In today’s highly competitive Digital World, Small Businesses are now gearing their resources towards Digital Advertising, compared to the traditional forms marketing such as print, radio and billboards.
Since there are now roughly over 200 million shoppers Online each day, it only makes sense for these Businesses, whether large or small, to tap into this market. Doing so, however, means that the competition has never been fiercer and standing out has never been so important.
The challenge now becomes, how can Small Ecommerce Stores use Online Advertising to bring new customers to their Store, and existing customers coming back for more? A market that has become particularly powerful for Digital Marketing is that of Social Media, with Facebook more often than not taking centre stage.
Since launching in 2003, Facebook has introduced numerous enhancements each year, with its Advertising feature being its most significant to date. Facebook Ads allows Businesses to reach new leads and retarget potential customers through Marketing Campaigns. With more than one billion users each month, Facebook is basically the world’s largest Online Hub of potential clients waiting to be tapped.
So, if you’re wondering how best to advertise your Ecommerce Store Online, then perhaps it’s time that you took full advantage of Facebook’s Advertising potential. Below are some techniques you can use to develop a solid Facebook Marketing Strategy, so you can start seeing a more conversions for your Ecommerce Store.
Use Retargeting Campaigns
When you retarget people with Facebook Ads, you’re essentially getting one of your Ads to follow a specific user around the internet. This user will be someone who has already visited your Online Store or shown an interest in your Store in some other way. You can use retargeting as a way to drive a potential customer back to your Ecommerce Store if they did not make a purchase the first time around.
According to Digital Marketing studies, up to 72% of Online shoppers abandon their Shopping Carts near the point of purchase. By incorporating a Retargeting Campaign, you can put yourself in a strong position to bring these customers back to complete their purchase.
When you operate an Ecommerce Store, you can use Retargeting to remind customers of a product that they were searching for, to promote other products and services, or else offer discounts and sales.
Use ‘Multi-Product’ Ads
Facebook’s Multi-Product Ad option gives Small Business Owners the ability to show additional products through just one single Ad.
More importantly, these Multi-Product Ads provides customers with more options to choose from, which can prove beneficial in increasing conversions. The more relevant and appealing products a customer sees, the greater chance of them making a purchase. Variety never hurts and with Multi-Product Ads, you can showcase your product range and their features to a much greater degree.
Take Advantage Of ‘Lookalike Audiences’
Small Business Owners can also generate more sales by targeting their Facebook Ads towards ‘Lookalike Audiences’. These are audiences created by Facebook that share similarities to an existing target audience that your Business has created for a previous Facebook Ad.
Why should your Small Business care about Lookalike Audiences? The short answer is that it allows you to target a broader audience that you A) might not have considered before, but B) will likely still have great interest in your products or services. This boosts the overall efficiency of your Ad, helps to remove some of the guesswork when setting up Ad Targeting and will increase the traffic to your Store.
Lookalike Audiences has the potential to produce a better Return on Investment for your Campaigns because your Ads will be relevant to the people seeing them, making it a sound strategy to deploy.
Create A Custom Call-To-Action
One of Facebook’s cool new features, this option lets you create a personal ‘Call-To-Action’ instead of the usual ‘box’ format.
When setting up your Facebook Ad, simply click on the ‘text and links’ section and you’ll be able to choose from a few drop-down options, including ‘shop now’, ‘learn more’ and ‘sign up’. You can also enter your own custom Call-To-Action. This will actively drive your customers to click through and boost your Ecommerce Store’s potential sales.
Don’t Be Afraid To Tell Your Story
According to many Digital Marketing analysts, telling your Business Story within your Facebook Ad can improve Conversions. Sometimes this method can prove more beneficial than just jumping straight into the sale, as it builds trust and likability between your Business and the user. These are 2 things that are key factors in helping ensure a sale occurs.
Recent studies have shown that telling a brand’s story through ‘Sequenced Ads’ saw subscription rates increase by 56%, and that landing page visits were boosted by 87%. The more Sequenced Story Ads the users saw, the higher the Click-Through-Rate. By telling your own story via your Facebook Ad, you can build trust, rapport and a solid reputation.
If you’re unsure of how best to tell your story, then consider including the following suggestions within your Ad:
- How the idea for the product came about
- A short video demonstration on how your product is designed or made
- A video profiling real people working within your Business
- Footage of the manufacturing facility where the product is built
Customers will always want to be treated as special and individual, and it’s up to your Small Business to deliver that first-class experience. That’s why it doesn’t hurt from time to time to steer away from the hard sales pitch and get a little personal.
Promote Industry-Related Events
Building on the previous strategy, not every Facebook Ad has to focus on sales. After all, Facebook is first and foremost a Social Media Platform, so just generating conversation and engaging your audience should be a priority. In fact, many studies have shown that most people to ignore hard-selling Advertisements, as people have a natural resistance to being ‘sold’.
With this in mind, it’s always a good idea to create at least one Facebook Ad that doesn’t directly promote one of your products or services. Instead, you could promote an industry event, share content from your blog, or even just do a general social share of a video or enticing image. Whatever you think will work to grab your viewers’ attention and entice them to click on the Ad, use it!
For example, if you own an Online clothing store, you could create an Ad of footage taken from a recent fashion show. Your clothes don’t necessarily have to be featured in the show, but this kind of content will most likely appeal to your target market. Once they click on your Ad, you can direct them to a product page displaying clothes similar to those that were shown in the video. This is a clever tactic that, not only attracts the right audience, but also links your products to runway fashion.
Don’t Just Think, Do!
Facebook Ads can grow your Small Business’s Online Store quickly, but it will require you to research and understand how to use Facebook’s Advertising Feature. The information above includes a variety of strategies that you can use to drive sales for your Ecommerce Store.