The social media section of your Stats shows you how many visits you receive from social media and which networks are sending your shop the most traffic. Building your own network of followers is a smart way to promote your business, because you have the potential to reach your followers’ network: each time one of your followers shares your post, their friends, family, and connections see your products in their feed. All those impressions can have a measurable impact on your business.
Here’s how to use the information in your Stats to optimize your social media marketing efforts and online promotion strategy.
Prioritize your time
Use the social media graph in your Stats to see which social media sites are sending you the most traffic. This can help you decide where your social media promotion efforts are best spent. You don't need to be an expert on every single social media channel. Instead, focus your time and energy on the social media site that’s bringing you the most traffic, and look for ways you can drive more traffic to your shop from that channel. Get quick tips for using each of the major social media channels.
Invest your money where it counts
Investing your time and money in the network that’s resonating with your customers will have the biggest payoff for your brand. Paid advertising on social media might also boost your following and help you reach new potential customers. For example:
- If Instagram is your top performing network, switch to a free Instagram business account to get access to more stats about your followers and learn which posts your followers are engaging with most. With a business account, you can also quickly turn your top-performing posts into paid ads.
- If your customers are most active on Facebook, you could try using Facebook ads to boost your brand’s visibility.
- If your followers love Pinterest, other Pinners may also be interested in your brand. Promoted Pins might help you reach them.
Build your following
If you’re not seeing the number of visits from social media that you’d like to see, there are a few things you can do to grow your following and reach more customers.
- Use relevant hashtags. On networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr, hashtags help users discover your posts. Include tags on your postings that are specific and relevant to what you’re sharing and look at what’s trending to see how your products might fit in. (Don’t “stuff” your posts with trending tags that aren’t relevant to your product or post.) Read How to Launch a Hashtag Campaign for more tips.
- Spread the word. Add links to your social media channels in the About section of your Etsy shop, in your email newsletter, on your business card—anywhere a potential customer might interact with your brand.
- Work with an influencer. Partnering with an influencer whose followers and aesthetic are similar to yours can build your following. Learn more about working with influencers.
For best results, you might need to adjust your social media strategy over time as your audience grows. Look at trends in your traffic from social media regularly, so you can tweak and improve your social media strategy. On the Traffic details page of your Stats you can see what percentage of your traffic is coming from social media, compare your year-over-year traffic from social media, and see which listings are bringing you the most traffic from sites like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Use this information to identify trends in your traffic and adjust your strategy.
Words by Taylor Combs
