Social media is a full time job, and time is a luxury most ecommerce marketers and brand operators don’t have. Another ugly truth? Five minutes a day of social media a day isn’t going to accomplish much, will it? How can you get active consumers and brand evangelists to “work” for you? There are a few more ways, outside of the traditional social box, to get more social content without spending (much) of your own time.
When you’re posting great content with even greater photos on your ecommerce site’s blog, you’ll get pinned. This is basic. But how do you encourage more engagement and kick your pins’ visibility into overdrive? Invite other users to pin to boards with you. Finding pinners active in your vertical is as easy as a Pinterest search. Few pinners are likely to accept, but if your board is interesting enough, you’ll see pins popping up every once in a while.
The key is in your boards, though. You can’t expect to stimulate a bunch of fashion consumers into pinning for you when your board is something as painfully boring as “Cashmere”. Yawn much? Lets kick it up a notch. “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Real Fur”, “Cold Weather Couture”, and “Plaiddicts Anonymous” (get it?) are all titles that can get someone’s attention, play to their sensibilities, and might self-sustain by attracting new users.
Tip: joining a group board is a great way to increase your sprawl! Just make sure you aren’t posting duplicate photos or over-pinning.
Within each community are sub-communities, sub-communities of sub-communities and so on. There is always an untapped niche and an unspoken community. Why not start a subreddit that relates to your ecommerce product line? Reddit for marketers essentially requires that you don’t take yourself too seriously. Some of the best nichey subreddits have been:
Fashion: /r/ABraThatFits “because everyone that wants one deserves a bra that fits.”
Toys & Gaming: /r/GreenDawn “taking over the world, one little green soldier at a time.”
Gadgets: /r/TechSupportMacGuyver hacking your gadgets and tech in true MacGuyver style.
Appliances: /r/ToasterRights it’s exactly what it sounds like, but better.
All of the above subreddits are active communities that have been given the covetous “subreddit of the day” award. They also all have over 3,000 subscribers. That’s a lot of engagement potential. How many of these subreddits seem like gold mines for link drop opportunities? Answer: all of them.
When momentum picks up, try to appoint new moderators to your subreddit. This is how you know you’ve proverbially “made it” as it will save you a lot of time and keep your community in control.
Creating a subreddit as a brand is not recommended. Redditors do not tolerate this kind of thing. Rather, craft a persona that will be active in your subreddit, as well as other relevant subs. This will give more credibility to your username and your brand new community by association.
For more tips of the trade, check out the entire ebook, Mastering Social Media: The Guide to Boosting Ecommerce Profits for Indie Retailers.
Katie Patkowski manages all things social media for Retail Packaging.