardbrand’s items if you provide them with useful grooming knowledge.

The main takeaway from this is that don’t underestimate the importance of a well-thought-out, industry-specific content strategy! Providing excellent information about your sector to your audience will help you stand out from the competition and generate more sales.

4. Barkbox: No Dog Left Behind

Barkbox is BARK’s monthly subscription service, which includes snacks, toys, and chewies for customers’ fluffy companions. BARK’s marketing is best in class, in addition to developing a good idea and executing it successfully. The company excels at creating attention-getting social media campaigns and masters the art of large-scale customization.

Because dogs, like people, are individuals, personalization is critical for a service like Barbox. There are over 120,000 breed and size variations alone, not to include allergies and temperaments. Because of this variability, sending the proper goods to the right dog can be difficult, such as an extremely sturdy chew toy for an aggressive puppy.

To that purpose, BARK created the “No Dog Left Behind” initiative, which actively reaches out to clients in order to obtain and verify vital information. This program, according to BARK, communicates with up to one-third of its consumers every month, collecting data points to meet individual requirements.

BARK developed and produced higher-quality chew toys, manufactured snacks with unique ingredients, and more as a result of this. Customers can also share their data with BARK in a way that emphasizes the value it can provide in return.

This strategy increased brand awareness and allowed brands to better serve their customers, resulting in high customer loyalty and referrals.

Key takeaway for you is that you can also create such campaigns to get crucial information from your customers and provide better quality products accordingly. 

5. Nike: Dream Crazy

Nike’s “Dream Crazy” campaign, which features footballer Colin Kaepernick, was published in June 2019. This came after his very publicized kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. The video for the campaign, which is narrated by Kaepernick, is full of inspirational stories of sportsmen who overcame adversity and achieved great success.

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While the campaign was contentious since the firm took a political stand, it was plainly successful: Nike gained 170,000 Instagram followers as a result of it, and the YouTube clip had more than 27.4 million views.

That’s not all, though. The Women’s Soccer World Cup began later that month, and Nike leaped at the chance to refresh its “Dream Crazy” campaign with “Dream Further”.

Despite the fact that Nike is not an official sponsor of the competition, it contributed to the discussion by spotlighting prominent athletes who will compete in the games.

With a storyline identical to their last campaign, this video traced the path of a young soccer player who aspired to compete in the World Cup and the company’s belief that she would succeed.

Nike’s ad on YouTube

6. Aerie: Aerie Real

Emotional marketing is effective because emotions have such a strong influence on our decisions; advertising that tugs at our heartstrings has had a lot of success. This features the “Aerie Real” campaign by American Eagle.

In 2014, American Eagle’s Aerie brand was one of the first to guarantee consumers that in their “Aerie Real” campaign, they would utilize un-photoshopped, un-airbrushed models with the purpose of highlighting real women.

And it paid off: by the end of 2015, sales had increased by 20%. The campaign’s execution and the emotional relationship spectators had to it were the reasons for its success, not just the promise.

Aerie not only used unedited models but also highlighted visible and invisible infirmities and problems that are overlooked in the fashion industry.

They weren’t finished yet. Using social media to expand their reach, Aerie created the hashtag #AerieREAL to empower and inspire customers to upload images of themselves wearing Aerie clothing. This made their present customers feel supported and also extended the retailer’s reach to women who may not have been aware of them before.

Therefore, the basic idea of this campaign is to connect with the customers emotionally, and you could also try this for your next e-commerce marketing campaign.

7. ASOS: AsSeenOnMe

ASOS is a popular online clothes retailer that made a big statement with its #AsSeenOnMe social media campaign. We all know that celebrity-endorsed products sell well because we enjoy seeing the individuals we admire utilizing products that the ordinary person does. User-generated material, on the other hand, has performed just as well, if not better.

ASOS invited its customers to use the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe to upload photos of their clothing and accessories on Instagram. The hashtag had over a million mentions after that. ASOS launched a dedicated Instagram account for the hashtag because the social media campaign was so successful.

You can try reaching out to your customers with your campaigns to engage with the brand and spread awareness. Social media is a great place to run such marketing campaigns. 

With the help of such an amazing e-commerce marketing campaign, you can improve your customer relationship and spread brand awareness to earn new customers. 

Key Takeaways

These are some of the top e-commerce marketing campaigns from popular brands that you can consider to take ideas for your e-commerce business marketing campaigns.

All these campaigns performed exceptionally and helped the brand achieve new heights. Analyze which marketing campaign idea is right for you, and start designing your brand’s campaign.

If you aren’t competent with marketing, then you can always consider a digital marketing agency to deliver you fruitful results. Marketing needs expertise, and a marketing agency can give you that expertise to fetch the potential results and ROI.

Good luck, marketers!

Guest Post by Gajendra Singh Rathore

Gajendra Singh Rathore is a digital marketing expert and is associated with a digital marketing agency in Toronto. He is always eager to learn, experiment, and implement. Astronomy is his escape from the outside world.

Gajendra’s Twitter

The post 7 Best E-commerce Marketing Campaigns of All Time appeared first on Social Commerce.

But have you ever thought about actively going to your potential customers instead of waiting for them to come to you?

Did you know that according to Hootsuite almost half of the entire world’s population (3.03 billion people) has at least one social media account? That’s a lot of potential customers!

Despite its disadvantages, social media are great tools to connect with people you love, to share and follow life updates or see what’s new with your favorite brands.

