eCommerce marketing is a lot like playing a game of chess. You have a strategy, and you have to anticipate your opponent’s next move.
Your moves can feel deliberate at times, but other times they feel more like chance. After all, social media isn’t the same game in the same arena twice, or is it?
Social media marketing has quickly become one of the most popular ways for eCommerce businesses to reach their target audience.
However, this type of marketing requires constant monitoring and re-strategizing if you want to be successful.
This article will help you understand when and how to automate your social media so that you can focus on reaching new customers rather than readjusting your tactics on an almost daily basis.
What is social media automation?
Automation is a great tool for streamlining your marketing process and maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
If you’re not sure what automation is exactly, it can be broken down into two categories:
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Marketing Automation:
This is when you set up an online marketing campaign and have it run without your input.
For example, if you are using email marketing software, you can set up a campaign where new subscribers are sent a welcome email and then sent weekly newsletters.
Marketing automation is used for email campaigns and other forms of communication with customers.
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Business Process Automation:
This is when you use software or apps to manage and run your business tasks. This can include everything from employee scheduling to inventory management.
Business process automation is often used in employee productivity and inventory management.
Why use automation in eCommerce marketing?
If your business is anything like most eCommerce companies, you’re likely experiencing a lot of growth. You may be adding new products, increasing your customer base, and trying to reach new markets.
This is all wonderful news, but it can be incredibly difficult to keep up with your social media marketing strategies. Budgets are often tight, and hiring someone to manage your social media accounts full-time is financially unrealistic.
This is why investing in a social media automation tool can be the best choice for your company.
If you want to stay relevant in your industry, you need to be consistent in your marketing efforts. This will help you avoid being too general and provide a more focused experience for your customers.
Automatic social media tools can help you scale your marketing efforts and keep up with growth without sacrificing your effectiveness and reach.
Why is automation so beneficial for eCommerce?
- Automated social media tools can save you hours of work each week by publishing posts for you, replying to comments, and engaging with potential customers.
- Automated social media posts can be customized to speak to different demographics and target your specific customers. This allows you to publish consistent, targeted messages to your customers.
- Additionally, you can use social media automation to help you avoid negative publicity and focus on high-value content.
- Social media automation also allows you to create consistent branding and messaging. This consistency helps you build your brand and engage with your customers at scale.
How to automate your eCommerce marketing?
Before you begin automating your social media, you need to make sure you understand the different tools available and how they work.
There are a number of tools that can help you automate your social media posting, including Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Tweetdeck.
Most social media automation tools allow you to schedule posts in advance and have them published on your behalf.
However, make sure that you aren’t just dumping posts into your social media accounts. You still need to engage with your audience and respond to comments and posts.
While you can use automation to schedule posts, you’ll need to manually approve them before they publish. This will make sure that the posts you want to appear on your social media accounts are actually published.
3 Tools to Automate Your Social Media Marketing
Sprout Social: Sprout Social is a social media management platform that allows you to manage multiple social media accounts from one place. The platform allows you to schedule posts, monitor your competition, and engage with your followers.
Sprout Social also allows you to create rules and filters to help you automate your social media marketing.
Hootsuite: In addition to helping you schedule content, Hootsuite allows you to monitor and respond to comments and mentions across all your social media channels.
Hootsuite also allows you to create rules similar to filters on Sprout Social.
Meet Edgar: Edgar is an online digital asset management and automation tool. This tool allows you to schedule and repurpose your blog posts. You can also use Edgar to schedule social media posts and track your performance.
Conclusion
Social media automation is a great tool to help you scale your marketing efforts while saving you time and energy. Some of the best eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce have features that allow you to directly market your products on social media.
If you find that your social media marketing is too time-consuming, it might be time to consider exploring social media automation tools.
These tools can help you save time, reach more people, and focus on providing valuable content to your audience.
