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In the United States, social media remains dominated by political arguments, pet photos and viral videos.<\/p>\nIn the United States, social media remains dominated by political arguments, pet photos and viral videos.<\/p>\n
Business in the U.S. relies on social media for marketing. It is the fastest and cheapest way to get the word out about your product or service. According to Facebook, more than 50 million small businesses use the site to connect with their customers<\/a>. That’s just one platform. Instagram is most popular with users younger than 35, and YouTube now is the No. 2 search engine behind Google.<\/p>\n While companies are increasingly focusing on social media marketing, social media commerce lags behind other parts of the world. According to Hootsuite<\/a>‘s 2019 Social Media Trends Report, 70 percent of Generation Zers in China buy directly from social. Hootsuite believes 2019 will be the year that shoppers make a greater leap from social to the checkout page.<\/p>\n The reason? All of the social platforms have invested in better shopping tools.<\/p>\n If you’re a retail site, you want a piece of this pie. And that means getting even more comfortable with video. Pictures are great and text is standard. But videos showing off the product or service, plus video testimonials \u2014 now you’ve really caught the attention of shoppers.<\/p>\n Get creative with contests. Online shoppers are savvy, and potential deals catch their eyes. Make sure your contest adheres to the guidelines of the platform, and create an easy-to-remember hashtag to help people share and find your contest.<\/p>\n Try to create your own influencers. Kick-start the process by using staff or friends to create a video series on how your product is used. Then offer promotions or giveaways to get your customers to create and share their experiences.<\/p>\n Focus on the data. After you’ve tried several videos, check out the numbers and build on the interest. The margin may be better on different products, but you’re wasting money if no one cares online. Build off your more popular products and circle back once you’ve created a following.<\/p>\n Livestreams can be messy and scary, but young viewers like the energy of going live. Think about the lighting and the sound beforehand. Make sure you have someone who can engage with viewer comments during the broadcast.<\/p>\n It’s a brave new world out there and a number of companies have effectively cracked the social media selling code. Hootsuite points you toward\u00a0Dr. Brandt<\/a>, Glossier<\/a> and L’Oreal<\/a>. The old model of using social media to drive people to your website, where you capture email addresses so that you can market directly to them, remains effective. It’s more efficient, though, to master selling on social and skipping the next two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the United States, social media remains dominated by political…<\/p>\n\n