Moreover, you can use social media to get more customers. It is called social media prospecting or social prospecting if you prefer.

This article will explain what social media prospecting is, how does it work and why you should care about it as a potential way for your business.

What Is Social Media Prospecting?

What exactly is social media prospecting, you wonder?

As already mentioned above, social media prospecting is the practice of using social networking platforms to find, research and engage with prospective new customers.

You can also take Hubspot’s approach and look at social media prospecting as the art of listening to people — your clients, partners or even competitors.

And at the end of the day, it is so true. Being genuinely kind and empathetic is the best marketing strategy. It is about people, not mentions and keywords. Great marketing makes you forget it is marketing.

Why You Should Care About Social Media Prospecting

The truth is social media has been around for many years now but there’s still a lot of people who are not sure how exactly to use it for business and generating leads.

Yet, social media can be very productive when you’re searching for a potential client, a strategic partner, or a new hire.

Do you think calling is better? Think twice! 90% of decision-makers never answer a cold call, but 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions according to LinkedIn.

So you want to be trigger-ready where prospects are. And that’s social media.

You can find prospects literally on every social platform from LinkedIn via Instagram to Quora and Reddit. Odds are that the prospective clients or partners you are looking for will be there.

Social Media Prospecting Tips

Last but not least, here are some tips on how to get started with social media prospecting:

1. Research and identify your prospect, including the social platforms. Who are they? What are their needs and where they look for answers?
2. Listen and observe more than you share, especially in the beginning. When you identify the bigger social sites for your audience, listen and use what you hear — recurring concerns, needs, and questions — as leverage for real conversations.
3. Build your personalized pitch and engage. Overall, focusing on being helpful is the best way to engage your prospect. Helping to meet a need will cause you to stand out amongst the crowd.
4. Be authentic and approachable. Make sure that whichever social media platforms you work to optimize are grounded on a foundation of sincerity and honesty, as the alternative approach will ultimately turn off your target audience.
5. Always test. Even if you have a template that works, it’s best practice to tweak your approach and test different approaches. It is great to be proactive!

Final Thoughts

So this is social media prospecting in a nutshell.

If you’re already using social media to promote your business, why not take it to the next step and start using it to also generate more sales prospects?

Too many business people rely on their gut feeling when it comes to their selling strategies without considering the data that should drive their decisions.

Ultimately, leveraging your social networks when selling is critical to your success and better relationships with your prospects.

Recommend Resources:

• 10 Dos & Don’ts When Hiring an Admissions Coach
• 12 Tips for Finding the Best College Essay Coach (2024)
• 10 Tips for Finding an Independent College Counselor
• Ivy League College Counselors: 10 Tips to Help You Find a Match
• internships for high school students 
• Research opportunities for high school students

The post Social Media Prospecting: What Is It and Why You Should Even Care appeared first on Social Commerce.

Influencer-based campaigns can be very successful for companies, as businesses are making an average of $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. Anyone in the fashion business can especially benefit from this type of marketing, as social media is filled with fashion influencers.

If you’re looking to make your own campaign, you can find inspiration in these examples of successful fashion influencer marketing campaigns.

Lil Miquela for Prada Fall ‘18

Lil Miquela is a computer-generated virtual influencer who was based on a 19-year-old from Los Angeles and currently boasts over 600k Instagram followers.

Prada partnered with her to promote their Fall 2018 collection through Instagram Stories via animated GIFs. These GIFs were inspired by Prada’s current collection, but also gave nods to some old-fashioned pieces such as the SS11 banana print and the SS10 flame shoe.

Miquela announced this partnership alongside Prada’s Milan Fashion Week runway show by posting a series of short Instagram videos that featured the GIF. The posts were paired with a caption that read “Go off!! #pradagifs are live in stories! Start posting and tag me.”

When users went over to Prada’s account, they were given a mini-tour of the show space by the CGI avatar

H&M

H&M is a fashion brand with one of the largest Instagram followings because they know how to get influencer marketing right. They only partner with influencers who reflect the style of their brand themselves and whose followers will most likely take inspiration from their posts.

The company did just that when they partnered with the model Ela Velden and fashion blogger Julie Sariñana for their fall 2017 catalog. In fact, Sariñana enjoyed the partnership and loved H&M’s clothing so much that she posted pictures of herself wearing them on her own Instagram account.

Revolve

Revolve took fashion influencer marketing to the next level in order to improve the visibility of their clothing brand and made a somewhat non-traditional advertising campaign. The brand invited key opinion leaders to travel the world and promote their clothing at the same time.

These people would go to parties wearing Revolve outfits, get photographed in them, and then later post those pictures on their social media accounts using the #RevolveAroundTheWorld hashtag.

Not only that, but Revolve also rented a huge villa during the extremely popular Coachella festival and invited influencers that were popular among Millennials. After several Snapchat stories and Instagram posts, the hashtag blew up and was used over 6,000 times during just one weekend.

The end result was more than successful, as the brand made over 3 billion impressions and significant growth in sales.

Daniel Wellington

Daniel Wellington is an impressive example on this list because the brand’s only type of marketing is fashion influencer marketing. This watch manufacturer managed to build brand recognition around a careful selection of influencers and a fixed hashtag structure.

Some of their regular tags such as #DanielWellington and #DWPickoftheDay are very popular among Instagram’s fashion-related tags. They also incorporated sponsored posts from influences into their campaign, which led to engaging and rewarding content followers could trust and relate to.

