4 Ways to Promote Your Products on Social Media

Do you want more sales from social media?

Looking for new ways to share your products on social?

The latest features from Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram can help you get your products seen by more people.

In this article, you’ll discover four ways to promote your products on the top social media platforms.

#1: Add Links to Your Products in Instagram Stories

Now that Instagram feeds are arranged by popularity rather than in chronological order, it’s more challenging to get visibility for your business. Posting Instagram stories can help you get in front of your target audience. Instagram also lets you include links and mentions in your stories, which will make it easier for viewers to browse and shop your products.

Take a look at this Instagram story from social media influencer Caila Quinn. She included a link to a yellow bar stool because many of her followers had asked for more information about it. Notice the See More prompt at the bottom of the video, which encourages viewers to swipe up.

Influencer Caila Quinn includes both a mention and a link in her Instagram story.

The mention in this Instagram story is also tappable (as shown below) and takes followers to the official Lulu & Georgia Instagram page.

When viewers swipe up on the See More tab, they’re taken directly to a page on Caila’s blog, which features a number of products for sale, including the yellow leather bar stools and other items in her house. Instagram opens linked pages within the Instagram app, providing a seamless transition between browsing Instagram and shopping on an ecommerce site.

To see if this feature is enabled on your account, go to your Instagram home screen and tap Add Story at the top left. After you film a video or take a picture, look for four icons in the top-left corner: Link, Audio, Drawing, and Text. If you don’t see the Link icon, you don’t have access at this time. If you do see it, tap on the Link icon and paste your link.

If you don’t have linking enabled in Instagram Stories, you can still take advantage of the feature two ways:

• Choose businesses or publishers who have audiences that align with yours. They can draw attention to your account by mentioning you in an Instagram post. Make sure you have a featured link at the top of your profile where people can browse your products.
• Work with influencers who often get access to features before everyday brands. An influencer can talk about your post in an organic way to create interest in what you’re doing.

#2: Import Your Online Store to Your Facebook Page

Facebook business pages have traditionally been a great way to connect with your audience and promote products and events. Now you can feature your ecommerce page directly on your Facebook page with the StoreYa app for Facebook.

StoreYa’s WooCommerce Shop to Facebook plugin supports 30 ecommerce platforms including Etsy, eBay, Magento, and others. This example will show you how to connect a WordPress-supported WooCommerce shop to Facebook.

To get started, open your WordPress dashboard and click on the Plugins tab.

Then search for the WooCommerce Shop to Facebook plugin by StoreYa.

After you install the plugin, it will appear in your Installed Plugins section in WordPress.

Next, click the WooCommerce tab in the left sidebar (just above Plugins) and click Settings. You’re then prompted to go to StoreYa’s homepage. Click Connect Facebook Fan Page.

Now you’ll see the Import your WordPress Store Onto Facebook page. Note that you can add other ecommerce stores, like Etsy and eBay, by clicking Choose Another Import Solution.

Paste your ecommerce store URL in the field and click Continue.

Wait a few moments for the page to load and then click the green Preview button.

Now you’re taken back to StoreYa, and if everything worked correctly, you’ll see a confirmation message that says “Well done! Your Facebook store is ready.”

Click the Visit Facebook Store button to see what your store looks like.

One great feature of the app is that it imports all of your categories, so your products remain in the same hierarchy as your ecommerce site. This is also true when you connect your store through Etsy or another ecommerce platform.

#3: Display Your Products in a Pinterest Showcase

One of Pinterest’s most promising new business features is Showcase. It acts as a virtual storefront for businesses and lets you put your best products on display in a rotating gallery that can easily be updated.

Lowe’s featured a variety of holiday-themed boards in their showcase throughout the month of December. They included buyable pins that link back to their website, as well as inspirational and informational pins that link to other related websites.

To set up a showcase for your Pinterest business page, go to your page and click the red Add button above Build Your Showcase.

Next, you’ll see the Edit Showcase window with five slots for adding featured boards. Choose the boards you want to feature. Keep in mind that this is designed for buyable pins and standard pins, so it might be beneficial to feature the items you have for sale.

After you’ve selected your featured boards, click Save. You’re then brought back to your homepage where you can view your newly created showcase.

The best part of the Showcase feature is that you can change and adapt it at any time depending on your business goals. As always, it’s a smart idea to test the type of content you post and the frequency of your posts to see how your customers best respond.

#4: Get Personal With Customers on Snapchat

Snapchat ads, which appear between friends’ stories, are reserved for well-known brands with large advertising budgets. For businesses that don’t have the resources or brand recognition to pursue such advertising, Snapchat stories are a free strategic channel for promoting an ecommerce business.

Take a look at cost-conscious clothing retailer Everlane, for example. The company posted a holiday-themed Snapchat story that both engaged viewers and generated brand interest in a non-promotional way.

