The online buying habits are changing profoundly and in recent times the social networks have taken a leading role in encouraging users to buy from an e-commerce, in particular Facebook, not only because it is the most common but also the ability to create highly profiled campaigns.
Facebook ads
Image Credit: byzblog.com

Let's talk about Facebook Ads , ads, promotional capable of intercepting users based on their interests and their personal information, a channel especially useful for companies that have an e-commerce and want to enhance their visibility and increase the rate of conversion . First of all it should be noted that according to a study by Sociable Labs about 50% of users who visit an online store is already logged in to Facebook, a further reason to entice users to make purchases from the site through ads and Sponsored Stories .
Let's find out what are the trends in the Italian market and a few practical examples to make an effective campaign with Facebook Ads.


How to strengthen the brand and increase sales

A very interesting case study is that of HauteLook , an e-commerce clothing and luxury accessories by invitation only, which tested various types of ads on Facebook to let people know the brand and get new members. The campaign involved a discount of 50% exclusive for fans and limited to a single day, dedicated to clothing selected brand partners Diane Von Furstenberg (DVF).

The first step to locate the target was to set up targeted ads to users on Facebook have added between their interests and other brand similar to HauteLook online shop of fashion products with a call to action urging to put a "like" on Fanpage HauteLook in order to access the special offer.

At the same time the updates were posted on the bulletin board on Fanpage both brands with the previews on some products to be offered , to generate curiosity and expectation for promotion. Finally, it was prepared to launch a contest a week before bidding through a third-party tool, encouraging the participants to invite their friends to have a better chance of winning the prize (in this case a shawl DVF and a gift voucher of 500 $ to spend on HauteLook).

Read More: Social Media Sites that can Help You Create a Social Media Viral Strategy

The campaign results were very positive: the promotion launched via Facebook has generated 10% of total sales on site HauteLook in the day of the event, totaled 36,000 new fans of HauteLook, 40% of transactions carried out via Facebook comes from new customers and also the campaign was seen 55 million times.

How to get new clients from abroad?

If you offer special highly viral is easier to reach a broader customer base and of course increase conversions of your e-commerce site. A case study of a well-known brand can be a good suggestion to follow to increase the engagement of the fans even on the markets of other countries.

Domino's Pizza , in fact, is a chain widespread, especially in the U.S. but also in other countries such as Korea, Israel, Canada and the UK to celebrate the 51 th anniversary of the brand has launched a promotional campaign with a discount of 50% on all Orders placed online by fans on Facebook e-commerce platform.

The campaign involved the 20 Domino's Fanpage on to as many different countries, with a series of ads and Sponsored Stories localized , an initiative that brought 542,000 people to make purchases from the official website to take advantage of the offer, valid for only 24 hours .

To obtain these results were followed these steps, which I summarize here:

To attract the interest of those who were already fans of the brand have been published updates on the bulletin board announcing "a big surprise" a week before the event.

The launch took place three days before the offer with a specific tab on the Fanpage, with the option to share the message in 14 different languages.

The Ads and Sponsored Stories campaign was carried out with the aim of increasing the authority of the brand and promote the event itself.

Ads and sponsored stories released on day of the event linkavano to an app that allowed you to order directly from the site . After the user gave the "like" Domino's Pizza in the app added automatic discount in shopping cart site .

Thanks to this campaign, the Domino has managed to beat their own record sales in several countries in one day, expanding their business through Facebook Ads .

More interactions with award travel

The Carnival Cruise Lines is one of the major cruise lines worldwide and offers many popular destinations such as the Caribbean, Bermuda, Hawaii and Europe. The Carnival has been active for several years on Facebook and in 2011 took the occasion of the inauguration of a new ship, the Carnival Magic , launching two promotions and broaden its pool of fans.

The strategy consisted of two phases: in the first half of 2010, the Carnival began a campaign Marketplace Ads to gain fans based on age, geographic location, interests and the like. Were then prepared two competitions, Live Nation and Fun-A-Thon, dedicated to the new cruise ship.

The first contest is giving away the VIP seats at concerts scheduled at the city reached by the cruise, while the Carnival Fun-A-Thon was offering 24 prizes in 24 hours, including a free cruise on the Carnival Magic. In order to participate you had to put the like on the fanpage of Carnival Cruise Lines; ads were directed to U.S. residents above the age of 21 years old.

The company has also used the Sponsored Stories as a complement to spread word of mouth about the contest and intercept the friends of fans. To encourage the participation of fans, on the facebook page were uploaded 11 videos on the opening day of the new ship, each dedicated to an aspect of the event: a tour of the ship, the ceremony of "baptize" the ship, an interview with Captain, etc. ..

Soon after they were launched on the quiz fan-page with premiuna cruise for 4 people in the Caribbean. Due to the success of this campaign, in June 2011 the Carnival Cruise Lines has become the first cruise company to reach one million fans on Facebook. Almost a third of the total fan comes from Facebook Ads and more than 50% of the fan is active daily on the fanpage, confirming a very high level of engagement, and finally the video of the launch of the new ship has been seen 65,000 times.

The integration with the official website Facebook has been completed and the company is planning to experiment with the opportunities provided by social commerce : the Carnival Facebook is not just a tool, but an essential part of an overall strategy, which aims to increase visibility , authority and online sales .

E-commerce in Italy, what future?

It is often said that Italy is lagging behind other European countries in regard to the spread of e-commerce and especially the percentage of online sales. However, according to data reported by eMarketer , the outlook is very positive because if the percentage of users was 38.5% in 2011 is forecast to be 44.1% in 2013 for a total of 13 million customers .

Retailers who have an e-commerce are realizing the importance of social, in fact, 59% of them use social media to promote offers and establish a dialogue with their fans.

The most interesting for those who sell products and services online is the average amount spent by users : despite having fewer users of markets such as Spain, France and Germany, Italy spends more online , the figure amounted to 1380 dollars on average per customer, with an expected growth, according to eMarketer, up to $ 1,885 in 2016, ranking second in Europe after the UK.

The future, in other words, is decidedly on the side of those who decide to invest in e-commerce and chooses to promote itself with activities and strategies in line with your budget.

Facebook Ads is the right tool to expand the customer base and grow their business.

Author Bio:

Ankur is the Digital Media strategist of SEO India Agency. He is also an active blogger and loves to share his experience and knowledge of the SEO India, Internet Marketing and reputation management.

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