The rapid speed of marketing means big brands need to keep up or be overtaken.
And one place where the competition is fast and furious is on social media.
But grabbing hold of this traffic is profitable as more and more people begin to shop through social media.
GlobalWebIndex found that 75% of Twitter users make at least one purchase per month. Moreover, nearly three-fourths of shoppers rely on social media to retrieve information or read reviews about products they want to purchase.
Social commerce represents one of the most executed marketing strategies for companies. However, due to the ever-changing evolution of social shopping, some organizations fail to reach the high expectations demanded by their consumers.
Constantly bombarded by banner ads, tech-savvy shoppers seek excellent products and great prices without the sales fluff.
Today, marketing teams must learn to grab their customer’s attention and build a sense of community around the social commerce experience.
To help your business succeed in social commerce, learn tried-and-true lessons from the pros. Here’s four amazingly brilliant brands to follow.
Oreo’s Creativity Stands Out From The Rest
Mastering creativity on social isn’t easy. An offbeat message can cause negative brand association. In order to stand out, it’s necessary to be different – look to Oreo’s as a brand who shows how to use great entertainment combined with smart, funny messages that are wholesome for the whole family.
Connect with Oreo on Instagram. The “world’s favorite cookie” is crafting creations that will have you wanting to grab a glass of milk.
The Oreo team knows how to engage customers with smart, funny messages. The brand’s strong presence establishes itself as a business who knows its target audience.
The secret ingredient in Oreo’s marketing success is great entertainment. Their team personifies the chocolate sandwich cookie as an individual who embarks on a fun-filled adventure everyday.
Here’s the Oreo experiencing summer vacation on the beach:
Oreo gives you delicious-looking food images, creative coolness, and humor to show how awesome their cookies taste.
It’s a brand not afraid to try new things and actually invent the art of social commerce.
Oreo lovers admire the brand’s cleverness and timeliness. The company understands how to blend creativity and interactive content to produce active engagement.
Check this out:
From recipe ideas to laugh-out-loud Vines, Oreo is great fun. They give a new perspective to living life without the hassle.
After celebrating 100+ years of existence, it’s safe to say Oreo will continue to satisfy customers through innovative marketing.
Takeaways
- Inject creativity into your social brand. Oreo offers originality and plays around with several concepts. Showcase your company’s uniqueness with great images and simple messaging. Let your customers be your muse.
- Connect with people’s emotions. Oreo brings flavor to human life. Don’t force your customers to purchase your products. Instead, give them an opportunity to explore your brand and mission.
Lowe’s Mixes It Up on Different Channels
Lowe’s is one of the few brands who really recognizes the unique benefit of each social media channel through their omni-channel strategy. They don’t try to use the same strategy to advertise on Pinterest and Vine or YouTube and Twitter.
They custom tailor each strategy to match the channel — and it’s paid off. The home improvement chain offers its customers helpful tips ranging from how to keep mosquitoes away to how your backyard can be transformed into a water park.
Overall, the Lowe’s team recognizes the benefits of each social media channel. Their marketing efforts offer the right content that works best for each outlet.
Take a peek at the store’s #FixinSix campaign on Vine. In six-second videos, the brand motivates you to perform simple, yet effective home improvement tricks.
The stop-motion animation provides a creative touch to the dull noise normally associated with social brands.
Lowe’s Pinterest eCommerce strategy is also awesome. Instead of solely focusing on products, the retail giant stands out with inspirational boards that show consumers how to approach DIY projects.
Plus, customers can pin projects they’ve completed. Lowe’s Pinterest marketing strategy is building customer loyalty and winning fanfare through social media.
Takeaways
- Every social media channel has its own style and tone. As a business, modify your brand conversation to your audience’s environment. What works on Vine might not fit your Pinterest board, so adjust accordingly.
- Offer the best value. Connect your social message around your customer’s needs. Ask: how can they benefit from this tweet? Then, give the customers what they desire.
Zara Perfects Visual Social Commerce
People tend to engage more when pictures are involved. Socialbakers.com found that Facebook posts with photos represent 87% of total interactions. That’s why businesses are steadily sharing photos of their products and services to consumers.
Like most social media users, we learned that Facebook posts should be accompanied by a few lines of text. The presumption is that readers will be enticed to learn more with a short message.
Zara bucks this traditional belief. Instead, the clothing and accessories retailer only posts high-quality photos with a few descriptive hashtags and a link to the product. That’s it!
The Zara strategy is simple: grab the prospect’s attention and get them to the website to purchase items. This approach turns the popular tradition on its head. Because who really needs a thousand words when you have an awesome picture?
Takeaways
- Break the rules. In social commerce, one size doesn’t fit all brands. Experiment with different ways to engage your audience. If less is more, try the Zara approach.
- Get a personality and show it off to the world. Zara represents sophistication, and that ideal is conveyed through their images. Create a brand aura that will attract, not repel your customer base.
Square Spotlights Their Customers
Social media can sometimes feel robotic. It’s always good to remind folks that your business affects people. Building a human connection with your targeted audience gives perspective to the social interaction.
Square, a mobile payment company, adds the human element to their Square Stories collection. This video series highlights how their products impact ordinary people and keep businesses running efficiently.
Here’s a story about how La Colombe expanded from 12 to 100+ locations and turned to Square to help offer customers a great experience.
Square also knows how to build social buzz through Twitter. The business makes their audience feel connected by stating the reasoning behind their decisions.
The explanation deepens customer relationships and establishes trust. See the tweet below.
Takeaways
- Emphasize your expertise through user-generated content. The best brands offer avenues for customers to share their experiences with your product. So, ask your customers for their wonderful stories, and then curate them online.
- Embrace diversity. Give your audience different reasons to love your brand. Some people may like your promotional giveaways, and others will enjoy your amusing tweets.
Move Forward. Shopping continues to thrive in social settings, because people enjoy seeking advice about the latest trends from family and friends.
As social media and eCommerce increasingly grow, buying behaviors also will evolve, challenging businesses to increase customer engagement.
It’s important for companies to push the norms of social commerce and to develop strategic messaging to gain their customer’s undivided attention.
So, don’t graze the “social” surface. Dig deeper. Be a forward-thinking brand.