Since the people they partner with only post genuine images without too much photoshop, Daniel Wellington comes off as a community-respected brand that knows the value of their products.

Brandy Melville

Brandy Melville is a fashion label whose target audience consists mostly of teenage girls. Seeing as how Instagram is the most popular traditional social network among U.S. teens, it’s no wonder why they used this social media platform for their marketing campaigns.

The brand worked with influencers who have a following that consists mostly of teenagers and posted pictures that celebrated free-spirited millennials. Ultimately, the campaign proved to be a huge success and during one month, they acquired 53,000 new followers, their fan base expanding to 3.3 million.

Not only that, but they also managed to set the record for most likes on Instagram in March of 2016 with 9.3 million likes.

Zara

Zara is a high-street retailer that wanted to show their items can be both stylish and accessible at the same time, so they launched the #iamdenim campaign. For this campaign, they partnered with popular fashion influencers to get their message across and they did this with regular Instagram take-overs.

One of the influencers they partnered with was Teesh Rosa who created raw and honest content around their pieces. This way, Zara managed to show that their jeans and denim jackets are fashionable and well-liked by popular influencers, but also that they are for everyday people to wear in everyday situations.

By putting an emphasis on accessibility, this campaign brought Zara 4.6 million new followers in just eight months.

Fashion Nova

Fashion Nova’s strategy for their marketing campaign was to pair up with as many influencers as they could. However, they didn’t sacrifice quality, but they partnered with almost every fashion blogger with a significant following.

Not only that, but they also formed partnerships with many influential celebrities, including Kylie Jenner, Amber Rose, and Cardi B. This type of no-holds-barred marketing approach may be ambitious and it certainly isn’t affordable, but it shows results.

In just three years, Fashion Nova managed to increase its sales significantly and reach six million followers on social media.

Yeezy

Getting recognition and attention for a product before it’s even released can be a challenge, but Yeezy managed to do this with carefully thought out fashion influencer marketing. Before the shoe was even released, the brand carefully selected a small number of influencers to be their representatives.

Adidas decided to collaborate with Kanye West and this saw the launch of the Yeezy Boost campaign. Instead of sending boxes of shoes to a variety of popular influencers, Yeezy decided to show exclusivity and that not everyone can get these shoes easily.

This made customers realize that Yeezys weren’t average Adidas shoes, so the waiting list to purchase these shoes was endless. Adidas managed to establish Yeezys as a sought-after product, and influencers who managed to get their own pair posted pictures of them without any monetary compensation.

Forever 21

Forever 21 decided to engage social media audiences with a fashion influencer marketing campaign that doesn’t revolve around a classic photoshoot. The brand partnered with established influencers who were known for having great communication with their followers to create a unique campaign.

Instead of taking pictures where they would show off clothing from Forever 21 in traditional poses, influencers created content that revolved around the process of trying these clothes on. They later provided both positive and negative feedback, both of which the brand welcomed and didn’t edit.

These efforts proved to be successful, and 21 was able to show off their new collection while also creating an atmosphere of shopping with a close friend.

Coach

Many brands are under the impression that this type of marketing only works for companies that are trying to target a younger audience. However, a high-end brand Coach still managed to create an amazing fashion influencer marketing campaign on Instagram by partnering with Selena Gomez.

In 2016, this actress and singer became a brand ambassador for the company and their collaboration paid off for the brand. Reportedly, this campaign cost Coach less than 25 cents per impression.

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs is a world-famous fashion designer who took a different approach to influencer marketing. Instead of finding another famous person to represent his brand, Marc decided to do it himself and started the #CastMeMarc campaign to find new faces for the upcoming campaign.

The only thing aspiring models had to do to be entered for consideration was to tag a photo of themselves on Instagram with this caption. Unsurprisingly, the campaign was an instant hit and spread like wildfire while Marc Jacobs managed to find new faces for their upcoming fashion season.

Another positive outcome that came out of the campaign was that Marc Jacobs created a real sense of agency and engagement, and #CastMeMarc was named Marketing Week’s campaign of the year.

Final thoughts

There are many different ways you can engage fashion influencers to promote your brand. As social media marketing keeps evolving, it’s becoming more obvious that it’s not enough to have regular sponsored posts. If you truly want to stand out, you need to be unique.

To ensure your campaign is successful, you need to implement all the best practices. This means you need to know where to find the right influencers, go high if your budget allows it, but still put more focus on quality over quantity, keep it visual, and encourage and enforce disclosure.

The post Fashion Influencer Marketing: 11 Stylish Brands Doing It Right appeared first on Social Commerce.

For high-end brands like Rivera, giving customers the chance to see what their products look like in situ is an important step in the sales cycle. In the past, this would mean hiring a professional photographer to capture a few studio-style shots for the website.

Today, the possibilities have been blown wide open.

Riviera Maison shares photos from customers that have already bought their signature velvet sofa, mahogany sideboard, or luxurious winter blanket to provide endless decor inspiration for future prospects. 

And this isn’t a one-off.

In fact, the rise of social commerce shows us that shopping is (and always has been) an inherently social experience. Social commerce sales are on the rise even in spite of a dropoff in in-person shopping. Ultimately, conversations about brands and products are still happening— in fact, they’re happening more often than ever before with social media.

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In the current digital landscape, brands have a wealth of tools and opportunities at their fingertips. Savvy brands leverage their social power and build deeper connections with their buyers through social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. And YouTube ad agencies are helping brands implement this . Starting conversations and engaging with customers online doesn’t just generate valuable feedback and loyalty; it inspires current consumers to share what they love about the brand.

