flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

How to Use Social Networking in Developing E-commerce Business: Tricks 2022

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Digital Marketing Plan Template for 2024 (17-page Word document). Business owners dedicate a significant amount of time and effort to attracting new customers. A well-executed digital marketing plan is the key to achieving this goal. To ensure success, one successful company developed a comprehensive quarterly and yearly marketing plan to track its progress [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Digital Transformation, take a look at Flevy's Digital Transformation Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

Social networks are a great tool for business because you can use them to promote your products and services. In fact, social networks are the most powerful online marketing tool that you can use.

Why? Because they are free and they allow you to reach many potential customers at the same time. Here are several tricks to help you understand how to use social networking in developing your e-commerce business.

Practice Safe Networking

It’s important to keep your personal and professional lives separate, especially on social media. Make sure you understand the privacy settings on the social networks you use, and adjust appropriately. This means that you will need to learn things like how to hide your IP address on Mac using things like VPN to block third parties from accessing vital information about your business. If you’re not sure how much to share, start with the basic information: name, company affiliation, job title, and a link to your company website. You can always add more later.

If your company doesn’t already have a Facebook page or Twitter account, get permission from your boss before creating one or posting content on behalf of your employer.

Use User Generated Content for Your Brand’s Pages and Profiles

A good way to interact with your potential customers is by using their own content. In other words, you can use User Generated Content (UGC) to grow your business.

This will make your content more relatable and attractive. You can set a weekly or monthly theme for your social media pages like ‘Customer of the month’, ‘Best selfie with our product’, ‘Best style with our product’ etc.

You will be amazed at how creative and engaging the customers can get with these themes. The audience engagement goes up because they think that this is more fun than just seeing the brand posts.

You can also give some rewards based on the creativity of their posts to make it more interesting. Moreover, this will make them feel important and valued in return which will encourage them to come back again.

Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices

More and more people are using their smartphones as their primary gateway to the Internet, so it makes sense to optimize your website for mobile devices.

People will be searching for your products on the go, so you need to make sure that your web presence is accessible and easy to navigate on smaller screens.

For instance, if you’re selling a product that requires a lot of research, such as laptops or furniture, then you should consider presenting all of your product information in the form of an info graphic or video guide since consumers can easily access this type of content while they are out shopping.

Make Sure You Have a Mobile Application

Make sure you have a mobile application for your e-commerce website. If you want to be successful with using social networking in developing e-commerce business, then you should provide the best customer experience possible.

Having a mobile app is something that every customer wants from a company these days. It provides them with an easy way to use your application and buy things as soon as possible.

Create a Blog for Your Business

Blogs are a great way for small business owners to communicate with their customers. Blogging is a great way to provide valuable and relevant content that can be shared with friends, family and colleagues.

Blogs are also a great way to get your business noticed by search engines such as Google.

By creating a blog for your business, you will increase the number of pages on your website, which in turn increases your chances of getting found online.

Engage with Customers and Prospects on Social Networks and Take Advantage of Their Feedback

The number one way to use social networking in developing e-commerce business is to engage with customers and prospects on social networks.

It can be a great source of feedback, but you have to be engaged on these networks to take advantage of these opportunities.

If you’re only using social media to share information with your friends, colleagues and customers, you’re not taking full advantage of it.

You should make it a point to get their feedback about your products or services so that you know where to improve and make amends.

Final Thoughts

The first thing to understand is that social media marketing isn’t a one-time event. It’s a long-term commitment to consistent activity, and it takes time to build up your following.

Use the aforementioned tips and watch your business thrive.

17-slide PowerPoint presentation
The process of implementing digital marketing strategies can be overwhelming as there are many different components that must interact with one another. The purpose of this guide is to provide an approach on how to evaluate your current digital presence, identify areas where you need to improve [read more]

Want to Achieve Excellence in Digital Transformation?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Digital Transformation. Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

Digital Transformation is being embraced by organizations of all sizes across most industries. In the Digital Age today, technology creates new opportunities and fundamentally transforms businesses in all aspects—operations, business models, strategies. It not only enables the business, but also drives its growth and can be a source of Competitive Advantage.

For many industries, COVID-19 has accelerated the timeline for Digital Transformation Programs by multiple years. Digital Transformation has become a necessity. Now, to survive in the Low Touch Economy—characterized by social distancing and a minimization of in-person activities—organizations must go digital. This includes offering digital solutions for both employees (e.g. Remote Work, Virtual Teams, Enterprise Cloud, etc.) and customers (e.g. E-commerce, Social Media, Mobile Apps, etc.).

Learn about our Digital Transformation Best Practice Frameworks here.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


78-slide PowerPoint presentation
This Presentation introduces e-marketing and its benefits and risks. It describes the difference between e-commerce, e-business and e-marketing; the alternative digital communications channels, the dangers of sloppy e-marketing; how to present a business case for increasing your online [read more]


 
135-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
78-page PDF document

About Shane Avron

Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.




Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  


The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.


Connect with Flevy:

     
  


About Flevy.com   /   Terms   /   Privacy Policy
© . Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.