With so many Internet users buying online every year, it is safe to say that the ecommerce industry is thriving. Almost every major retailer in the world now has an online store, and only new online retailers seem to be delivering more on a daily basis. Social media is a powerful tool for ecommerce websites. The full availability of social media includes direct marketing through specific networks, as well as having back-end tools to allow customers to share products and recent purchases with friends and fans with just a single click. This is good for consumers because it means they have more options than ever when they want to buy. But for ecommerce store owners, it means that online marketing is becoming a competitive industry, which is why using ecommerce media is so important.
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Some of the most popular platforms for brand development and marketing include:
· Facebook.
· Twitter.
· Instagram.
· LinkedIn.
· Snapchat.
· Pinterest.
· Youtube.
· Quora.
Facebook:
Facebook has always been about connecting you with what you love. That means friends and family, but also different type’s products and businesses. Facebook wants to give people a place to feel the joy of shopping compared to the shopping experience. Facebook can be a useful eye-catching platform for your ecommerce store. It also helps small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to find and buy the things they love. Facebook's goal is to make purchases seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers. According to Facebook reports, by the end of 2018, 2.32 billion users were on this platform. If you have doubts about your ecommerce audience there, put them aside - your potential customer will probably be there already, regardless of your industry, business size, budget, or objectives.
E-commerce on Facebook has its own pro’s and con’s, which are discussed below:
Pros:
· Setting up a Facebook shop is free of cost.
· Having direct access with you partners.
· Advertising easily.
· Simple shipping procedures.
Cons:
· Meet all requirements in order to create Facebook shops.
· Inability to use promotional codes or referral programs
Twitter:
Twitter allows online businesses to interact with existing customers today, drive product awareness and ultimately generate sales. Tweeting is a platform for sharing professionalism, product / company innovation, and overall product ownership by expressing values, interests and voice of the company. Needless to say, Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool for your business, whether you’re new to the platform or growing solid. Twitter's open chat format also makes it a great communication tool. Professionals connect with other professionals in their industry and establish beneficial relationships that improve access, generate leads and help find links to your website. One of the main features of Twitter is the widespread use of hashtags, which are titled. Users follow these hashtags that receive notifications from other users, which increases Twitter visibility in the process.
Pros:
· Tweets are free of cost.
· Reach a wide audience through a hashtag.
· Good customer care service.
Cons:
· Tweets character limit.
· Time sensitive.
Instagram:
The social networking site Instagram recently announced that it has grown to 500 million active users per month. Of these, 300 million users log on to this platform every day and are interested in online buying. That puts Instagram at the forefront of social media marketing. This is very remarkable, as 68% of Instagram followers regularly share newly launched products. There’s been a huge uproar among marketing experts, using Instagram because of its algorithm to show the best posts first and also restricting visibility.
Pros:
· Famous instagram influencers can post shout outs of your products that attracts a heavy audience.
· Followers believe in an advertisement more if it comes from someone the already know.
· Can be used on low-budget.
Cons:
· No full control of the target audience.
· Checkout is limited access to data of the customers.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn provides another channel through which Google can find your business to increase its Sales and marketing. LinkedIn has features like Company Pages and LinkedIn Ads that help marketers to turn this platform into a sales channel. LinkedIn helps in communicating with like-minded partners, customers, and employees.
Pros:
· Search engine exposure
· Top-notch credibility
· Vendor and supplier identification
· Lead generation.
· Free of cost.
· Search results are always filtered, so customers can get the exact product of their need immediately.
Cons:
· Advertising is not mainly targeted.
· Excessive Spams.
· Incomplete Profile Dilemma.
Snapchat:
Snapchat currently has over 150 million active users globally, why not just use it to advertise your product? Snapchat is a unique business tool for customer communication. Snapchat is a communication tool that supports short, temporary sharing of photos and videos. Businesses can advertise their products on Snapchat with traditional ads, filters and lenses or geotags
Pros:
· Host Contests & Giveaways for Snapchat Followers
· Sneak peak of newly launched products
· Share Exclusive Coupons.
· Show behind the camera photos.
· Display your products on Snapchat.
Cons:
· Limited time for snaps.
· Not very user friendly.
· Complex usage for many buyers.
· Oversaturation.
Pinterest:
Pinterest is the social network for people who love to organize stuff. Pinterest is one of the most profitable stores out there when it comes to online stores. Pinterest might look really scary for those who don't know where to start but they can learn about this platform quickly as it’s very easy and convenient. Pinterest is unlike any other social media platform, as users are equally encouraged to save things for themselves as they will share them with others. It has unique marketing capabilities
Pros:
· Drives traffic easily.
· Perfect for the visual of brands.
· Higher conversion rates.
· Helps to boost Seo.
Cons:
· Time consuming.
· Specific audience only.
· Expensive to automate
Youtube:
One of the best media marketing strategies for the e-commerce site is YouTube. Yes, it seems to be an unusual ecommerce platform. However, YouTube gives you the opportunity to show videos of the benefits of anything your ecommerce website sells.
It is one of the most popular online sites. And, because of this, you can bet that your best customer is spending time there. Other than that, their search results may lead them to other websites and ecommerce products. A quick look at YouTube stats shows why you should pay attention to the platform. As of May 2018, YouTube had more than 1.8 billion users a month, which means that about 25 percent of the world's population use it.
Pros:
· Get found on Google through YouTube.
· Easy and free to use.
· Your content never dies.
· You can target your audience with adWords, so that they promote you and buy from you.
· You can always make money from Google Adsense.
Cons:
· It is a public forum so you can’t hide anything.
· An advertiser might put an Ad on your video, and this might draw customers away.
· Youtube can disable your account at any moment without any certain reason.
Quora:
Quora is an American Q&A site where people from anywhere ask and answer each other's questions. Users can vote on responses to thank the author or make it clear to others which answer brings the greatest value.People come to Quora looking for an answer. Or share their expertise on a topic or a product to build trust.
Pros:
· Long term exposure.
· Users understand better in your market segment by asking questions.
· Build and expand brand authority on the topic by answering questions.
· Get new ideas for blogs by looking at which topics users are interested in.
Cons:
· It has definitely not developed a good marketing strategy to reach out to more users.
Searches could be built better