What’s Gucci, #retailfam? Today, we’re going to discuss the most common mistakes that e-commerce companies make with their social media strategy, provide specific examples, and offer strategies to address each mistake. We will also touch on the impact of these mistakes on retail planning. Using this approach as part of your overall retail merchandising strategy will make sure you get the most bang for your Social Media buck.
1. Focusing on Quantity over Quality
Many e-commerce companies make the mistake of prioritizing the quantity of social media posts over the quality of those posts. This can lead to a cluttered and confusing social media presence. To address this mistake, e-commerce companies should focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with their target audience. This can involve conducting market research and analyzing customer feedback to identify what types of content will be most effective.
2. Ignoring Analytics
Another common mistake that e-commerce companies make with their social media strategy is failing to track and analyze their social media metrics. Without analytics, it’s difficult to measure the success of a social media strategy and identify areas for improvement.
In order to fix this, e-commerce companies should regularly track and analyze their social media metrics. This can involve using tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics dashboards to track metrics such as engagement rates and conversion rates.
3. Lack of Consistency
E-commerce companies that are inconsistent with their social media strategy can quickly lose the attention of their audience. This can lead to a decrease in engagement and ultimately hurt sales.
To address this mistake, e-commerce companies should create a social media content calendar that outlines a consistent posting schedule. This can help ensure that content is regularly posted and that followers remain engaged.
4. Ignoring Negative Feedback
Ignore negative feedback on social media and you risk damaging their reputation and losing the trust of their audience. Negative feedback can provide valuable insights into areas for improvement.
The best strategy is for e-commerce companies to be proactive in addressing negative feedback. This can involve responding to comments and messages in a timely manner and taking steps to address any issues that are identified. In addition, using AI based sentiment analysis can help improve customer service and demand forecasting.
5. Over-Promoting
E-commerce companies that constantly promote their products on social media can come across as spammy and turn off potential customers. In extreme cases, promotions may end up being a waste of time and money.
It’s important for e-commerce companies to strike a balance between promotional and non-promotional content. This can involve creating content that is both entertaining and informative, while still highlighting the benefits of the company’s products.
6. Lack of Personalization
By failing to personalize their social media content, e-commerce companies risk losing the attention of their audience. Personalization can help create a more engaging and authentic social media presence.
So what should you do? Well, e-commerce companies should take the time to understand their audience and tailor their content accordingly. This can involve creating content that speaks directly to the interests and needs of the company’s target audience.
7. Failure to Engage
E-commerce companies that fail to engage with their audience on social media miss out on valuable opportunities to build relationships and increase brand loyalty.
The best way to address this: e-commerce companies should regularly engage with their followers on social media. This can involve responding to comments and messages, running social media contests, and actively seeking feedback from followers.
8. Inconsistent Branding
We’ve seen that e-commerce companies that are inconsistent with their branding across different social media channels can confuse their audience and hurt their reputation.
It’s critical that e-commerce companies ensure that their branding is consistent across all social media channels. This can involve creating a brand style guide that outlines guidelines for logos, colors, and other branding elements.
9. Failing to Leverage Influencers
E-commerce companies that fail to leverage influencers on social media miss out on valuable opportunities to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences. Influencer marketing can be a highly effective way to promote products and drive sales.
It’s imperative that e-commerce companies identify influencers who align with their brand values and target audience, and partner with them to create sponsored content. This can help increase brand awareness and drive sales.
10. Not Being Mobile-Friendly
C’mon, this one is pretty much obvious! E-commerce companies that fail to optimize their social media content for mobile devices risk losing the attention of a significant portion of their audience. With more and more people accessing social media from mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure that content is easily accessible on mobile.
To address this mistake, e-commerce companies should ensure that their social media content is optimized for mobile devices. This can involve creating mobile-friendly images and videos, using responsive web design, and testing content on multiple devices.
Social Media Stumbles Can Impact Your Retail Planning
The mistakes outlined above can have a significant impact on retail planning. E-commerce companies that fail to effectively execute their social media strategy risk losing sales, stressing out their merchandise and inventory teams and falling behind their competitors. By addressing these mistakes and implementing effective social media strategies, e-commerce companies can increase brand awareness, build relationships with their audience, and drive sales.
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