Choosing the best Shopify social media platforms for your business shouldn’t be so hard. But with all the conflicting advice out there, it can actually be pretty daunting.
Let’s put on the brakes, block out the noise, and focus in on the top 5 Shopify social media platforms specifically for e-commerce businesses like yours.
In this ultimate guide, we’ll highlight the top strengths and unique features of each platform, so you can decide which ones fit your needs. From there, we’ll cover everything you need to get started on a systematized Shopify social media plan. All in one big, tasty scoop. 😉
The scoop on Shopify social media platforms
- The top 5 best Shopify social media platforms
- Instagram — best for creating a digital storefront
- Facebook — best for highly targeted ads
- YouTube — best for SEO and engaging video content
- Twitter — best for real-time trends and social listening
- Pinterest — best for project-based product marketing
- Get started with Shopify social media marketing
- Execute the perfect Shopify social media integration
- Work your plan and skyrocket your growth
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The top 5 best Shopify social media platforms
Before we get into the details of how to get your Shopify store in all the right social media hotspots, let’s jump straight into the best channels. Here are the top Shopify social media platforms to help skyrocket your e-commerce brand’s growth.
1. Instagram — best for creating a digital storefront
Instagram is a highly shoppable visual platform perfect for product-based businesses, with established influencer marketing features that make high ROI collaborations possible. It’s also one of the most flexible platforms in terms of available content formats, plus you can source user-generated content (UGC) and even repurpose content within the platform to save precious time creating new marketing assets.
With Instagram, you can:
- Showcase products in all their glory using photo and video content.
- Collaborate with influencers to reach new audiences.
- Drive sales with product photo tags and an Instagram Shop.
- Turn any of your posts into an Instagram ad.
- Use Facebook’s Ads Manager to create advanced multi-platform ad campaigns.
🔥 Instagram‘s hot take:
“People have always come to Instagram to shop and discover new products. [With that in mind,] [w]e built a world of Shopping features that tap into people’s existing behaviors to turn your business’s Instagram account into a shoppable storefront.”
Top feature: We’re calling a tie between the feed grid for showing off your top products at a glance, and Instagram’s ever-expanding suite of influencer marketing tools.
Pricing:
- Free to create a business profile, post content, and set up an Instagram Shop.
- Flexible ad spend based on campaign duration and budget.
2. Facebook — best for highly targeted ads
With its huge reach, Facebook is a no-brainer for many businesses. It’s highly likely your audience already hangs out here, Facebook’s familiar messaging function can be used to provide customer support, and you can run targeted ads based on a surprising number of criteria. Organic reach and engagement from pages and posts isn’t what it used to be though, making Facebook ads the real game changer for business accounts.
With Facebook, you can:
- Create a business page where customers can learn more about your brand.
- Set up a Facebook Shop for in-app shopping.
- Turn any of your posts into a Facebook ad.
- Use Facebook’s Ads Manager to create advanced multi-platform ad campaigns.
- Create a private community for fans and customers.
🔥 Facebook‘s hot take:
“2.7 billion people use Facebook every month to connect with friends and family and to discover things that matter. Find new customers and build lasting relationships with them.”
Top feature: Take advantage of Facebook’s robust ad targeting and retargeting capabilities to reach highly specific audiences worldwide. This means your ads not only have a huge reach, but save you money by only displaying to people already primed for your offer.
Pricing:
- Free to create a business page, post content, and set up a Facebook Shop.
- Flexible ad spend based on campaign duration and budget.
3. YouTube — best for SEO and engaging video content
YouTube isn’t just a social media platform. It’s also the world’s second-largest search engine, with robust analytics, targeting, and SEO features. Master its unique requirements, and you can make a huge impact with YouTube marketing and advertising.
With YouTube, you can:
- Share tutorials and demonstrations, and answer customer questions.
- Boost your SEO and organic traffic with target keywords in every video post.
- Show up in user searches when they’re looking for related content.
- Collaborate with creators to reach wider audiences.
- Serve highly targeted video ads.
🔥 YouTube‘s hot take:
“YouTube is where the world goes to watch video, and that means your customers do too. For businesses of all shapes and sizes, YouTube offers a simple way for people to discover you online when it matters, especially if they’re using mobile devices.”
Top feature: Its focus on mobile-friendly video content makes YouTube the perfect place for high-impact video marketing and advertising, especially on mobile.
Pricing:
- Free to create a channel and post content.
- Premium membership available for $11.99/month.
- Flexible ad spend based on campaign duration and budget.
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4. Twitter — best for real-time trends and social listening
This fast-paced, text-first platform is the place for establishing authority, building awareness, and starting real-time conversations around current events and cultural trends. Twitter users tend to quickly and publicly weigh in on anything they feel strongly about, which makes social listening and customer service processes crucial to protecting your brand on Twitter.
With Twitter, you can:
- Provide quick updates without time-consuming visual content creation.
- Join conversations around trends and current events as they develop.