The story followed two brand ambassadors as they performed random acts of kindness, including handing out Everlane beanies to strangers, buying coffee for people in line at Starbucks, handing out a free AMC gift card, and buying lunch for a construction crew.

After showing their audience which gift they were going to give, they recorded each person’s reaction to the random act of kindness.

The company then urged their followers to “go out and spread those good holiday vibes” with the world around them.

This well-planned Snapchat story illustrates two effective tactics to better engage with your audience.

First, Everlane was able to engage people both in person and in digital spaces. Online retailers usually interact with customers in online spaces only, so using a Snapchat story to interact with people in real life is unexpected, and therefore memorable and impactful. The two women who received free Everlane beanie hats will forever remember the positive interaction with the company.

Second, the free lunch, coffee, and movie gift card provided a less-direct brand experience than the beanie, since it didn’t involve an Everlane product. These acts show the company’s caring side and reinforce their commitment to honestly priced, ethically sourced clothing. This tactic balances the free product giveaway so the Snapchat story doesn’t seem purely promotional.

As you craft a Snapchat story for your business, consider how you can generate interest in your products while reinforcing your brand message. Your goal is to create a memorable experience that makes an impact on digital viewers in real time.

Conclusion

Social media can be a powerful source of ecommerce revenue, so don’t miss out on the latest features today’s social platforms have to offer.

What do you think? How do you use social media for your ecommerce business? What tips can you offer? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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3 Ways to Increase Website Traffic With Snapchat

SNAPCHAT has been around since September of 2011, but it has recently been gaining more popularity than ever before. Through this exciting social media platform, users may send photos and short videos to one another. While it may seem like a redundant app in the face of texting and Instagram, there are actually numerous reasons for its popularity – all of which make it possible to use Snapchat to increase your website traffic.

You see, Snapchat allows users to send images and videos (commonly referred to as ‘snaps’) to chosen recipients. Users are able to add text, emojis, and images to the picture or video before sending it. Videos and images can be up to ten seconds long. After that timer is up, the media vanishes and is deleted from the Snapchat servers – gone forever.

While this short lifespan may sound a bit counterproductive, it actually makes the snaps seem that much more relevant and important. Because the media will disappear after opening, there is a certain sense of urgency to them. In this case, the old adage of “less is more” truly fits the bill. This is a big part of why millions of people are actively using this app several times a day.

In fact, Snapchat has roughly 60 million total installs, which makes it bigger than Instagram was when it sold to Facebook for $1 billion. Out of all of those 60 million installs, Snapchat has 30 million monthly active users. Out of those active users, 55% (16,500,000 people) use Snapchat on a daily basis. That’s a lot of prospective customers!

You can benefit from this large app engagement by using Snapchat to increase your website traffic.

How Snapchat Stories Work

In order to effectively use Snapchat, it’s helpful to understand how the Story aspect of the app works. It’s pretty simple, and is sure to increase your customer engagement:

1. Aim the camera and press the large gray circle to capture an image; press and hold that button to take video
2. Edit and add the photo or video to your Story.
• The “x” at the top-left corner lets you delete that Snap and start over.
• The icons on the top right let you add stickers, bits of text, or drawings.
• The bottom left offers a timer that lets you change the length of time (up to 10 seconds) the image will be shown while your customer watches your Story. You can also tap the downward arrow to save the video or image to your device. The “+” lets you add the video or image to your Story.
3. Confirm you want to add the Story with the pop-up that will show once you press the “+” to add the image or video.
4. Watch your Snap Story to get an idea of what your customers are going to see when they watch your Story. If you change your mind about including it, you can delete it from your Story.

Now, let’s check out the three main ways to use this feature to boost your website traffic:

1. Add Personalization to Your Brand

While blogging is undoubtedly a critical component to any business website, that content isn’t as raw and personal as unedited, short snaps. Snapchat is all about sharing real-life, real-time things that gives your clients and customers a peek into the person behind the brand name.

One of the best ways to increase your website traffic is by personalizing your brand – and Snapchat can help you do exactly that. Give your followers and customers a peek into your life by sharing pictures of your morning coffee, your adorable cat, or a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your office area.

Interact with your business community by getting in touch with them and sharing images with them directly. You can create short videos or fun images (use the drawing feature!) to ask questions related to your latest content, product, or blog post. Ask your followers to snap you back with a comment, or to leave one on your latest blog post. Not only will this increase the traffic to your website, but it will also give you a way to personalize your brand and interact with your customers.

Just like with Instagram and other social types of social media platforms, Snapchat can be used by influencers to boost brand awareness and audience reach. By joining up with other influencers in your industry niche, you can give your website traffic a jumpstart as a new demographic is reached. Influencers who are familiar with Snapchat, and are skilled with the app, would be able to create exciting video and image content that will enhance your brand’s voice and personalization. Give it a try by letting one of your like-minded business friends “take over” your Snapchat for a day!