With more than 50% of all shoppers following their favorite brands on social media for the sole purpose of seeing new products, there’s no point denying the impact social can have on sales. 

Social Selling In Action: Examples From 5 Real-Life Brands

1. “Shop Now” Insta Ads from Bombas

Bombas Socks taps the power of Instagram ads by encouraging shoppers to buy products directly through the social media app itself. 

Each ad is designed to stand out in a prospective customer’s feed, employing bright colors and quirky styling, and using the “Shop Now” call-to-action banner that Instagram ads provide. 

As a result, shoppers can make their purchase in one window, without ever having to leave Instagram, reducing friction that might otherwise decrease the likelihood of a sale. Once the purchase has been made, they can continue to scroll through their feeds.

The in-built nature of buying through social media demonstrates just how much online shopping has become a part of everyday life. Consumers can now impulse buy like never before with just a few clicks.

Key Takeaway From Bombas

Studies show that 60% of users learn about new products through Instagram. Online communities have evolved, and consumers are now open to purchasing through channels that were originally reserved for interacting with friends and keeping in touch with family.

In fact, one-third of Instagram users have actually bought something through the platform while on their mobile device. 

Take Bombas’ example and serve stand-out ads that link directly to a in-app purchase window, making it as easy as possible for potential customers to make a purchase while going about their everyday activities on Instagram. 

2. Shareworthy Giveaways by Friend’s Beauty

The main goal for social media savvy eCommerce brands is to generate engagement and interaction. The more buzz that’s created, the more chance they have of reaching new audiences and creating a loyal following that continues to buy their products.

Increasing engagement is the exact outcome Friend’s Beauty wanted to achieve by hosting a giveaway. They encouraged their Facebook followers to comment and share their giveaway post, ultimately increasing its reach on the platform.

As a result, the brand created a digital version of word-of-mouth marketing (which still remains one of the most effective forms of marketing ever). 

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Today’s consumer relies heavily on peer recommendations simply because there are so many brands out there to choose from. (Read more on consumer decision fatigue in the latest from Rodger Smith, CEO of DirectScale, an Exigo company.)

They tend to lean toward companies that come recommended by friends and family, because they trust those people more than the word of businesses themselves. 

Key Takeaway From Friend’s Beauty

Sharing is a core part of social media. People who use Facebook are primed to share content with their friends list that either makes them look good, is entertaining, or has some kind of potential personal benefit (in the case of the Friend’s Beauty giveaway, the chance to win an eyeliner and brush set). 

Take advantage of user’s innate need to share on social media by generating posts that encourage word-of-mouth marketing. 

This might come in the form of a giveaway, or it might simply be a “tag a friend” post, like Sephora does here: 

3. Customer Created Content by Batoko

In an age where consumers are cleverer than ever, creating human connections has never been more important. 

Brands are turning their backs on highly-polished marketing campaigns and are instead showcasing content that’s been created by their very own customers. 

93% of shoppers note that user generated content helps them decide whether to buy a product, and brands like Batoko are tapping into this powerful trend.

The recycled swimwear company exclusively shares customer photos on their Instagram feed. 

Not only does this show their products in a range of different environments and on a range of different bodies, but it also works as unbeatable social proof. It says “hey, look at all the people who’ve bought from us already and love our product!”. 

Key Takeaway From Batoko

Steer clear of highly-polished campaigns that consumers are becoming more and more skeptical of and instead showcase content that’s been created by your loyal fans. 

Encourage users to send in and post their photos using a specific hashtag, or bring influencers on board (like Au Revoir Cinderella have done below) to solidify your social proof. 

4. Getting Real With Stories by Zit Stick

Instagram Stories are on fire. 

They inject a sense of “realness” into a platform that is renowned for intensely edited images that show only the best parts of life.

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Since their introduction to Instagram in 2016, Stories have become a tool for eCommerce brands to demonstrate the human side of their business and forge deeper connections with their audience.

In fact, Stories are so successful for online shops, that one in four millenials and Gen Zers actively seek out Stories that feature the products and services they want to buy. 

Zit Stick buys into this need by populating their Stories with customer testimonials and real-life stories that lead into a call-to-action (or a “Swipe Up” to buy image). 

Their Stories show the products in action and share testimonials from customers who have bought and enjoyed the product (which again acts as a form of good old word-of-mouth marketing). 

Key Takeaway From Zit Stick

Let customers do the talking for you and incorporate their testimonials and experiences into a Stories thread. 

Once viewers are invested in the outcome, add a call-to-action that encourages your audience to “complete the story” by making a purchase. 

Stories are a great way to show the behind-the-scenes of your brand  (which ultimately builds relationships with customers), so don’t be afraid to share silly moments, the making of your products, or other raw, unpolished aspects of your brand. 

5. Shop Spring

With so many options available today, it’s important for eCommerce brands to stand out – and a huge part of that involves making sure your customer service is spot on.

Think about it:

If a consumer lands on your site and has questions about one of your products but can’t get an answer, they’ll go elsewhere to a place where they can get the answer in a timely manner. 

To combat the challenge of site abandonment, many brands are implementing Facebook Messenger or other chatbots to answer simple questions and to personalize the online shopping experience, suggesting products the customer would like based on their interactions with the bot. 

Shop Spring’s Facebook bot is a prime example. 

