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With all the new COVID laws and mandates, it can be very stressful to know how to adhere to all the rules while navigating the lack of foot traffic. Now, more than ever, it is important for businesses to ramp up their e-commerce strategy. If you don't have a user-friendly website, if you're not building your brand on social media and if you’re not investing in digital advertising, you should be. Here’s why.
Give Your Brand a Voice Online:
In the past few months, it has become increasingly apparent that a strong e-commerce presence is vital to the health of a successful business. While foot traffic has slowed, online shopping has increased dramatically. An article by Suzin Wold for Marketing World talked about how at the beginning of the pandemic in March, online sales rose 21% over March 2019. More and more people are online, searching for businesses like yours. If you don't have a user-friendly site, you're missing out on potential sales.
A website makes finding your business more accessible to potential customers. Especially with the surge of online shopping we are seeing, a website can be there while you might not be able to. But nothing is worse than a site that is hard to navigate. Make sure your website is easy to use and makes sense for your brand. Attention spans are dropping and customers are not going to want to have to dig to get to the information they want. Having clear links to your products, eye-catching content, and relevant information makes for a headache-free experience.
Stay Relevant:
Social media is a great way to engage and interact directly with your customers while giving you the opportunity to share your brands' story. Having accounts on Instagram and Facebook is an easy and awesome way to show potential customers who you are and what you are about. If you don’t already have accounts set up, it’s pretty simple to get up and running. Here are a few things that you can be doing to broaden your reach:
1. Link your Website
You should always link your website on your social media accounts. This is a great way to drive traffic straight to your website where customers can learn more about your brand and purchase product.
2. Post Consistently
It is important to post consistently and post brand-specific content. Having a consistent and steady post schedule is one way to broaden your reach and seal the credibility of your business. Also, having a theme or aesthetic is not only pleasing to the eye but comes across as professional. Build a social media calendar and be realistic. You don't want to post, just for the sake of posting. If you don’t have enough content to post every day, it is okay to start small.
3. Engagement is Key
Engage, engage, engage. Part of the beauty of social media is that it allows you to talk to customers and build relationships. People like to follow people. Social media gives brands the opportunity to show the faces behind the brand and give customers an authentic look at what you are all about. Also, remember that just because you have a platform does not automatically mean that your work is done. Follow, comment, and like other accounts to help get your name out there. This will help slowly build your following and increase your reach. Be mindful of who you follow. It’s not the goal to follow everyone. Think of your target customer and engage with those types of people.
Increase Your Online Traffic:
With so many brands and companies online, the competition can be fierce. If you are not paying for ads, there is nothing ensuring that your brand is being seen by relevant target audiences. Capture the attention of potential customers that are already searching for similar products/services with creative digital ads. This will help you increase brand awareness and credibility while ensuring you don't get lost on the second page of Google.
Getting your brand in front of the right target market through online advertising like Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads will continue to help drive traffic to your site. Paying for ads guarantees your company a space on social media feeds and search engines, which maximizes your reach to potential customers.
Digital ads also give you the ability to utilize advanced targeting that you wouldn’t have when posting organically. This allows your brand to narrow in on your target market and potential customer leads. Through ad performance, you are able to collect data on the types of people who are engaging with your ads. This helps give you a better understanding of who your customers really are, and how they interact online.
We know these times are uncertain, but this is an incredible opportunity to learn and grow your e-commerce strategy. We want to be as helpful as possible through this. If you have more questions or want to talk to us about getting set up, give us a wing. We will get through this together.