Do something that sets your brand apart from the rest. For example, someone shot an entire music video using Snapchat and the different lenses/filters available. Doing something different like this will increase interest and engagement with your brand, and will get people talking.

2. Special Offers

Perhaps one of the best ways to use the immediacy of this app is for the distribution of coupons, giveaways, freebies, and other such promotions. You can use Snapchat to send out special discount offers on your products or services, have them interact with your website (leave a comment, share a post) in order take advantage of special promotions, and host giveaways that center around your website. This is an excellent way to drive engagement to your business and increase your website traffic.

Sharing special offers through Snapchat is a great way to boost your traffic, since this app makes it easy to offer a variety of incentives. Numerous businesses use social media to host giveaways and other contests that ask customers and/or followers to like, share, and comment for a chance to win a big prize. Snapchat is a great tool for this! In fact, a staggering 67% of college students stated they would most like to receive discounts or promotions via Snapchat.

Everyone loves giveaways and promotions, but adding a creative spin to the traditional discount will boost your website traffic. For example, you could offer discounts or promotional codes to the customers who watch your entire Snapchat story, or who respond to it with a picture of them holding your product/using your service. Not only will this increase customer-brand engagement, but it will also increase your site traffic.

Finally, Snapchat is great for providing special content to your customers that they wouldn’t receive on your other social media platforms. This gives them some unique insight into your brand, and gives a feeling of exclusivity. Fashion brands like Michael Kors have used Snapchat to show off their collections to followers before the collections ever hit the runway. If you have some new products or services about to come out, you could do something similar. Have them enter a code, comment on a blog article, or share content from your site to show they watched the Snap. Make sure to remind them they won’t find this information on any of your other social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). This will give a sense of urgency to following your brand on Snapchat, and will get them to be more involved in the things your business is doing. This will give your traffic a boost, and increase engagement on the app.

3. Highlight Fun Events

Keep your customers in the know by sharing fun pictures and videos from certain events. If you’re hosting or taking part in any fun things like grand openings, trade shows, conventions, charity events, etc, then Snapchat is a great way to keep your customers in the loop. Sharing video and pictures of these events will give your customers direct access to this fun portion of your business, and will make them feel included and special.

Do you have a new product you’re about to release? Giving customers a special sneak peek of an upcoming product is a great way to ramp up the excitement and get them talking. Since the image or video shared over Snapchat will disappear after a VERY short amount of time, the immediacy factor will boost engagement. You can send the most loyal of your customers exclusive information like upcoming deals, discounts, promotions, etc. This will make them feel like a special part of your business, and will keep them loyal. It will also most likely lead to them sharing this great information, which would drive traffic to your website. For example, Mashable has an App of the Day story on their Snapchat, highlighting a fun new app each day. It has some funky music, an animated example of the app, and a bit of a description about the app itself. It keeps followers informed, engaged, and interested.

Is your business hiring? Use Snapchat to find your next employee! For example, GrubHub has used Snapchat to find an intern equipped with “wicked Snapchat skillz.” By using the Snapchat Stories feature, the company posted an image slideshow that instructed candidates to apply with a snap of their best Snapchat doodle art. By doing something similar with your own company, you would not only show your company is a fun place to work, but would also give your website traffic a boost as people check it out and/or apply.

Final Thoughts

Snapchat is a great way to drive customers and clients to your business website. If you haven’t already started incorporating Snapchat into your marketing strategy, it’s time to change that. This app gives your company a chance to connect with prospective customers from within your target audience, expand your audience reach, and even include a new demographic.

The sense of immediacy and exclusivity makes it perfect for several types of marketing campaigns, such as:

• Behind-the-scenes glimpses into your company
• Finding your newest intern or employee
• Special offers, promotions, and discounts
• Sneak peeks of new products or services
• Sharing slice-of-life happenings and special events, like trade shows and office birthdays

Fun and casual is a style that lends itself well to Snapchat, something which gives your company the chance to let your business brand shine through. Use its creative nature to think outside the box and set your brand apart from others within your business’ industry niche.

Do you use Snapchat for your business? How do you use Snapchat as a way to increase your website traffic? Let us know in the comments below!

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Facebook Are Trying to Hook People Into Stories With a Camera Upgrade

 While Facebook are enjoying continued success with their Stories feature on Instagram and lukewarm success with the Messenger version, the main platform equivalent continues to suffer. Despite the fact that they're winning the battle on two fronts, Facebook are continuing to try and salvage the languishing third version, rather than simply letting it die out as they often do with features which the public don't latch onto.

Their latest attempt to win people around to the idea is a slew of new updates for the in-app camera. These include the ability to create those colourful text posts using the camera, live stream video straight from the camera screen and, most significantly, create GIFs. It works much like Boomerang, enabling you to record a two-second GIF from the camera screen and post it either as a Story, in your news feed or send it as a message to someone else.