By using a machine-learning powered “robot,” Shop Spring answers immediate objections or questions consumers have to keep sales flowing. 

Impulse buying is becoming hotter than ever, and if a shopper is in the mood to buy right now, you must be able to accommodate that. Otherwise, the critical moment of impulse will pass, and you’ve lost a sale. 

It’s also worth noting that Shop Spring’s chatbot is used on a platform that most of its customers are familiar with. 

It doesn’t ask them to submit a form on a page they’ve never seen before. 

Instead, it turns up in their Facebook Messenger inbox amongst threads from their friends and family. 

Key Takeaway From Shop Spring

In addition to implementing a customer service portal on a platform that your customers are familiar with, the Facebook Messenger chatbot allows you to personalize the shopping experience. 

If you can recommend products they might also like based on their interactions with your chatbot, you are ultimately going to encourage more sales. 

Social Selling to Get More Sales

The evolution of free and paid social media services means it’s no longer just a place for keeping in touch with friends and family. Instead, it provides a platform where users do many other everyday activities without having to leave the safety of a platform they know and love. 

As a result, eCommerce brands must grow their social presence and interact with their customers, through mediums like authentic Instagram Stories, YouTube Ads AI-powered Facebook Messenger chatbots, or customer-created content.

If you’re not already engaging with your customers on social media, you’re missing out on chances to build your brand, create royalty, and even make sales directly. 

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The post 5 Brilliant Examples of Social Selling appeared first on Social Commerce.

Image by Pixelkult from Pixabay

It’s more than obvious that social media networks hold immense power in the world of business. Customers and prospects spend a lot of their time on these platforms, socializing, commenting, liking, and sharing.  

For a start, you should know that:

• Facebook shares have a huge impact on Google search rankings. 
• 53% of people recommend companies and products on Twitter. 
• The average user spends 89 minutes per month on Pinterest. 

And did you know that 5 million images are uploaded to Instagram every day?

It’s clear that you need to make the most out of social media platforms if your goal is to generate more sales and boost revenue in your business. Take a look below at six effective strategies that will help you increase revenue through social media.

Drive Referrals to Your Website

Photo by Jens Johnsson from Pexels

Referrals need to be among top priorities when building and promoting social media content. 

It’s very simple – you can’t drive or track conversions with no referrals. On top of that, you need to make sure that the landing page you drive referrals to is optimized for conversion. 

Here are some tips that can help you drive referral traffic:

• Include links to your products or services in your social media posts. Customers usually don’t like to browse through the entire website to find a product. Help them buy from you by adding a specific link.
• Comment on your audience’s posts and answer their questions. Engaging with your customers builds trust and shows that you care. Plus, you can always add a link or two to your comments.
• Share your content in Facebook groups, but don’t spam. If group admins allow you to sell products in their groups, then include a referral link.
• Reach out to influencers. Social media influencers can be a great source of referral traffic, just make sure to find the right ones. 

Generate Leads Through Social Media

Image by Photo Mix from Pixabay

When driving referral traffic from social media, you should focus on turning those individuals into leads instead of trying to convert them directly there. If you run a business with a typically long sales cycle, it would be especially wise to put this tip into practice. 

Every collected lead from social media networks can easily go into your regular sales funnel. 

And when it comes to the contact collection process, try directing social media traffic to a page that collects emails for an opt-in to your newsletter or a giveaway. 

It’s worth noting that you will need an email capture tool to collect emails from social media visitors. You won’t have a hard time finding a good tool of this kind, since there are many such tools online. Setting up a basic form that feeds into your CRM pays huge dividends in the long run.

Build Relationships

Image source

Engagement is one of the most impactful marketing tactics that can get you more sales leads. When you connect the dots, it’s quite clear that social media makes it easier than ever to interface with your audience in real-time. 

Once you establish a presence on various networks, you will need to connect with your current and potential consumers by getting involved in discussions that are happening online, commenting on customers’ posts, answering your audience’s questions, and so on.

You should reply to both good and bad reviews. Never ignore or try to delete someone’s review if it’s negative. Instead, ask your customers what you can do to make things better and fix the issue. It shows that you’re approachable, that you care, and that you’re a customer-centric brand.

Don’t forget to respond to messages that arrive in your inbox or Direct Messages. There are a lot of businesses that never check their social media DMs, but those who do really earn extra points with customers. 

When you develop a relationship with your consumers, you will not only win their respect, but you will also better understand their needs and expectations. And critically, you will also find ways to sell your products without coming off as too pushy. 

Remember: Social media networks are all about meaningful connections that lead to strong, mutually-beneficial relationships. 

Give Customers a Reason to Buy

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

It doesn’t matter if you are in a service-based or product-based industry, you can always boost revenue by encouraging customers to make purchases more often. 

For service industries, this may include promoting add-on services, upgrades, or premium offers. On the other hand, for product industries, this often means encouraging customers to come back more often. 

But how can your social media support loyalty and upselling?

Well, for a start, you can offer special deals and exclusives to your social media followers based on the level of customer engagement or the frequency of purchase.

For instance, if you are a software company, you could offer exclusive discounts to your user conference for social media followers based on the number of software licenses they are using. 

On the other hand, if you are a product company, you could offer coupons for social media followers that provide a discount on their fourth or fifth purchase. 

Another strategy is to get your customers to spend more on each purchase. Let’s say that your average transaction is $35 and the goal is to get your customers to spend $50 each. Try giving an exclusive deal like free shipping for purchases over $50 to social media fans and followers. Consumers are loss-averse: If you give them an opportunity to earn something like free shipping, even if they end up spending more in total, they don’t want to lose it.

