It’s not a stretch to say that social media really is one of the most important aspects of an ecommerce business. Platforms like Instagram have become critical advertising spaces for companies, and it seems like every shop that is serious about experiencing growth has a solid social media presence. It’s not as simple as just creating an account on your preferred platform, though. You need to have a clever and solid social media approach to find success.
What does that look like, exactly? It’s hard to define. Good social media marketing really centers around your brand. It’s key to create a campaign built on authenticity. This will give your customers a real sense of what your brand is and the story behind it. To give you some inspiration, here are 10 ecommerce businesses that really nailed their social media branding.
Netflix
There are plenty of companies out there that use social media more like an individual than a business. Rather than only posting soulless advertisements, they gain fans by presenting themselves as relatable and fun. Netflix may just be the best example of this. They are constantly sharing memes, interacting with their customers, and just generally have fun on Twitter.
Of course, there’s a fine line to walk here. Savvy Internet users understand that all brands have a vested interest in using social media, so being too relatable can seem like pandering. The last thing you want is your casual strategy to backfire. Netflix avoids this by injecting a healthy amount of sassiness into all of their posts. Their humor is self-aware and ironic in addition to friendly.
Netflix’s strategy won’t work for everyone. Their brand identity is one that is relaxed and casual. More serious businesses may want to avoid a similarly meme-fueled approach. But for those that can pull it off, the Netflix model is both effective and fun.
Airbnb
Airbnb is one of the biggest ecommerce travel companies out there, and part of their success is certainly owed to their savvy understanding of social media. They use slightly different approaches on their three main platforms, showing that they really know how to market to different audiences.
Additionally, Airbnb manages to stand out from other travel companies by consciously doing what their competitors don’t. Rather than building campaigns out of staged travel photos and stories, they use real pictures and reviews from their customers as the basis for their social media marketing. Not only does this make Airbnb feel more trustworthy as a business, but it also creates ads that feel much more compelling and relatable. Social media users feel like they are looking at regular posts rather than corporate advertisements.
The company also does a good job of engaging with their followers. Their Instagram posts frequently end with calls to action for their audience to share their own travel stories. Fostering a community like this is a smart move, as it makes customers feel more involved and connected with the brand.
Wayfair
Simply put, Wayfair really knows how to best utilize the platforms they are on. They were nominated for a Shorty Award in 2017 for their social media content, and it’s not hard to see why. Their strategy isn’t revolutionary, but it is highly optimized. For example, their Instagram doesn’t do anything new, but their posts frequently feature influencer collaborations and Instagram Shopping integration. They always take an extra step to make each post more interactive and exciting.
But it’s on Facebook where Wayfair really shines. In addition to regular posts on their Facebook account, they use Facebook ads to get the word out about their products. Their carousel ads are particularly effective. Each ad features multiple product images that are accompanied by short captions that describe why you should shop with Wayfair. Most other companies use these captions to describe the product itself, but Wayfair wisely uses the same space to teach prospective customers about their business and what makes it great.
This slight tweak to a more traditional strategy is paying off for Wayfair. Their carousel ads are performing far better than their regular ads on Facebook.
HiSmile
HiSmile, a company that creates teeth whitening products, is an example of a company that understands that social media allows you to use marketing strategies that didn’t exist in the past. Rather than just posting their own content, HiSmile has partnered with a slew of different influencers who share photos of their products. This means that platforms like Instagram are populated with HiSmile advertisements even outside of the company’s own account, making it far more likely the average user will engage with their content.
Using an influencer-based approach makes a lot of sense for a company like HiSmile. The average consumer might feel skeptical about a teeth whitening company, so they naturally trust reviews and posts from their fellow users more than they would ads from the company itself. Being able to see the results of HiSmile’s products from unbiased sources breaks down any skepticism they may have had and makes it far more likely that they might actually purchase something.
HiSmile’s social media campaign has proved very successful. The company has been able to partner up with celebrities, and they now boast over 1 million followers on Instagram.
Newegg
Most people think that social media marketing is limited to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Those platforms are certainly important to any campaign, but there are also plenty of other sites that can be utilized depending on what kind of business you run. Newegg, an online electronics retailer, shows that Youtube can be just as useful in developing your brand.
The videos that Newegg posts aren’t just advertisements for the website. Instead, they create helpful product showcases, unboxings, and guides that go over the items that are being sold on their website. The key here is that Newegg doesn’t actually manufacture the products being shown on their Youtube channel.
