E-commerce is the business wave of the future. Ecommerce is the practice of selling or buying products online, something that pretty much everyone does on almost a daily basis, and the fact is that this will only continue to grow into a future where all transactions are completed online rather than in person. One of the greatest parts of ecommerce is that it has lowered the barriers to entry for new business owners, as now all you need to get started with a business is a website and a supplier, of which there are tons of great options for ecommerce sites of all varieties. If you are just starting your ecommerce business, or are already running a successful ecommerce operation, you may be wondering just how to boost your ecommerce business into the next gear. The answer to that question is simple – integration. Your ecommerce business can integrate with all sorts of other sites. Here are the ten best platforms that integrate well with ecommerce businesses.
The classic, the behemoth, the original, Facebook has been and will continue to be the best platform for integration with an ecommerce business. Facebook is a great place, in fact, probably the best place to put advertisements for your ecommerce business. Facebook is great for advertising an ecommerce business as it is a recreational site, meaning that people are relaxed and in a social mood when surfing the site. This means that people are more likely to engage with advertisements for recreational products and could be far more likely to be in a shopping mindset while viewing Facebook for instance rather than surfing a business website. If you are not advertising on Facebook, then that is the best place to start with integrations.
Oh Pinterest, one of the best and most easily neglected social media platforms for ecommerce sites to integrate with. Pinterest is a great choice for advertising with your ecommerce site as well since it is often used to create “vision boards” by users. A “vision board” is a collection of images and ideas that are strung together as a sort of idealized image of the future, a goal, or a dream that the user has. This means by using high quality images and thoughtful copy, you can catch potential customers in a position where they are hoping and dreaming for things that will change their lives for the better. What better time to catch potential customers for your products on your ecommerce site?
Instagram is another “must-integrate” site with your ecommerce websites. Yet another item on the list that is a social media platform (get ready there’s a lot of them on this list) meaning it is a great place to get people talking about your business. Instagram is a photo sharing site that allows users to post images with captions to their feed, which then displays in chronological order on your feed of people you follow. Instagram is a great social media platform for advertising, as ads show up appearing the exact same as user generated posts, so potential customers are more likely to see and engage with your ads as a real post from a real user. If you aren’t already using Instagram to grow your customer base and increase your ecommerce’s sites visibility, then you are on the backfoot.
YouTube
YouTube is another classic of the internet that has been around as far back as 2008 and is still one of the most popular entertainment sites for internet users everywhere. YouTube receives millions and millions of viewers every day and offers a great platform for advertising. You can choose to advertise at the beginning or interspersed throughout the middle of videos, or you can create videos of your own to show off your products, review them, and even give tutorials on how to use or build your products if that information is relevant. YouTube has been and will continue to be one of the most popular websites on the internet and including it in the integration of your ecommerce site only makes sense.
TikTok
TikTok is one of the newer social media platforms out there but one that has taken the world by storm. The app was originally called Music.ly but changed its name to TikTok a few years ago and has quickly become the most popular video sharing social media site in the world. TikTok offers users the ability to create short videos with either original or shared sound files that serve as the background track. This has allowed for the craze of TikTok dances to emerge, where a particular song has a dance to it that millions of users recreate. If you know how to utilize TikTok correctly, it can easily become one of the best sites to grow your ecommerce brand. TikTok can give you greater brand exposure and create a community. Give TikTok a try and see what it can do for your ecommerce business.
Twitter is another one of the original and heavy hitting social media sites that can integrate very well with ecommerce. Twitter allows users to post 140-character blurbs, called tweets, to a user’s timeline where it is displayed in chronological order with other people a user follows on their timeline. You can then reply to tweets, quote tweets, and even retweet tweets that you agree with, disagree with, or find interesting. Twitter allows the opportunity to converse over social media with fans and other users as well as offering a great advertising opportunity. You should start using Twitter if you are an ecommerce business owner to grow your brand and converse with your customers.
Snapchat
The second to last social media site featured on this list of ten platforms that integrate well with ecommerce is Snapchat. Snapchat has been around for nearly a decade now, and in that time has become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Snapchat, rather than providing a simple text interface for conversation, facilitates communication via the use of images that are shared for a brief period before being deleted. Snapchat also offers story functionality allowing you to post images or videos for all your followers to see and features shared stories from sites and companies. This allows a great opportunity for advertising. Your business can also operate a Snapchat of its own, sharing stories with followers to show them the behind the scenes at your ecommerce site.
LinkedIn is our final social media site on this list. LinkedIn is the business social media platform, allowing users to share posts like Facebook but gearing the conversation towards business, careers, and job hunting and searching. LinkedIn is important for growing your ecommerce business in the business world, helping you attract new employees and connections that wouldn’t have previously been available. As a business owner you should and must be on LinkedIn and should post with some regular frequency to keep your followers engaged.
Another platform that is perhaps the oldest one mentioned here on this list that ecommerce businesses simply must integrate with is email. Email is simply an electronic mail service that allows you to send letters, attachments, and files in seconds to any other email user on the planet. Email can be great for ecommerce businesses as it allows you to send out newsletters, targeted ads, and discounts to loyal and previous customers in the hopes of receiving return business. If your ecommerce site isn’t using email to interact with customers on a weekly basis then you are far behind the curve and you are neglecting an easy opportunity to connect with customers, converse, and increase your conversion rates. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, and email works wonders for ecommerce businesses.
Spotify
And finally on this list of platforms that integrate well with ecommerce business is Spotify. Spotify is a music streaming service that allows listeners to enjoy music by popular and up and coming artists alike for a small membership fee or by listening to advertisements every few songs to continue listening. This means that with Spotify you can offer customers audio advertisement, an area of advertising that is hardly used anymore but is wildly effective at converting listeners into customers. If your ecommerce site isn’t using Spotify as a legitimate advertising platform then you are missing out on tons of sales. Everyone loves music, and millions of people listen to Spotify every day, so get out there and get your ecommerce site on Spotify.
Ecommerce may be the greatest thing that ever happened to business. While simultaneously decreasing the barrier to entry into business ownership and making business entirely remote, ecommerce has allowed virtually anyone with access to the internet the ability to become a business owner in a matter of hours. But running an ecommerce site is harder than simply starting one. To keep your ecommerce site successful, you are going to need to integrate other platforms. Start by considering these ten platforms when you are looking for new ways to integrate your ecommerce site.
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