The Power Of Meta Shopping - With Kara Hackett
THE POWER OF META SHOPPING
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE SERVICES YOU OFFER?
I offer bespoke social media training, and management services for fashion and e-commerce clients. This covers anything from teaching the basics or ‘pain points’ of a particular platform (Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest), to building out a comprehensive social media strategy; alleviating the stress of running a platform from a client or building out a target driven Meta ads campaign.
WHY IS INSTAGRAM/ META SHOPPING SO IMPORTANT FOR A BRAND?
With the fast evolving social media landscape, consumers have unfortunately become increasingly impatient. You therefore want your customers to be able to navigate from your social media content to your website product pages seamlessly and with as few ‘taps’ as possible - interactive product tagging via your Meta shop allows you to do just that.
Furthermore, product tagging in paid Meta ads allows you to offer a more personalised and interactive shopping experience, and showcase your product offering to tailored audiences.
CAN YOU NAME A FEW OF YOUR FAVOURITE ONLINE BRANDS THAT USE META PRODUCT TAGGING SUCCESSFULLY?
WIGGY KIT
Feminine and unique collections made in fairly limited quantities, and I love the storytelling in their paid and organic content.
GRAHAM ST FASHION
Not a brand per se, but a photographer and stylist duo who showcase (often tagged) products on behalf of brands in a refreshing and dynamic way. A great way to demonstrate how brands, big or small, can work cleverly with content creators.
JESSICA MCCORMACK
The coolest and most exquisite jewellery who break the often ‘static’ mould of luxury brands ~ I needn’t navigate further than the product tags but a girl can dream!
46STITCH
I discovered Hannah’s wonderful brand during lockdown and have been a superfan ever since. She often sells her products via limited online drops and so they often aren't around long enough to make it onto her Meta shop BUT I’d be remiss not to mention her - especially as I fought HARD with Meta to get her shop up and running.
HOW SHOULD BRANDS PRODUCTIVELY INTERACT AND CREATE CONNECTIONS WITH THEIR EXISTING AUDIENCE?
Engagement is key, and is what drives the algorithm more than anything. Focus less on your follower count, and more on your engagement metrics as increasing these will help drive your reach and brand awareness. Ask questions in your captions, use engagement stickers in stories, invite conversation and ask your audience for their opinion ~ they love feeling valued.
Spend time actively engaging on relevant content from your feed too, particularly around the time that you share a post. Engagement can be strangely reciprocal so leave meaningful comments on other peoples / brand’s posts, especially those who may share the same or similar target demographic to yours.
HOW CAN BRANDS IMPROVE THEIR CONVERSION RATES THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA?
This might sound simple but tell the viewer exactly what you want them to do once they have seen the content - i.e give them a call to action that is easy for them to achieve:
- Tap to shop
- Discover the collection online
- Coming soon! Sign up to be the first to know.
- CLICK HERE (links in stories).
Utilise your link(s!) in bio too - did you know you can now add up to 5 links on Instagram? So get your customers to the desired landing pages in as few taps as possible.
THREE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT?
Canva - for creating content, particularly with branding and text.
Mojo - for reels and story templates.
InShot - for video editing.
HOW BEST TO ELICIT/ ENCOURAGE PRODUCT TAGGING/UGC CONTENT?
Regularly share user generated content on your stories and occasionally on your grid and make sure you respond to / acknowledge those that tag your brand in their content. You don't always have to re-share it but make your customers feel valued for going out of their way to mention you. Tagged stories may hide in your Instagram message requests folder so keep an eye on that.
You can also mention in your captions, your email newsletter, or even delivery note that you love seeing how your customers use / wear / style your products so be sure to tag you.
SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS YOU'RE LOVING RIGHT NOW?
My sartorial and social media advice aligns on this one, which is to approach trends with caution. You can lose a brand identity a bit by ‘jumping on’ all the trends and so think about the ones that align with your values and test them, but don't lose a day's work doing so!
I am loving the ‘return’ of the single image - everyone got very caught up in sharing only reels but there is so much to be said for being able to appreciate a beautiful single image. AND when I look in Commerce Manager, it’s often the best performing content type for product page views and clicks to websites.
Every content format has its place and purpose so take this as your permission to stop only sharing reels if they aren’t bringing you results or joy!
HOW TO FIND KEY HASHTAGS?
I use Flick Social - so a fourth tool I can't live without. It helps you to find new hashtags relevant to your brand and content, has a built in scheduler and offers insights on the hashtags you have used.
Dont always rely on the same list of hashtags, you have to constantly TEST new ones and change them up a bit with each post.
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