To an outsider, it’s easy to imagine that social media marketing for big ticket ecommerce would be a total breeze. After all, people love to buy things! And you love to sell them! So it’s the perfect match – right? Well, yes, but after a while coming up with new ideas can feel impossible. And if you’re just starting out, it’s difficult to know where to begin with so many options available to you. After all, you want to do what will actually work, rather than just fill space. Luckily, that’s why we’re here.
First things first, make sure you know your audience. You might sell sofas, but the type of people who are buying velvet chaise longues are different from the type of people who buy beige corner sofas. So think about what you sell, who buys from you, and why they buy from you. We’d encourage creating a couple of buyer personas to do this – you can find out more about them here.
Once you’ve got that sorted, make sure you apply that knowledge to everything you do. And we really do mean everything – from branding to advertising to tweeting. Need a place to keep all your persona information? Why, we've got one for you! And it's free! And you can just click below to donwload it! Now isn't that a coincidence.
Online, everything is dominated by visual – whether that’s hi-res photography, quick Instagram snaps, videos or (our favourite) gifs. We absorb information from images instantaneously; they can confer feelings, ideas and emotions in a heartbeat. So, the best possible thing you can do for your products is to take some really, really nice photos. And take as many as possible!
You’ll need the standard hi-res images of the products themselves, against a plain white background (perfect for your ecommerce site). But it’s also a good idea to get lifestyle images, styled in a way that will appeal to your personas. That way, when they see the image, they’ll be able to imagine perfectly how your product would fit into their own home. Or, even if their home doesn’t look quite how it does in the image, it’s an ideal for them to aspire to – one which your product is an integral part of. After all, as Buffer said, people don’t buy products – they buy better versions of themselves.
When was the last time you bought a big-ticket item like a TV or a piece of furniture without reading reviews first? Can’t remember? Nope, neither can we. People respond to the words and opinions of other human beings far better than they respond to marketing messages from brands (duh), and even better when they include those all-important visuals.
Oak Furniture Land encourages its customers to take photos of their purchases and tag them with #oakfurnitureland on Instagram. They then reshare those photos on their social channels, organically fostering a sense of community that genuinely isn’t artificial.
You can have all the images in the world – professional and user-generated – but it won’t mean much if you aren’t genuinely good at what you do. But if you are – and we’re sure that you are – show off about it!
Capser Mattress do this wonderfully. They know that they’re experts in their field, and that they know 'sleeping' better than anyone else – so that’s precisely what they talk about. Follow their lead and work hard to establish yourself as the master of your domain through the way you write about yourselves and present your brand. Have a nose through Casper’s Facebook to see how they do it.
It’s very rare that people will buy expensive products straight away. If you’ve ever purchased a sofa or a bed you know you go through countless visits to the website or store before you actually bite the bullet, so as a business you need to find ways of re-engaging with your audience. The obvious way to do this is through emails, so make sure your email marketing is consistent and on-brand rather than just something you squeeze in only when you remember or have time.
But you can also stay connected through – yep! – social media. Giveaways are a great way of grabbing your audience’s attention and making sure you stay at the forefront of your mind. They don’t have to be expensive – just give away one of the smaller offerings from your range with an easy entry mechanism, such as ‘leave a comment telling us why you’d like to win’ or ‘tag a friend who’d love to win this too’. That way, rather than just scrolling straight past you, they’ll be happy to engage and – once that’s done – you’ve successfully reminded them you exist and pushed them one step closer to purchase, whether they win or not.
With all that said, one of the trickiest parts of managing social media successfully is that ol' chestnut - time. Struggling to get everything done during your work day? Well lookee here - we can help with that too! Download our free guide to managing your social media in under 20 minutes a day. It's free. You don't have to pay for it. Did we mention that it's free?