dropship explorer

HARNESS THE PEOPLE POWER: We live in the era of social media. In fact, most of the time it feels as if people’s lives actually play out on Facebook and Instagram, the real events a mere echo of how situations and events are portrayed on-line. When you are trying to get your e-commerce business off the ground, harnessing all this people power out there is a great and cost-effective way to boost the traffic to your website in that initial period when your store is fledgling and the search engines haven’t yet gotten wind of how awesome you are.

STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW BEST: The number and type of social media platforms ruling the life on www is growing by the minute and different platforms target different audiences. When you’re starting off your dropship store, don’t spread yourself too thin with different social media if you’re not savvy at it. Choose one or two networks/channels that are the best fit for your business and focus on growing your following there.

To help you decide what works best for your particular situation, have a look at a few tips we’ve put together here and get busy socializing.

FACEBOOK – THE LARGEST AUDIENCE: Even though it may seem that Facebook is not what it used to be 3-5 years ago, it is still the undisputed king of social media networks in most markets. The platform is available on all types of devices, with the mobile app arguably providing an even better user experience than the desktop interface. There is a whooping 1.28 billion people logging in as daily active users on Facebook. Just imagine the possibilities and the audience out there for your business.

There are numerous on-line guides on how to use Facebook to your advantage. The posts on your store’s page need to be engaging, provide more than just links to products and let in snippets of you, your personal traits and your fun side – social media is about fun. Potentially the most powerful tool that Facebook provides you with is their advertizing. Its power lies in the fact that Facebook lets you target ads with the demographic information of their users so that you optimize them and have them seen by the people most likely to make a purchase in your store. They are relatively inexpensive and could really give your business a boost.

TWITTER – TARGETED MESSAGES: The micro-blogging platform is especially popular with businesses as you can post short, targeted messages – 140-character tweets (talk about succinct!) – containing links to more information or other content. Twitter is really your gateway through which you let people in on your store, but not just that – you strive to add value and thereby link to useful information related to e.g. working with your business, news stories or blog post you’ve published, useful product reviews, discounts, sales, or even how to videos you’ve made if relevant for your brand. Adding value and a personal touch to your tweets is what gets your audience engaged and keeps them coming back for more. And engaging in fun repartees on Twitter, or responding to your customer’s questions promptly and wittily is bound to win you some fans!

INSTAGRAM – PICTURE PERFECT: Life is perfect on Instagram! And do businesses know it – just look at the feeds of some well established brands and you’ll see how they work their magic with stunning images and grow their following. If the visual aspect is an important part of your business, than Instagram is the place to be. It’s not the road to linking and clicking – Instagram allows 1 link, in the profile description and that’s it. Instead you use tagging and strategic placement of hashtags to promote your content and garner attention from your followers, as well as get new ones (although, you should beware of the shadowban). Instagram is about good quality photography and creating the atmosphere that you want to project about your brand. For a detailed how to, check here and here.

YouTube – ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS: If you are targeting a particular niche with your business, YouTube can be your best friend. It’s great for product reviews, how-to videos, tutorials – a much more immediate way to broadcast to your target audience and get them engaged in the products you are trying to sell. This step by step guide has it all covered, from how to set up your account to how to get people clicking and liking your content.

QUALITY CONTENT WORKS EVERYWHERE: We’ve covered the importance of good quality content and the power of the blog for your nascent business here. It is how your formulate and present the message and/or philosophy of your business and communicate it to the world that sets you out among the crowd. It is worth investing time in producing good-quality, engaging content, strategizing your Facebook Ads and timing your promotions and sales to garner as much attention from social media users. You need to add value to your profiles/pages, put out engaging content and make good on the promise by growing a reliable and respectable e-commerce business. Tweet away and power to the people! ;)