These new features are all useful, and certainly have applications above and beyond Story, but that's what Facebook are trying to steer people towards. I'm making a bold prediction here - it won't work.

The issue with Stories isn't that it isn't versatile enough, it's that there are three more popular versions of it on three other applications which all suit it better than the standard Facebook app does.

Facebook's feed is in danger of becoming a cluttered mess, when all anyone actually does is scroll through the news feed, look at other profiles and occasionally check their On This Day tab. GIFs or no GIFs, Stories is a needless appendage.

More to the point, Instagram is already equipped with all the features that Facebook are now adding in, rendering the entire update almost completely pointless. Facebook are in danger of overcommitting with their app synergy, up to the point where there will be little to nothing unique about each individual service beyond its primary function. Migrating features over from Instagram is redundant because those features fit that structure, but don't fit Facebook's.

Sure, Instagram has enjoyed success off the back of these changes, and there is a market for Facebook users who aren't on Instagram, but the thing to bear in mind is that if users don't have Instagram, it's probably because they don't want it. Facebook are in a position now where virtually no decision they make will jeopardise their position at the top of the social media tree, but it would still be nice to see them flexing their imagination a bit more, rather than just rehashing features from other platforms, especially features originally stolen from Snapchat.

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How & Why to Leverage Video in Email

MANY marketers are sometimes left scratching their heads when it comes time to craft the actual content within their emails.

They wonder, “What should I include in my email so that it’s engaging, quickly shares information, and connects with the audience in a meaningful way?” They wrestle with templates and copy and images and rounds of A/B tests trying to find the perfect mix of material. But sometimes, what’s missing is video.

In this post, we’ll look at how and why you should leverage video in email, as well as an easy tool that makes it simple to integrate videos into your email marketing efforts.

First, let’s look at how video has become more and more important in email marketing.

The Rise of Video

Video is no passing trend in marketing. Simply put, it’s a format we can’t ignore.

And it’s growth in recent times has been staggering. In fact, some data indicates that by as soon as 2017, as much as 74% of all internet traffic will be spent watching video. Marketers around the world are taking note–and they’re making sure video is a key part of their strategy moving forward.

Consider how social channels have recently shifted their focus, too. Facebook released Facebook Live for live streaming videos, and Twitter and Instagram also now allow short video recording within their tools. Then there’s video-based Snapchat who has grown by 27% already this year.

When it comes to email, video isn’t something that should be left on the sideline, either. It needs to be integrated and fully taken advantage of to maximize the potential of this marketing channel.

Why? Because it’s extremely effective at communicating messages and engaging multiple senses for fast information processing. Let’s explore in greater detail why video and email work so well as marketing tools.

Why Video is So Effective

Video is effective in email for several different reasons. First of all, it’s the preferred form of content in the preferred distribution channel.

When MarketingSherpa polled consumers to see which format they preferred for communication from businesses, guess what they found? Email was by far the most preferred platform.

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MarketingProfs then asked which content format consumers preferred when researching new products–and found that video was the winner by a long shot.

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As you can see, pairing email and video is effective because it marries the two formats consumers most want–and when you can deliver what people actually want, it’s always going to be more useful and powerful.

But that’s not all. Video is also a fantastic resource in email because it can simplify complex ideas into short sequences, it can be interactive, and overall, it’s more shareable content than static text.

Now that we understand why it’s so effective, let’s look at how you can put video to work.

Ways to Use Video in Email

Here are a few ideas for using video in email:

• Product showcases: Create short videos that give an overview of products and showcase them in use while spotlighting features and benefits.

• Testimonials: These videos are elements of social proof that spotlight past customers who can vouch for your product or service’s quality, results, and their overall personal satisfaction.

• Message from the CEO: Have your CEO craft a personal message to subscribers on a specific subject that builds relationships and adds a face to your brand.

• Explainer video: Put together a quick walk-through or how-to on your product or service that makes a value proposition and drives conversions.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, too. Now you need to learn how to get videos into your actual emails.

Nuts & Bolts: How to Incorporate Video in Email

Using a tool like Viffy, you can add videos to your emails in three simple steps.

1. 1. Upload a YouTube video or a video from your computer.
2. 2. Convert your video to HTML so it can be inserted right into your email.
3. 3. Paste your code into your email builder.

Bonus: Viffy is mobile-friendly, cloud-based, has no monthly fees, and usage is unlimited. You can send as many emails with videos as you want. You don’t have to know how to code or have a computer science degree to use it, either.

Leverage Video in Email Today

You have so many reasons to put video to work in your email marketing–what are you waiting for? Get access to Viffy and test it out today. In no time, your emails will be getting more opens, more clicks, and more overall engagements.

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