Connecting up your social media accounts and your Amazon listings can be one of the most cost-effective and powerful ways of getting more customers to your pages. But if you start off without organizing yourself properly, you may end up spending far more time than you need to on the job.
It can even get so difficult to keep blogs, Instagram and Facebook updated that you give up. So it’s well worth taking the time to put some good organization in place right from the start.
First of all, you want to keep all your content and media in one place, instead of writing separate blog posts and Facebook messages, then taking extra photos for Instagram, for instance. Think of the most useful way of keeping your content together, which might be by campaign (‘Holidays 2023’, ‘Vacation Special) or by customer (‘Young Couples, ‘Cat Lovers) rather than by product or date. Then you’ll be able to easily pick the right material for particular posts.
All your content can then be re-purposed for different accounts. For instance, your blog posts can all be reused on Amazon Posts, and your Instagram pictures can all be posted on Twitter with relevant comments. You might have a tweet pointing to your blog every time you make a new post.
Make sure all your accounts display the URL for other accounts, so that someone who enjoys your Instagram or Pinterest content can look up your Twitter feed and Facebook page, and (which people forget!) your Amazon storefront! People very often will follow one or more of the links if they’ve already found content they like.
Although blogs and social media are not great places to make sales, as “over-salesy” content really puts readers off, don’t forget that people may well be reading as part of their preparation for a purchase. For instance, if you have a piece on how to introduce a new cat to your home, readers are likely to be bringing a new cat home some time soon, so if you have products that can help make the new pet comfortable, feature the links to your listings below the article. That’s not obtrusive, but it provides practical help and is quite likely to get you extra sales.
If you have a blog on decorating or fashion, links to “Get the look” products are always useful. They don’t always have to be your own products; if you think something is useful, include it. (You may always be able to get on an affiliate program, if you want to, but be sure to disclose this.) For instance, if you sell dog carriers, collar and leashes, but not food, feel free to recommend your favorite dog food and add a link.
There are a number of pieces of software and widgets that can help you link your accounts. For instance, the Elfsight widget lets you show your Amazon reviews on your own site or on social media, bringing social proof to your web page. It’s well worth your while looking into the capabilities of different software, including the packages you use already. Doing everything manually is a huge waste of time when it can be automated!
Don’t forget to use Amazon Attribution to check where your purchasers are coming from. Again, you should be able to automate this so you can see if Facebook is bringing more buyers than the blog, or vice versa.
Creating special social media promotion and coupon codes is a breeze, and can add spice to your sales. All you need to do is create a new code via Seller Central, add as many ASINs as you want, decide the amount of the discount, and the start and end date. (The longest you can run an offer for is a month.)
Last, and perhaps most important, schedule your content creation. Some sellers work on “Friday is content creation day”, and that’s great, because you want followers to know they’ll see regular blog posts. Make sure you have a diary date with your social media, or else you need to think about outsourcing it!