- Create Twitter Lists to monitor your competition based on account or industry.
- Run Twitter ads, creating from scratch or turning a tweet into an ad.
🔥 Twitter‘s hot take:
“Businesses come to Twitter to connect to our culture and see what’s happening. And because people are in a discovery mindset when they’re on Twitter, you’re likely to make a lasting impression.”
Top feature: Twitter’s short-form content is super fast and easy to create and share, making real-time social listening easier than ever. Plus, tweets are often shared to other social media platforms or in articles on developing stories, which can further amplify your reach and authority outside the Twitterverse.
Pricing:
- Free to create a profile and post content.
- Flexible ad spend based on campaign duration and budget.
5. Pinterest — best for project-based product marketing
This highly visual, feel-good platform is built to inspire people to try new things. Users are highly motivated to buy, and they come here to see what’s possible. In contrast to Instagram’s emphasis on individual product shopping, Pinterest is geared towards fun projects users want to try, from building a wardrobe to redecorating a family room — then finding and buying the products needed for each project.
With Pinterest, you can:
- Find users who are in planning mode and looking for new ideas.
- Create useful resources that turn idea-hunters into loyal customers.
- Share products, tutorials, and buying guides to make your brand a trusted resource.
🔥 Pinterest‘s hot take:
“People aren’t here to fend off FOMO or doomscroll. They’re here to try new things. To save new ideas. And often, to make their next purchase.”
Top feature: Pinterest lets you organize shoppable image or video posts (‘pins’) into boards that users can save, share and use as a buying guide for their entire project. Users can also create and share their own themed boards by saving pins they found helpful.
Pricing:
- Free to create a profile and post content.
- Flexible ad spend based on campaign duration and budget.
Get started with Shopify social media marketing
Now that you know the top options, take a step back and think about what you really need from your Shopify social media platform, your goals, and your bandwidth. Here are some tips to help you choose a platform and create a solid plan for social success.
- Decide on your goals
Get as clear and specific as you can with your goals. Are you focused on:
- Organic brand visibility?
- Ramping up sales with shoppable product (or project-based) content?
- Scaling with paid traffic?
- Choose your target audiences
Before committing to a social media platform, ask yourself:
- Is your ideal customer looking to start a project, or just engage in some retail therapy?
- Do they need you to show them how to make the most of your products?
- Do they want to hear your take on what’s happening in the world right now?
- Pick the right content type and platform
Put some thought into where your needs and your audience’s needs intersect. Here’s what to look for in the perfect social media platform for you:
- It’s designed with your business goals in mind.
- It reaches the audience you’re looking for.
- It lets you create the types of content that will meet your audience’s needs.
And don’t forget to consider your bandwidth for both content creation and managing your social media accounts. It doesn’t matter how well a platform matches your goals, if you struggle to consistently create effective content for that platform, you’ll struggle to succeed.
- Set up your Shopify social media systems
To hit your social media goals without burning out, you need systems in place. Start slowly as you learn the new systems, then get more ambitious when you’re ready.
Here are some basic systems to reduce overwhelm:
- Create a social media calendar designed around each platform and your bandwidth.
- Use on-brand templates to make creating fresh content faster and easier.
Once you’ve fleshed out these four points, write down all your key decisions, systems, and processes in one big, beautiful Shopify social media marketing plan. Now you’re ready to get all your accounts set up, and start creating content!
The Inside Scoop: Social listening
Use the magic of social listening tools to monitor social media conversations for you. They watch for keywords, alerting you to problems and opportunities, like when someone posts a fab piece of UGC you want to share or a customer complains about you on social without tagging your brand.
Check out tools like Hootsuite, Mention, and Conversocial to automate the listening and notification processes, so you can swoop in and save the day!
Execute the perfect Shopify social media integration
Good news: the actual integration process is simple. Here’s what you do.
Step 1: Icons
Make sure your shop theme includes clickable Shopify social media icons, and link them to your social profiles. That way, customers can easily find your social accounts straight from your shop. And don’t forget to put these buttons in all your marketing email templates, too!
Step 2: Sharing
Share blog content directly from a published post to social, building customer trust and directing traffic to your shop. Then document this sharing step in your processes so you don’t forget!
Step 3: Bonus points
To drive even more traffic and sales with advanced custom features like social shopping and product reviews, add the Shopify apps that do exactly what you need.
Once you’ve decided on the setup that works for you, go back and document your processes in the Shopify social media plan you created. This will help create consistency and prevent mistakes, especially as your shop and your team grow.
Work your plan and skyrocket your growth
There are a ton of Shopify social media platforms out there — but once you know your goals, choosing the right one for your business is simple.
Whether you join the #InstaTribe or the ‘oldie-but-goodie’ Facebook, just make sure your decisions are based on your audience’s needs and your ultimate business goals.
And remember, if you block out the noise that doesn’t apply to your business, work your plan, and update it periodically as you go, you’ll see great results in no time.
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