Build it and they will come? No, not really!
Socially Shoppable has huge plans in the near future. We plan to bring simplicity, social, and ease of shopping to the internet unlike anything you see on the internet today. We launched the Socially Shoppable Style magazine in August of 2014 as a growth strategy for our new e-commerce platform.
I know what you may be thinking. Cool, I can create a blog too. This should be easy. I would caution you if you have these thoughts in your head because it takes much more to get started than you may think. My intention is not to talk you out of creating a blog as a growth strategy, but to encourage you to prepare for the long haul and be ready to work hard if you plan on bringing any value in this very crowded space.
So, here’s my advice:
1. Create your own blog – start small and pick 3 niches. The SS Style magazine chose to focus on Fashion-tech, biz, and shopping. The more narrow your target is, the better. Stay away from picking topics that are too broad because it 
will be very difficult to compete for traffic with all of the competition out there.
Have unique written content and photos. This may seem like a no-brainer but you would be surprised by the total disregard by bloggers out there on the net. Google rewards unique content in the search engine results and the higher you rank in the search engines, the more traffic, the more revenue. Also, always bring your camera with you because you never know when a “money shot” may show up when you are out and about. We’ve noticed at SS Style that our “street style” photos get a huge amount of buzz as well as traffic socially. Shooting “street style” is a great way to start creating content that is unique and not to mention it’s free. This is a great way to start to generate traction especially if you are just starting out.
I recommend creating your blog in WordPress because of its ease of use and terrific plugins that will help you later to drive traffic. Read more on driving traffic here.
2. Social Media – This is another great technique to get loyal followers before launching your website, or app. Make sure that you understand who your audience is here before posting to Social Media. Keep in mind, the plan is to take a follower and turn them into a paying customer when your app, or website is ready. This can only be achieved by understanding your audience and providing them with content that is aligned with what you plan to sell them.
Here is a little insight on what we’ve noticed with social media traffic. There are several platforms that you can focus on. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. I know there are others emerging but for the sake of this article, let’s stick with the big four. Keep in mind that your results will vary based on the amount of followers you have.
Social Media Insight
1. Insight number one – Instagram
Instagram is by in large a mobile platform first. Sure they have a desktop version but it works best as a mobile app. That 
said, it can be extremely challenging to get followers to go from mobile to a website. We’ve personally seen very little results in terms of traffic conversion due to this issue. Here is what we recommend to get the most of your Instagram followers.
Create a link directly to your latest blog post from the “edit profile” page of your instagram account. This has worked out great for us. There is an option you can choose to add a url to your website. Just simply update each time you add a new blog post. This is a great way to get instagram followers straight to the specific blog post that you are promoting.
2. Insight number 2 – Facebook
Before you go out and spend a ton of time getting your friends to follow you; expect little support from friends and family over the long haul. We’ve personally noticed that your friends and family will naturally support you initially and then start to die off. This is not a viable strategy, so don’t expect to see a whole lot of growth here.
Facebook could be great if you have a little money to run ads and build your fan base. Otherwise, it’s just too difficult these days to get organic reach and may not be worth the time.
3. Insight number 3 – Twitter
People go to Twitter to read news and not necessarily buy fashion related products. That said, I would keep the narrative short; provide valuable insight in the fashion industry and don’t try to sell. This can be a major turn off on this particular platform unless your followers are there because they know you, love your products, and want to be alerted of deals.
We noticed that when we follow “influencers” that have a large following and comment on their stuff, we get residual following from that users base of fans. You must stay active and offer valuable insight as well. This is a great way to piggy back off of another users fan base and increase your following. So how do you find influencers you ask? Use http://topsy.com/s?q=fashion&type=tweet – in this example I simply typed in “fashion” under tweets and it shows me some of the influencers for that particular word. Try this tool out, it’s very helpful and will save you a ton of time.
4. Insight number 4 – Pinterest
Pinterest seems to be the best fit. This platform was built with desktop in mind given the nature of the site, which is primarily visual. We are still experimenting here and expect to see great traction from Pinterest, especially as the user base continues to grow. We will keep you posted in the future with our findings here.
Engineering for Growth
This is one of my favorites and requires some real creativity and technical skills to make this work. There are several sites out there like this one here by Allison Beal and Style Saint – https://www.saintsociety.com/society. This is a brilliant idea to create traction and growth. She created a “mood board”, kind of like Pinterest, to enable users to collaborate with each other. An idea like this creates tremendous value, a loyal following, and more sales!
Ultimately growth will come from hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance. Whether you go with blogging, Social, or engineering as a growth engine, you must be willing to stick with it and persevere. It takes time to build a loyal following, but totally worth all the struggle in the end.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Share your growth strategies with us below!
HAPPY SHOPPING!
Share On
