Do you want to get more social media fans and followers for your dropshipping store?
A great approach to this is following in the footsteps of other ecommerce stores. With a bit of detective work, you’ll find that savvy brands are using plenty of organic and paid tactics to promote themselves on top social media networks.
In this post, you’ll find seven tips on how to build a social media following for your store, as well as examples of brands that have mastered social media for business. These social media tips will help you create a successful brand online.
Post Contents
- 1. Add Links to Active Social Profiles on Your Website
- 2. Add Links to Active Social Profiles on Other Social Profiles
- 3. Obtain Common Usernames for Your Social Accounts
- 4. Create Consistent Visual Branding
- 5. Retarget Audiences That Are Familiar With Your Products
- 6. Run a Giveaway
- 7. Establish an Ambassador Program
- Bonus Social Media Tip: Protect Your Social Media Audiences
- In Conclusion
- Want to Learn More?
1. Add Links to Active Social Profiles on Your Website
First up: Have you looked at the social links on your website lately?
Make sure to link to all your social media accounts from your website. And if you aren’t actively using all of the social networks linked to from your website, you’re missing out on opportunities to build your audience on other channels.
Let’s say that someone clicks on your Twitter link, but you haven’t updated that profile in years. They may not take the time to visit your other profiles.
If you focus your links on social networks you’re most active on, you’ll build your audiences on the networks most likely to drive people back to your store.
2. Add Links to Active Social Profiles on Other Social Profiles
Another tip on how to build a social media following is to “cross-pollinate.” Social channels like YouTube allow you to link to your other social media pages and profiles.
You can add or edit to these links by going to your YouTube channel’s “About” tab and clicking on the “Customize Channel” button.
Scroll down until you see the “Links” section.
Hit the plus-sign button. In the “Link title” field, type the text you want the links to display with, like “Instagram” for your Instagram account (unless you want to get creative), and paste in the corresponding URL.
Lather, rinse, and repeat until you’ve added them all.
As an added promotional boost, you can have up to five of these links display at the bottom right corner of your channel art. Choose this number in the dropdown and make sure you add them in the order you’d like them to appear.
When you enter a custom link for your store, your store name will appear next to it, making it stand out from your social links. This will give your YouTube channel visitors and subscribers the chance to visit your store or become fans of your other social accounts.
3. Obtain Common Usernames for Your Social Accounts
One of the most important social media tips is obtaining a consistent username. This helps your fans and customers find your store easier and know it’s your store from one social network to the next.
You can see how Brilliant Bicycle Co. does this on its Facebook page, @ridebrilliant…
On its Instagram @ridebrilliant…
On its Twitter… @ridebrilliant
And on its Pinterest @ridebrilliant.
However, anyone who’s done social media for business can tell you that, sometimes, you just can’t get the same name on every account.
If you find yourself in this predicament, no sweat – here are some more tips on how to grow a social media following even if you can’t have consistent usernames.
4. Create Consistent Visual Branding
Consistent visual branding is critical in the world of social media for business. Specifically, think about the profile and cover photos.
Penguin Books doesn’t use the same cover photos, but it does use photos with similar coloring and subject matter on its Facebook page…
On its Twitter profile…
And on its LinkedIn company page.
For networks like Instagram that lack a cover photo, the publishing company uploads individual images with the same theme.
As you can see, the consistent logo and use of orange from one property to the next signals that it’s the same brand running them all, even if the usernames and company names are different.
5. Retarget Audiences That Are Familiar With Your Products
Do you want to kill two birds with one stone? Create retargeting ads (also called remarketing ads) on the top social media advertising platforms.
These ads will not only give you the chance to remind your website visitors about your great products, but they will also give those users a chance to connect with your store on social media.
Online retailers like Leesa retarget website visitors on Facebook. In addition to shopping, ads in the Facebook news feed also give your targeted audience the option to like your Facebook page.
Rothy’s retargets website visitors on Instagram. Ads in the Instagram news feed don’t show a follow button in addition to the “Shop Now” call to action, but your targeted audience can tap on your store’s username to visit and follow your account.
Twitter and LinkedIn also offer similar advertising options that allow you to target your website visitors with ads that can promote your products and your accounts on each network.
6. Run a Giveaway
One of the best social media tips for growing your following is to run a giveaway.
Why? It’s simple: Everyone loves free stuff. So, when they flock to enter, you skyrocket your audience.
Shopify has apps that allow you to run giveaways and contests where participants can earn entries by following your social media channels.
Tactical Gear, for example, runs a monthly contest where entries are earned by following the store on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
7. Establish an Ambassador Program
Another one of our top social media tips is to get people talking about your store on social networks via an ambassador program. Shopify integrates with several brand ambassador services, allowing ecommerce store owners to recruit people to share their love for the brand with their social audiences.
Riveter, an online retailer of bags and accessories, runs an ambassador program in which loyal fans of the store’s products talk about them on Facebook…
On Instagram…
And on Twitter.
In each of the above posts, ambassadors and fans of R. Riveter include a link to the store’s username. This can help increase its brand awareness and fanbase on each of the top social networks.
That’s it for our seven social media tips. But we’re feeling generous, so here’s one more!
Bonus Social Media Tip: Protect Your Social Media Audiences
What’s just as important as building your audience and engaging with them on the top social networks? Keeping them secure. If you don’t take security precautions with your social accounts, you could lose them, along with your audiences.
And that would be a very sad thing after you’ve spent all this time learning how to grow a social media following.
So, here are a few ways to keep your social accounts secure as you’re mastering the art of social media for business.
- Enable two-factor login authentication and create backup login codes on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and other networks. This will ensure that any logins made to your social accounts are made by you and that you can recover your account easier. Remember to configure this security feature for your Shopify store, too.
- Review security settings for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and other social network accounts. On applicable networks, you should also review settings for advertising accounts, business manager dashboards, company pages, and groups. Remove any users and apps that no longer need access to those accounts and properties.
- Check user access to third-party social media tools that you’re using, such as Buffer, HootSuite, or Sprout Social, to ensure that all messages posted to your social accounts are authorized.
- Make sure any employees or consultants with access to your social accounts also enable two-factor login authentication, create backup codes, and review their security settings for personal social accounts that have access to your store’s social media pages and properties.
These simple social media tips will reduce the likelihood of your social accounts getting hacked, hijacked, or stolen, so that you can keep your hard-earned brand and audiences.
In Conclusion
As you can see, there are several ways you can start growing your social media audiences, including organic and paid advertising methods.
Each of these social media tips should allow you to create a strong base of social media fans – fans that can become customers and ambassadors for your store’s brand. So, use these social media tips as a starting point as you continue your quest of learning how to build a social media following.