Can the same approach work in service industries? You betcha. Service industries can look to promote package deals for their services that bundle offers together or reward loyalty for repeat purchases.

If you have a significant online following, you can use your social pages to drive awareness of the offers with a clear CTA.

Get Reviews

Image by mcmurryjulie from Pixabay

There’s no doubt that satisfied and happy customers only bring in more happy customers. It’s a concept as old as selling, but the medium has changed. 

According to the latest research from Yotpo, sharing customer reviews generated 40% higher conversion rates on Facebook, 8.4 times higher for Twitter, and 5.3 times higher for LinkedIn. 

The concept of sharing good reviews is intuitive; when people hear about you, they research your reputation online, and they’re bound to end up reading customer reviews. Be sure that when someone starts looking for your company online, they like what they see. 

At the same time, do not shy away from seeking feedback. Yes, the process may be a bit painful, but without reviews, your brand remains a secret you wish people wouldn’t keep.

Not sure how to go about generating reviews? Consider sending a review request link in order confirmation emails. Or, if you are new, try emailing your network and asking for a boost. After all, people love to be a part of a success story.

Educate Your Followers

Image by Werner Moser from Pixabay

People are always on the lookout for new information. Always keep your page active by posting relevant and consistent content about your brand to educate customers and prospects.

The content you push should not be overly promotional since people are skeptical of ads. Address the struggles your prospects are facing and show how your business can add value to their lives. 

Post content that improves the lives of consumers, and make sure that whatever you’re presenting is clear, informative, interesting, and easy to read. 

If you manage to push valuable content on a regular basis, you will become an authority in the eyes of your followership. But to get there, you have to be authentic, your content has to be meaningful, and original. 

And when promoting your content on social media pages, always ensure that it has something to do with your products or services. 

For instance, if you want to let customers know of the other types of your services or products, you can feature a product or service of the week, thus promoting premium services and explaining why customers should care about them.

Final Thoughts

Social media networks are powerful tools that can help you market your brand above and beyond the tried-and-true channels of promoting your business and boost revenue.

When you use different social media platforms, you can significantly boost your sales without investing much money. But to reap maximum results, you need to be active, consistent, and authentic. 

Don’t forget to measure the results, too! It’s important to measure a control group, so you can compare these metrics for social media and non-social media customers, which will help you see how social media is aiding other channels you are using.

Last but not least, we recommend exploring other online marketing channels, such as PPC or SEO, to improve your revenue. I recommend reaching out to an seo agency specializing in a niche like b2b agency or best youtube seo agency..

The post 6 Smart Ways to Boost Revenue with Social Media appeared first on Social Commerce.

Image by Erik Lucatero from Pixabay

Most influencers have social media to thank for their popularity and authority status in the eyes of so many followers. These famous individuals have the power to change behavior through social media. And that behavior often involves buying a product or service. 

After all, the influencer marketing industry has ballooned to $10 billion for a reason. That’s precisely why businesses across the globe are building relationships with influencers who can help them with social selling. 

How Influencer Marketing and Social Selling Go Hand in Hand

Image from Pixabay

Many industries leverage influencers regularly to promote their products. But why does influencer marketing look so different than the celebrity endorsements of days gone by? The answer lies in a cultural shift fueled by social media.

Demographics

As baby boomers retire, millennial consumers are slowly becoming the most powerful consumer group globally. Correspondingly, the biggest target market for influencers and influencer marketing, in general, is millennial consumers. 

According to a study by LaunchMetrics, millennials focus 76.4% of all influencer strategies. And when you consider that 90.4% of millennials use social media, the model makes sense. Millennials are often reluctant to trust what brands say in ad campaigns. Instead, they would much rather trust a popular figure on social media and then make a purchasing decision.

It’s worth noting that Gen Z is also maturing and joining the economy. Therefore, the companies that survive the consumer transformation will be the ones that cater to these two groups. 

Platforms & Perks

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have millions to billions of users. But if a marketer wants to take advantage of these individual online communities, they must be aware that each platform is a different story. 

For instance, Instagram is an image-centric social platform, making it great for the fitness and clothing industries. Influencers can present new clothing garments through photos or videos, and fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders can show off their bodies, explaining their diets and routines using visually-driven content.  

3 Reasons Why Companies Work with Influencers

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

More and more brands today are deciding to work with influencers. Let’s look at why so many companies want to leverage an influencer’s follower base to sell their products. 

Influencer Marketing is not Pushy

Many experts claim that this is the most significant benefit of this marketing method. This kind of marketing is radically different from traditional marketing methods because it doesn’t feel pushy to consumers. 

Followers on social media willingly follow influencers and look forward to their posts. Content influencers share isn’t spam; followers actively seek their advice and recommendations. 

And even when influencers post sponsored content that is clearly designed to generate revenue for a particular company, followers don’t mind as much.  

Influencers like Nichole Ciotti, whose claim to fame started with a popular set of photo filters, promote various brands. But, like Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie, her clothing sponsors are already popular with her audience, and those followers appreciate curated recommendations. 

Social Influencer Marketing is Credible

The most popular influencers had to spend a lot of time and effort in winning the trust of their followers. As a result, most of them seem true both to themselves and their audience. 

