Ecommerce Brands: Mistakes Hindering your digital growth

While Amazon is still reeling under the effect of its epic Prime Day failure (happened a year ago), its marketers continue stepping up their social media marketing efforts. Last year, Amazon conducted the proverbial big 24-hour sale where it promised better offers than Black Friday. The failure of the promotional strategy led to a series of funny and sarcastic tweets directed at Amazon and its failed marketing strategy. In 2016, Amazon went on to remove doormats with Hindu Goddesses from their product offerings after a major outcry on Twitter.

It’s true. No other medium allows ecommerce brands to stay in touch with their organic connections as effectively as social media does. Running an online store is not only about optimizing your ecommerce websites for mobile and desktop viewing but also about being “instantaneous” on social media. More than 75 out of every 100 ecommerce buyers will tell you that your social media presence influences their purchasing decisions. Undermining the power of social media in driving ecommerce sales is a monstrous gaffe. Given below are other mistakes that ecommerce brands continue committing as far as their exploits on social media are concerned.

Ecommerce Brands and their social media marketing efforts: A Few Mistakes Identified

The digital audience has still not forgotten the aftermath of an unintentional “porn tweet” by eminent sports analyst Gerry Hamilton (ESPN). He had accidentally tweeted the link of a porn video while updating about a college football match. The tweet was deleted in minutes but not before its screenshots were captured by many. First social media lesson learnt. Not even the biggest of names are spared on social media. As an ecommerce brand if you are not identifying your blunders (if any) on any of the social media platforms then be prepared to receive substantial flak. Treat your social media audience with the respect they deserve. Don’t think that a blunder tweet or Facebook update from your end will not affect their buying decisions. This is a mistake which has repeatedly been committed by brands.

Not zeroing in on the best platforms for your brand

Concentrating on too many platforms at the same time does not really let you pay the kind of attention that your fans on social media deserve. The best bid is to identify just four to five platforms- based on outreach and nature of your brand and work on them. For instance, Shopify conducted a study with more than 35 million participants where Facebook emerged as the most influential source driving sales. So, you possibly cannot exclude biggies like Facebook and Twitter from your social media portfolio. If you’re selling home décor items or cosmetics try to capitalize on the visual mediums like Instagram and Pinterest.

Being insensitive

Make sure your campaigns don’t end up being “insensitive”. Take a cue from the outrage sparked by Coca Cola’s campaign showing the snow-capped map of Russia without the inclusion of Kaliningrad (It was added post World War II). People even went on to post photos of the soft drink bottles being emptied into toilets accompanied by the hashtag #BanCocaCola.

The campaigns thus designed by you should religiously steer clear from any such inclusion or exclusion which can spark controversies of this nature.