Three ways social media has shaken up digital retail
If you were a retailer before social media became popular, you know how tough it can be to reach a target audience. With only a brick-and-mortar store and even a website, you leave things up to chance in terms of who shows up to view and purchase your products. But with social media, you can take things into your own hands a little more. The Good Marketer’s founder Tom Welbourne spells out the usefulness of social media.
The Good Marketer on the prowess of social media and how marketers can utilize it more efficiently
With a little help from a Facebook, Google or e-commerce SEO agency, you can build up your retail business in a way that utilizes these social media platforms to support your end goal as a digital retailer.
Let’s dive into three ways social media has shaken up digital retail.
Social media allows small businesses with small budgets to sell successfully
Before using social media platforms, retail had only two options to sell products: they either had to set up a store in real life or showcase products through an online store. But with social media, retail businesses now can sell their products through their profiles. Running a brick-and-mortar shop can be costly, as can hosting a website. Typically, social media is a far more cost-effective way to market yourself online. All you need to worry about really is your advertising budget. So, social media makes it oh-so-easy for small businesses to market and sell their products successfully.
Social media has helped to target audiences effectively
Cost wasn’t the only challenge for retail businesses pre-social media. Another challenge they faced was that who walked into your store was effectively left up to chance – there was really no way you could target your ideal customer. But with social media, all that changed. Now retail businesses can target their ideal customer through digital advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google, be that by interests (although the interests available on Facebook are now decreasing) or by predicting their search intent and targeting relevant keywords.
This type of targeting has revolutionized marketing for all businesses, but especially retail and e-commerce. By targeting people who are most likely to purchase your product from the offset, you can better utilize your marketing budget instead of wasting precious money and time trying to sell to people who may simply never be interested.
Social media has changed the way businesses communicate with their customers
One of the best things about social media for retail businesses is that it allows you to have that instant communication with your customers. Whether that’s through private messages or the content you post, it’s far easier to create a sense of community and a real relationship with your customers with these digital platforms in place.
Let’s say someone has a question about your service – a question that could sway them on the decision to purchase. Well, if they can drop you a quick DM and have that question answered the same day, it’s very likely that their decision to purchase will be made quicker. If they have this question and nobody to answer it, they may just opt for another brand. Similarly, businesses themselves can utilize the communication provided by social media to leverage their customers’ opinions. Whether it’s to receive reviews to promote your products or user-generated content (UGC) for your social media page, the benefits to having this level of communication with your customers are many.
Bottom line
Social media has shaken up digital retail in more ways than one. It has helped to improve customer service – something which, for retail, is incredibly important. It has given small businesses with low budgets a chance to market their products online. It has streamlined the targeting process, getting the right people in front of the products they actually want.
Beyond this, social media is today’s language – and today’s currency. It’s the first place we go to when we hear about a brand. It’s where most of us are now doing our online shopping. It’s where we spend a whole lot of our time.
All in all, social media isn’t really an option for businesses. It has shaped the way businesses market – so much so that it’s now a necessity.
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