Such a feat cannot be achieved throughout a single night. To be viewed as a credible source or an authority, that individual has to be consistent and authentic. In addition, their story has to be engaging enough to attract followers. 

Once that kind of trust is established, everything becomes more accessible. And companies have recognized that. 

Brands have to spend years to gain this kind of trust, so they turn to influencers who have already made that investment to work their magic on social media platforms. And it works. One study by Twitter revealed that consumers rely on influencers almost as much as their friends. 

In fact, a whopping 40% of consumers have claimed that they have made a purchase based on an influencer’s tweet.   

Good for Brand Awareness

Influencer marketing can expand your reach online and position you as a modern, engaging brand. As a result, social users will start noticing you more often. They will learn more about your brand, about your story, and ultimately, about what you offer.

However, the key to reaping influencer marketing results is to provide valuable content that adds to their social media presence. 

Everyone gets something out of the campaign by ensuring value for the company, the influencer, and the audience.

Influencer Marketing Case Studies

Image source

Finally, let’s look at the examples where businesses have found the perfect formula for influencer marketing. 

Fiji Water

Fiji Water used the face of Danielle Bernstein to spark more interest in their message. 

Bernstein runs a trendy blog called ‘We Wore What.’ Fiji joined forces with her on Instagram to spread awareness about the importance of water for human health. 

Bernstein appeared in short videos that promoted the significance of water for staying healthy and fit. Her followers were quick to respond, and soon enough, we’re drinking more water to stay healthy, all while Berstein and Fiji made more sales. 

Subaru

This car giant has been experiencing significant growth during the past few years, and influencer marketing played an essential role in this growth. As a result, Subaru’s sales increased by 10% in 2016 alone.

Their influencer marketing campaign, called ‘Meet an Owner,’ was a significant success, improving brand awareness and brand sentiment.  

A total of 20 influencers were contacted for this campaign across various categories ranging from fitness to art to generate a broad appeal of relatable ambassadors. 

GOODFOODS

GOODFOODS had the goal of raising brand awareness for their natural guacamole and dips and eventually driving sales.

GOODFOODS assembled a team of 60 influencers with expertise in food, parenting, lifestyle, and home goods to accomplish their goal. These individuals had to create original recipes and stories that featured products from GOODFOODS.

The influencers created more than 2,000 pieces of content, ranging from blog posts and recipes to photos and videos. The campaign, which was a resounding success, had 32 million potential impressions, 71,000 engagements and returned a conversion rate of 34.2%.

Wrap-up

Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay

Novelties and shifts in the digital landscape are the new norms. And all ambitious companies who want to stay at the top have to keep up with those trends. 

Though strategies constantly change, influencer marketing is here to stay (just like social media platforms). As long as you work closely with influencers who have a trusted reputation, relevant appeal, and a community of loyal followers, influencer marketing can be your new secret to success.

The post Understanding the Relationship Between Influencer Marketing and Social Selling appeared first on Social Commerce.

Even though cannabis has been an illegal recreational drug for decades, it is now recognized as a medicinal plant. This has led to it being legalized in many different countries and in some US states.

This legalization has caused an increase in cannabis usage in certain countries while also having a significant economic impact. It is predicted that in 2025, legal marijuana sales will earn as much as $23 billion in the US alone.

Cannabis brands are now looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction and grow revenue in this new market, which isn’t a hard task to accomplish if you know all the necessary steps. To help you grow your business in this competitive industry, we listed these strategies below.

Importance of customer experience and satisfaction in the cannabis industry

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay 

As cannabis is legal for both medical and recreational use, brands need to think about how to satisfy both types of customers and provide them with the best possible experience.

Recreational cannabis users often look for cannabis that will be enjoyable but not something that will lead to an overly intense experience. Medical cannabis users, on the other hand, can look for a product that can help them with issues ranging from anxiety relief to the prevention of epileptic seizures.

This is why brands are currently investing in research and development so they can meet specific customer needs.

As cannabis wasn’t legal until just a few years ago, there hasn’t been enough time to create an accurate picture of an average cannabis consumer. Adding to the fact that everyone has different needs from the experience, it’s impossible to create one specific customer persona.

However, you still need to think of all the different people who may buy your products. 

5 tips for improving customer experience as a cannabis brand

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

If you truly want to improve customer experience, read on. What follows is five effective ways to improve customer experience as a cannabis brand.

1. Identify the most profitable customers

Your products will attract a couple of different types of cannabis consumers which you need to segment into groups:

• People who only smoke flower
• People who only vape and don’t smoke flower
• Those who only consume edibles
• Customers who want to smoke shatter
• People who only consume CBD oil
• Customers who consume different types of CBD products

When you know who your customers are, you’ll be able to create strategic marketing campaigns.

2. Use email marketing

With email marketing, you can keep your customers updated on all your products, attract new customers, and upsell to existing customers. Email marketing is a very profitable marketing strategy, as every $1 you spend has an average return of $42.

As long as you keep your emails relevant, consistent, and filled with useful information, your campaign will be successful.

3. Create a loyalty program

Loyalty programs have been used in retail for years to create repeat customers by offering rewards and incentives when they complete a purchase. With a loyalty program, you can retain customers, make them feel appreciated, and get relevant customer data.

To create a loyalty program in the cannabis industry, you need to offer something valuable and unique to your customers. You can offer gifts, store credit, free samples, or anything your customers may appreciate.

4. Offer special deals

Special deals can attract a lot of customers and they serve as a great customer experience. You can create a 2-for-the-price-of-1 deal, discounted bundles, and run conditional promotions to draw in customers and increase your sales numbers.

