E-commerce is the fastest growing segment of retail. eCommerce sales had been expected to grow from $305 billion in 2017 to $434 billion by 2021, according to Statista. But as more businesses rush to set up their own e-commerce store, selling directly to customers online rather than through a reselling intermediary such as an wholesaler or distributor, the market has become saturated with options. No matter what type of product you’re selling, it’s getting increasingly difficult to stand out. That’s why social media marketing is your secret weapon when it comes to increasing e-commerce sales. When combined with other tactics like search engine optimization and paid advertising, social media can help you attract new customers, keep old ones coming back for more and get them talking about your brand on their own social media channels.

1. Develop a Strong Content Marketing Strategy

While some companies may have success with a purely paid-advertising-based strategy, many more have found that investing in a strong content marketing strategy will bring them greater long-term rewards. For e-commerce businesses, that means creating compelling content that your target audience will want to read and share.

To that end, start by understanding your audience. Some e-commerce businesses will sell to different segments of customers and therefore require different marketing strategies. Others will sell to a common customer base. If your products fall under the latter category, you’ll want to make sure that your content is relevant to the daily lives of your audience members.

What do they spend their free time doing? What causes do they believe in? What do they wish the world could be like? How do they like to spend money? The more you know about the types of people who are likely to buy your product, the easier it will be to reach out to them and connect with them on a personal level.

2. Run Ads to Build Brand Awareness

If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ve seen your fair share of fads come and go. The internet, and e-commerce in particular, has brought us many trends — the latest of which is live video. As video marketing becomes a more essential part of the business landscape, live video is an increasingly popular marketing tool.

And while it can provide an excellent way to engage with your audience and drive sales, it can be tricky to determine when to go live — and how to do it effectively. Fortunately, live video can also be used as an advertising tool.

You can start a live broadcast, promote it through your other marketing channels and attract new viewers. That’s because most live video platforms will allow you to include advertisements in your broadcast.

3. Use Paid Advertising to Grow Your Audience

If your content marketing strategy has run its course and you’re looking to diversify your marketing efforts, you might consider paid advertising. Paid advertisements come in a variety of forms, including Google search ads and promoted posts on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

For e-commerce businesses, one of the most effective paid advertising methods is paid search. Paid search ads allow you to place your ad at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) when someone searches for a related keyword.

By bidding on popular keywords, you can ensure that your ad appears in front of a large audience. That, in turn, can lead to more clicks, more sales and more conversions.

4. Boost User Experience with SEO

When it comes to SEO, it’s important to remember that your focus is on improving user experience. That’s because the search engine ranking factor (SERF) known as user experience is the most important one. If you’re able to boost the user experience of your website, you’ll see an increase in your e-commerce sales.

That’s because improving the user experience also improves your website’s organic traffic. In fact, a study reported by Search Engine Journal found that a website’s organic traffic is the most significant factor in its ability to drive e-commerce sales.

That’s why e-commerce businesses that focus on improving the user experience can expect to see a significant increase in their organic traffic. Meanwhile, their competition will struggle to keep up with the rising tide.

5. Leverage Influencer Marketing

The word is out: Influencer marketing works. That’s why e-commerce businesses can take advantage of this proven marketing strategy to drive significant improvements in their sales and brand awareness. But how can e-commerce businesses leverage the power of influencers? There are a few ways.

You can reach out to established bloggers and ask them if they’d be willing to write about your product in exchange for a free sample. You can also try to connect with micro-influencers — people who have a large, but not necessarily a celebrity-level, audience.

You can pay an influencer to review or write about your product — though you may have to be willing to part with a significant portion of your marketing budget to make this happen.

There’s a huge opportunity for you to grow your business, provided you know how to reach your potential customers. To use social media to reach your potential customers, you’ll need to invest time and energy into creating the best possible content, focusing on the right channels for your business and then promoting your posts to maximize your impact.

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to growing your e-commerce sales with the help of social media marketing.