How Leveraging Social Media is Key to Successful Online Selling

In this digital age, technology constantly reshapes how we interact and conduct business. Among the countless innovations in the latest years, one undeniable force stands out among the rest—social media.

Recent data reveals that a staggering 60%, or five billion, of the world’s population, are now active on various social media platforms. In the Philippines, approximately 85 million online users (or 73% of the population) visit social media sites. Inevitably, it has become an indispensable platform for communication, entertainment, and, most importantly, online selling.

Now that social media sites have become more dynamic, how do businesses adapt? Below, we discuss how social media marketing impacts online selling.

Social media‘s impact on selling online has been nothing short of revolutionary. It has opened up plenty of opportunities for businesses to reach their target market and target audience in previously unimaginable ways.

In the Philippines alone, online shopping sales were as high as $17 billion in 2021. Moreover, projections show that this number could increase to $24 billion in 2025.

But what allows popular social media websites and their ecommerce platforms to generate such massive revenues? Here are some ways that social networking sites have transformed the landscape of online selling:

Expanded reach, more targeted marketing

From a brick and mortar store, small business owner, and even a physical store, Social media can help your business grow in two major ways. First, it provides a platform for your brand. Second, it allows access to easy-to-use integrated online marketplaces.

Aside from dedicated online shopping sites, social media helps businesses sell online without needing to build a website for their ecommerce platform. This way, sellers can service a wider pool of potential target customers and generate online sales at a lower cost.

For those with disposable marketing funds, a social networking site normally has targeted ad options. Ads allow marketers to market their products or sell online to a select group of social media users depending on factors such as age, geography, or interests through marketing campaigns.

If a business wants to service a nearby city, they could just add them to the ads targeting. Alternatively, a business may also exclude other areas because of astronomically high shipping costs. They may do either with just a few clicks or taps on social media sites.

Seamless marketplace access

There are many criticisms about social media sites trying to be everything all at once—a messaging platform, a social networking service, an e commerce business and an online store. One great example of this is Facebook (the top social media site in the Philippines), which offers seamless access to an online store within the app and website itself. But why these features?

The short answer is that these integrations make sense from an ecommerce business point-of-view. According to recent data, reviews from other customers and likes and comments on social media are two of the top drivers in eCommerce store sales.

With social media, you can switch between browsing product reviews and testimonials and checking out items in your cart without exiting the app.

On the other end, it is also much easier for business owners to sell products to prospective customers. For one, they can set up their own online store without creating another account. Second, they do not need to spend time building an audience as they already have the set of eyeballs from their social media following.

Building brand awareness and loyalty

Social media is vital in building brand awareness, especially for small business owners. With the wide usage of social media platforms, small businesses do not need to have their own website to build their credibility.

Even small businesses can leverage their social media accounts and craft engaging social media posts. This means that they can showcase their brand personality, products, and services to audiences they usually would not reach without social media.

Through consistent and compelling content, they can captivate users on various social networking services, helping their brand gain visibility and recognition. Moreover, a social media site offers a direct and interactive platform for small business owners to interact with their audience, fostering a sense of community and trust.

This continuous interaction allows brands to humanize their presence, establish credibility, and build lasting relationships with their target market. As a result, it amplifies brand awareness and brand image and paves the way for sustainable growth in the digital landscape.

Direct customer engagement

While having a website allows businesses endless customizations, social media is still unbeatable when it comes to direct customer engagement. These platforms bridge the gap between businesses and their audience in the dynamic landscape of the online marketplace.

Through various social media platforms, businesses can directly interact with customers. It may be as simple as responding to inquiries, addressing concerns, and fostering real-time conversations. This two-way communication creates a sense of community and trust. In turn, it also helps businesses better understand customer needs and preferences, gather valuable feedback, and build lasting relationships.

Actively engaging with the audience makes the connection more personal. As a result, it can also build better customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Lastly, engaging with user-generated content can help businesses gain insights into evolving consumer demands, ultimately leading to long-term success.

Measurable marketing

A couple of decades ago, the only way to know how customers think about a product is through sales and one-on-one interviews. Fast forward to the rise of social media, where consumers tell you exactly how they feel about your product without you soliciting opinions about them.

Accordingly, this has made social media a valuable tool for facilitating measurable marketing for online businesses. With social media accounts, businesses can now gather valuable data through user interactions, reach, and engagement.

Moreover, social media platforms offer built-in analytics tools for free that allow businesses to measure key performance indicators. Whether you want to measure clicks, impressions, and conversion rates, businesses now have tools to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Additionally, social media platforms enable online business owners to conduct market research on target audience through polls, surveys, and social listening. Plus, social media provides a direct channel for businesses to collect customer feedback, making it easier to understand customer satisfaction levels and make data-driven improvements to products or services.

By combining these powerful features, social media empowers online businesses to implement targeted marketing strategies. Furthermore, it can help businesses optimize how they market their products and ultimately convert sales that drive growth and success.

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