As an Amazon Seller, you want to do everything you possibly can for your business to succeed. No matter what business you start these days (from a mom-and-pop ice cream shop to an enterprise level software company), someone will tell you to jump on social media.
While it might seem that social media marketing exists only to sell social media marketing, there are some key benefits to using it strategically to build your Amazon business.
Follow these tips to see not only increased brand awareness, but better Amazon product conversions.
Know whether or not social media makes sense for your Amazon business
You’re an Amazon Seller. Your number one channel is Amazon–where customers migrate to all day long without you telling them to. Do you really need to do social media?
Probably.
Roughly $88,000 is spent on Amazon every single minute, and to have a shot at some of that revenue, you need to take a multi-pronged approach that includes traffic to your page from Amazon search, Google search, and both paid and organic social media traffic.
But there are definitely Amazon businesses who stand to gain more from their profiles. If you have a private label business, then brand awareness can help to increase your Amazon revenue, help you sell in multiple channels, and improve the perceived value of your business to potential investors.
If you’re sourcing other brands’ products and are selling only with Amazon FBA, then social media might not make sense for your business. However, it can still help you build a platform as a knowledgeable entrepreneur.
1. Play the long game
Small business owners continually bemoan the timesuck of social media. Everyone wonders if it’s truly worth it. This quote sums it all up:
When I hear people debate the ROI of social media? It makes me remember why so many business fail. Most businesses are not playing the marathon. They’re playing the sprint. They’re not worried about lifetime value and retention. They’re worried about short-term goals. — Gary Vaynerchuk
Whatever your short term goals, every business needs to have long term intent. For Amazon Sellers, that might be to collect customer data, reach more people with your brand or product, or to use social media to launch an additional channel.
But while true social media success might require a marathon, most Amazon Sellers can’t afford to forget the short term. If you’re driving traffic to Amazon, you had better hope that traffic has an intent to purchase, otherwise you’re throwing negative points against yourself into Amazon’s algorithm. (More on that later.)
2. Concentrate your efforts
It’s surprising how many businesses run around creating accounts in every major platform. Admit right now that you only have time to keep up with one or two profiles. Depending on your product, that might be Facebook and Instagram or maybe Pinterest and Twitter.
If you have a strong desire to save your branded accounts on other platforms (in case you have time for them in a year from now), simply add a profile picture and delete other posts so it looks like a placeholder account.
As for your chosen platforms, it’s time to commit. By focusing your time, you’ll enable yourself to test what works, optimize your content, and truly understand your audience. Alter your post types (link versus image), your tone or personality (funny versus inspiring), and even small things like the font for your text overlays (fancy versus simple) until you see what works.
There’s no way you’d be able to bring that level of commitment to more than one or two platforms at a time, and the truth with social media is that not giving up is the only thing that works. The biggest influencers, brands, and social media personalities started off their profiles by testing relentlessly.
3. Create content your audience can relate to
The best social media marketers in the world tell stories with their social media profiles to make direct, humanized connections with their followers.
Think about the kind of content that you “like” on social media. It’s always something you can relate to. It’s not just the adorable or stunning photo, it’s the caption that details the story behind the moment.
No matter what you’re marketing with social media, you have to understand the very basic principle of relatable content.
The top brands on social media do not create overly stuffy content. Instead their images, videos, and captions are for people and by people.
4. Use social media to improve your Amazon conversion rates
What you don’t want to do: drive social media traffic to your Amazon product page that doesn’t convert.
That would drive down the page’s conversion rate, meaning it could show up less often in Amazon searches and the Buy Box.
Ouch. But don’t let fear keep you from some great conversion opportunities. You just need to qualify that traffic.
The key is to only link to your Amazon product page when the person clicking likely has an intent to purchase.
Here are some places where a clicker might not plan on purchasing:
- Facebook page header link
- Twitter profile link
- Pinterest profile link
- An unrelated social media post
When a social media user clicks on your main profile link, they likely want more information about your brand and might not be ready to make a purchase. Be sure to link to your Amazon Seller page where they can see all your products or to an external website (especially if you sell there) instead of a specific product.
As for random social media posts? Don’t continually link to your product page in Facebook and Twitter posts. It can come off as too salesy and can bring in too many unqualified leads.
Instead, you should only link to your product page when it’s clear to the social media user what she will be clicking. Reserve it for:
- Daily or flash deals
- BOGO deals
- Single use coupon codes
5. Use social media to acquire email addresses outside of Amazon
It’s against Amazon’s rules to try to use their platform to acquire email addresses, which is why it’s so important to create your own methods.
Social media is a great place to increase your email subscriber list. Remember those profile links where you should not place your Amazon product pages? Well, they can be great opportunities for opt-in forms!
Offer e-courses, guides, or access to monthly coupons and watch as your numbers grow.
6. Promote to existing fan bases
The more you learn about social media in general, the better it is for your business. Even if you never lift your social presence very high off the ground, you can still market on social media using influencer marketing.
Influencers will typically create a few sponsored posts per month on their profiles for a fee. For general posts about your brand, ask the influencer to link to your website, but for sales and deals, it’s a good idea to drive that traffic straight to Amazon. (Use the same principles as above.)
You can also give your product to bloggers with a large following in exchange for a review on their blog and ask them to link to your product page. Typically, they’ll share the post on social media.
7. Make it easy for people to tell their friends about your product
While you don’t want to overdo the selling aspect of social media, is it recommended to show off your product and to educate people about it.
Here’s how to do product shots right on social:
- Contextualize use of the product
- Reveal something new about the product
- Use basic photography techniques like texture and composition
When people who follow your company see something they like, they can share that post directly with a friend to recommend it. Be sure to show off what’s truly unique about your product so it’s easy for people to share it with their friends and tell them why they love it so much.
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