That means that the videos can be helpful for viewers whether they end up buying from Newegg or somewhere else. This makes their videos feel more neutral rather than frantically trying to convince you to spend money. Remember: no one likes feeling like they’re being marketed to.
By making their Youtube channel a helpful hub for all users rather than an advertising platform, Newegg has built up a dedicated following. They have more than 700,000 subscribers, and their videos regularly get lots of engagement in the comment sections.
Etsy
There are lots of reasons to love Etsy’s social media strategy. First of all, they utilize platforms like Pinterest that might be ignored by other ecommerce companies. Second of all, their posts always feature smart calls to action and original images to catch users’ eyes. But most importantly, Etsy has found something that makes their brand unique and built a social media account solely around that.
We’re talking about the Etsy Success page. This is a Facebook community built by the company that is meant to uplift and inspire anyone who sells on Etsy. The content on that Etsy Success page ranges from informational videos to casual conversations between the company and its dedicated sellers, and it gets a fair amount of engagement across its more than 100,000 followers.
Most businesses aren’t going to be able to create a social media page exactly like Etsy Success, and that’s fine. The important lesson to take away from this unique part of Etsy’s social media campaign is that it’s key to build your accounts around what makes your company different. Etsy is known for its strong community of sellers, so it capitalized on that with a whole page for that community. Find what is similar for your business and run with it.
Love Your Melon
Love Your Melon has a unique and powerful mission. They create hats designed for children who are battling cancer, and their goal is to make them feel confident, happy, and supported. Half of their profits are donated to cancer organizations, so they are obviously very serious about making a difference with their company.
For their social media presence, Love Your Melon uses a mixture of excellent photos and clever copywriting to tell succinct and powerful stories. Their posts get at the heart of what they’re doing: they show kids being uplifted by their communities and truly feeling joy. They don’t need to post long blog articles about each child’s individual story. Instead, their short-form posts capture the essence of these stories and share them with their followers.
It’s rare for a business to have stories that are as emotional as the ones at Love Your Melon. But there is still a story behind every ecommerce company. Love Your Melon serves as a great reminder to find those stories you want to tell and share them on social media.
Skims
It should come as no surprise that a brand run by Kim Kardashian has a great social media campaign. Kim K’s personal success is built around her masterful use of platforms like Instagram, and her business Skims is no exception. A shapewear brand designed for women of all sizes, Skims gains much of its popularity through Kim’s own personal celebrity connections.
The important thing to understand here is that Skims uses a social media campaign built around the concept of authority. By partnering with celebrities, the brand shows that it is loved by people who know a lot about fashion and are engaged with the industry at a very high level. Skims constantly shares both posts and Instagram stories of famous people (including the Kardashians themselves) rocking pieces from the brand.
Skims also employs a strategy built around scarcity to further create excitement around their clothing. The social media accounts of the company are often posting about how their products are nearly sold out. This makes customers feel like a purchase is more urgent, encouraging them to buy now rather than later.
REI
REI uses social media in a lot of clever ways. They do a great job of collecting stories about the outdoors and sharing them on Instagram to get people excited to go on adventures, and they have also developed an iconic hashtag, #OptOutside, that captures the spirit of their brand. But their take on Black Friday may be their most effective social media move of all.
In 2014, the company made a shocking move and closed on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Their reasoning was that they wanted to give their employees time off to enjoy outdoor recreation. This idea was such a big deal because it showed that their branding wasn’t all talk. They actually stood behind their ideals, even if it meant losing money.
REI ended up winning awards for closing down on Black Friday, but the impact went beyond that. Their reputation among consumers improved, and traffic to their website went up rather than down on Black Friday. It has now become a tradition for their stores to shut down on the holiday, and it continues to earn them recognition on social media.
Dollar Shave Club
Social media marketing relies on getting the attention of followers quickly and efficiently. There are a few ways of doing this, but Dollar Shave Club shows that it can be done well with great design and strong color coordination.
If you take a look at the brand’s Instagram page, you’ll immediately notice that each post has an eye-catching and coherent color scheme. The colors help users quickly identify which brand they are looking at, and it lends the company’s social media presence a sense of consistency and reliability.
Being able to recognize a brand with just a glance should be the ultimate goal on social media. If you require users to read through an entire caption and flip through a series of photos to get to know your business, you are going to lose a lot of business. Social media moves quickly, so use that to your advantage.
