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It should come as no surprise that business driven by the Internet is on the rise. More stores are offering online shopping options, and strictly-online businesses such as Amazon.com have been cashing in on the online market for years.

According to multichannelmerchant.com, over 60 percent of adults now use social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter on a regular basis.
But the question remains: how to capitalize on this ever-expanding market?

Be Creative With Social Media

Social media utilization requires a different strategy than simple advertising. Yes, there are sponsored ads on Facebook, but that is not going to drive up sales the way more inventive forms of marketing will.

If a flower shop wants to encourage shoppers to order online, perhaps offer them a deal via Facebook interaction. If a customer “likes” the company on Facebook, they can get a discount on their flower delivery. Or, provide some sort of interactive option on Facebook. A quiz visitors can take to find out which bouquet is right for them or their loved one. Once the quiz is finished, give them the option to be taken directly to the shop’s website where they can order the bouquet they saw as an answer in the quiz.

Engage Your Customers

By allowing users to engage with a product, rather than be passively sold to, companies increase the likelihood not only of increasing sales, but strengthening brand loyalty and increasing returning customers. 

Another way to ensure customer loyalty, encourage customers to share their pictures, thoughts and experiences with and about products— customers can send a tweet to the flower shop with a picture of the bouquet and the happy recipient. Or open the Facebook wall so customers can share their experiences. Let them share their experiences with other customers of the shop.

Keep it Interesting and Up to Date

Once the customers are engaged in your company’s social media presence, make sure the information that is available to them is always new and fresh. Social media is not a onetime thing. It is a constantly developing relationship with customers. They want new information about the new deals, new pictures, new products and new content. If you only update social media outlets every few months, the customer base is going to disappear— to competitors who are actively engaged.

The key to successfully utilizing all the possibilities of social media is providing customers with more than just a nice fan page to look at or well-made advertisements. Customers who visit your site will be receptive to those types of tactics, but to convince other users that your flower shop, geeky gift shop, shoe store or any other online business is better than the millions of competitors out there, the key is engagement