5. Use the right CRM tool

A Customer Relationship Management software (more commonly known as a CRM) is a tool businesses use to improve customer loyalty and retention. When you use a CRM tool, you can convert one-time buyers into regular customers.

You can use a CRM tool to build customer loyalty by doing the following:

• Promote your latest products to generate higher demand.
• Create targeted offers for each of your customers.
• Run loyalty programs for your customers to ensure you’re always their number one pick.
• Create an inventory and keep track of your stock.
• Offer coupons to customers.

Success story: How DirectScale helped a cannabis brand scale its efforts

A few years ago, while still at her old job, Mari Jo was acquiring world-class knowledge about customer relationships that would later help her start her own business. Having started SimpleInSite, she wanted to help other direct selling companies but struggled to find the right platform.

She found it when one of her clients migrated to DirectScale, an Exigo company. Taken aback by all the features of DS such as the platform’s openness and customizability, she realized that was all she needed to launch clients quickly and successfully. 

Learning more about the platform’s user-friendliness, she has understood how simple it actually is to complete tasks like adding coupon codes or a merchant account, and even building a digital library without even having to talk to programmers.

“One thing I love about DirectScale is it’s usability.” Mari Jo said. “It’s surprisingly user-friendly. I can do things other platforms don’t offer out of the box so clients can launch quickly and efficiently. Things like changing colors and company logos are simple. And I can build custom pages and widgets by myself! No other platform can do that!”

Before the COVID pandemic, she worked on creating a full line of CBD hemp-derived products for her client NuHemp. The collaboration is more than successful, having launched the brand’s Amazon storefront and eCommerce platform.

If you want to learn more about how DirectScale and Exigo helped this cannabis brand achieve its goals and improve customer satisfaction, read this success story.

How to use CRM to boost cannabis sales

Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay 

A good CRM tool can be crucial to boosting your cannabis sales. If you get the right tool and know how to use it, you’ll be impressed with the results. Here are just a few ways you can use your CRM tool to boost sales.

1. Acquiring better leads

A CRM tool gives you access to valuable customer data which you can use to segment your target audience based on demographics, psychographics, as well as behaviors. With this information, you’ll be able to identify ideal customer profiles and run marketing initiatives to find matching leads.

2. Selling to new customers

Your sales team can use this tool to make new deals and track customers as they go through the entire sales funnel without missing any milestones or important tasks. They will also be able to gain invaluable insights into which marketing campaigns are successful and which aren’t, so you’ll be able to focus on those that are more profitable.

3. Increasing customer loyalty

Your marketing team will find it easier than ever to keep consumers engaged with your brand and lead them through the marketing funnel as they transition from leads to customers. If you combine your CRM tool with email marketing, you’ll be able to create an unforgettable digital brand experience that will distinguish you from your competitors.

In addition, the data you collect with your CRM tool can be used to get a better insight into all the challenges and problems your customers face. Once you know all of these issues, you’ll be able to connect to your customers on a deeper level by providing them with relevant and interesting content.

4. Cross-selling and upselling

It’s much cheaper to sell to an existing customer than spend money trying to acquire a new one, so when someone shows that they’re interested in your products, you need to keep them around. You can use your CRM to create a variety of automated communications that give you the opportunity to do business with customers again and again.

One way you can approach this is to set up an email marketing campaign that is triggered when a customer purchases something from your store. That customer will then receive emails in which you will offer them complementary products that go well with the one they just purchased.

5. Creating personalized communications

Personalization is of great importance in the retail world, as it allows you to connect to your customers and show you care about them, not just their money. When you use a CRM tool, you can send targeted personalized messages to all of your customers.

These personalized messages will include much more than just the recipient’s name. Your CRM tool will help create tailored messages based on demographics and behaviors as well. As you’ll have access to a plethora of data, you’ll be able to customize communications to be as personal as possible.

6. Providing better customer service

Customer service becomes a breeze with a CRM tool, as your team will have access to all past communications and the customer’s history with your company as soon as they contact you. This will make communications more efficient and agents will be able to solve all problems much faster.

7. Increasing sales and ROI

A CRM tool allows you to automate communications, marketing, and sales processes, all of which will lead to your sales and marketing ROI increase. Since your team will have access to data that allows them to create better strategies, you’ll attract more quality leads and close sales much faster.

One of the things you can do with your CRM tool is to analyze data to determine what time is ideal to communicate with customers and when you’re most likely to get a reply. This will save a lot of time while also minimizing the cost of every sale.

8. Boosting employee productivity

Automation is something every business needs to implement. As soon as you find the right tool and create repeatable processes, your team will be able to be much more productive. They won’t have to focus on menial and repetitive tasks, so they will save a significant amount of time.

Summary

Even though the cannabis industry is still relatively new, its steady growth isn’t surprising at all. If you run your own cannabis business and are hoping to improve sales, you need to realize that your customers are the key to your success and their satisfaction should be your number one priority.

As long as you work hard on improving customer experience and strive to turn one-time shoppers into loyal customers, you won’t have to worry about anything else. And don’t forget to find the perfect CRM tool, because it could be the thing that will make or break your business. 

Speaking of which… feel free to check out the DirectScale tool. It may be the last piece of the puzzle you need to find success in the cannabis industry.

The post How Cannabis Brands Can Improve Customer Satisfaction and Revenue appeared first on Social Commerce.