How to promote your online store with a low budget (2)
Miguel Nicolás
25/11/2025
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If you are looking for effective ways to give visibility to your store without overspending, you will discover simple, affordable, and truly useful strategies to boost your sales starting today.
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The first thing that usually comes to mind when we talk about promoting an e-commerce business with a controlled investment is SEO. Us too, that is why we have already written the first post of this series, explaining how you can take advantage of organic positioning in this new AI context.But things goe much further. SEO is great, but there are more options. In this case, we will focus on what can be achieved from social networks, without going through the checkout with ads, or spending the bare minimum, even in collaborations and influencers.Get ready, we are going to help you create a social media strategy that works, without the need for a large budget. Let’s go for it.
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What is needed to sell on social media without ads?
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It is clear for all to see that social networks have become filled with brands trying to sell their products and competing for the attention of potential customers. This is why more and more online stores choose to run Meta Ads or TikTok Ads campaigns, for example.Obviously, this guarantees you immediate visibility, but it also implies a constant investment to maintain it. That is: if you stop paying... you disappear.That is why it is interesting to manage our social presence strategically. Not posting for the sake of posting, but doing it with a goal for each post, being persistent, building community... only this way will we manage to have a relevant presence on social media organically.In short, you need:1.- To provide value to your target audience: it can be information, entertainment, or a projection of lifestyle. Not everything is about promotions and contests (although those always help, of course).Practical ideas to provide value:
- Share mini tutorials: “How to combine this product”, “3 ways to use it”, “Before and after.”
- Talk about the problems your product solves, but from real life (not from the catalog).
- Create educational content about your niche: trends, ideas, common mistakes, myths, tips.
- Show how what you sell is made (if you are your own brand): processes, materials, tests.
The more value you provide, the more authority and trust you build.2.- Generate conversation/interaction: on social media, engagement is a basic need. It is the reason they were created and, of course, one of the most relevant signals used by their algorithms to determine the authority of a specific account. -
Practical ideas to generate interaction:
- Ask easy-to-answer questions: “Which one do you like best?”, “Which would you choose as a gift?”
- Use polls, quizzes, and sliders in Stories. They work a lot.
- Tell personal micro-stories and leave a question at the end.
- Share your customers’ opinions and encourage them to comment on their experiences.
- Reply to all comments within 24 hours. Show signs of life.
- When people engage, your posts reach further without paying.
3.- Publishing rhythm: it is important to be consistent, both for users and for the algorithms of the different networks.Practical tips to be consistent:- Create a simple calendar with 2–4 posts per week.
- Work in blocks: one day you record, another you edit, another you schedule.
- Always have a “quick content” folder: product photos, processes, quotes, reviews, behind-the-scenes, etc.
- Reuse content: a Reel can become several Stories, a post can become a carousel, etc.
Consistency helps both your followers and the algorithms to “understand you.”Bonus: other habits that help a lot- Humanize the brand: show people, hands at work, voices, real situations. Organic usually works better than overly polished content.
- Take advantage of trends, but without losing your essence: adapt challenges or audios to your niche.
- Collaborate with micro creators: sometimes an exchange of products is enough.
- Tell a mission, not just a product: stories connect much more than features.
- Analyze what works for you: save your posts with the most reach and engagement and identify patterns.
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Choosing the networks
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If your eCommerce budget is limited (like everyone’s, of course), it becomes very difficult to meet the three premises we just discussed.Especially if we intend to be absolutely everywhere.It is always better to choose the mix of networks where you can post, as long as we are consistent with our real work capacity and resources. Consolidate your presence on the networks you can realistically manage, and then consider scaling your strategy.Where would I post if I wanted to grow organically?:
- Instagram: perfect if your product is visual, aspirational, or relies on lifestyle, and of course, more and more brands are using it to sell.
- TikTok: ideal for dynamic content, quick storytelling, tutorials, or comparisons. It is not just a network for teenagers doing dances — TikTok Shop is clear proof of its commitment to eCommerce.
- Pinterest: works very well for fashion, decoration, DIY, premium products, and purchase planning. Traditionally, it has been a platform that performs especially well among female audiences — keep that in mind when segmenting.
- LinkedIn: if you sell B2B, complementary services, or want to strengthen your brand positioning and business authority.
- Facebook: it’s increasingly outdated, but there’s still an age group that remains loyal, and it also allows you to create product collections to tag in posts.
- YouTube: its search engine is one of the most powerful, it continues to drive traffic and provide visibility for educational or demonstrative videos, such as unboxings or tutorials. In addition, with Shorts and vertical videos, it has modernized quite a bit.
And then you have countless smaller platforms that work very well too, for instance, Twitch. Well-known brands such as Laagam have used it masterfully to make their product presentations, drops, or showrooms directly via streaming.There are many possibilities; the important thing is to select strategically and not get obsessed with being everywhere, all the time. -
Types of low-cost content and strategies that work
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Here are some more detailed recommendations that you can start applying right now to the digital marketing of your eCommerce. They are relatively simple things, but when done with a bit of “art”, they make all the difference compared to other competitors.
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#1 – Real stories
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Social networks are, by definition, a place where people interact with other people. In a way, the brand-person relationship is a bit unnatural, so to speak.Use your social profiles to show who you are, how you make your products, your business’s day-to-day life, mistakes and learnings, your brand values... but above all, show the people behind the eCommerce.This will generate immediate empathy, which reinforces trust while stimulating interaction.There are many brands working on this from which you can draw inspiration, but here are a couple of examples:Lush shows you one of its pop-up stores (in this case they use influencers, but other times they do it with their own staff).
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@glossier What’s better than going to our pop-up this weekend? Bringing your bestie with you ???? @Taryn Delanie?? + @Tiffani S. had the full “In the Clouds” experience — and safe to say, a time was had ? ?? 9/20–9/21 10–7pm ?? Glossier Brooklyn, 77 N 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11249 Come through before it’s gone ?? #glossier #popup #nyc ? original sound - Glossier -
Another of our favorites, Warby Parker, nails it with events like Halloween and its staff giving it their all.
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@warbyparker Spoiler alert: Pizza Hut won Halloweenies this year.
? original sound - Warby Parker -
#2 – Tutorials and demonstrations
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No matter how much you work on your product page, FAQs, and customer service in general, users will look for more information in search engines and on social media.Tutorials, comparisons, usage modes, before-and-after videos...Identifying that need for information and turning it into content is a very smart way to position yourself within social media search engines and thus offer informative content that helps you generate, directly or indirectly, qualified traffic for sales on your eCommerce.Since it is organic or referral-based, because it is always easier for a video like this to be shared than an ad, your budget does not suffer as much.As we said, YouTube is great for this, but TikTok or Instagram are more efficient when it comes to managing video impressions for the right audiences.There are thousands or millions of examples, but here are a couple of my favorites:Dyson, the appliance brand, does things like this, where it demonstrates the power of a vacuum cleaner in an extreme way, with a humorous twist at the end. No extra text needed.
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Cosmetics always stand out in this type of content. Fenty Beauty is one of those brands that works particularly well on product application and, in cases like this reel, also combines it with diversity or inclusion, perfect for conveying additional values.
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#3 – Interaction as a challenge
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I am sorry to insist so much on this, but it is critical: the foundation of social networks is interaction. When you get users to “take the bait,” comment, like, or share, you are automatically helping your profile rank higher while increasing the value of your community.All the effort you put into generating non-commercial debate and interaction amplifies the effect of your more sales-oriented posts. What you will leave in your audience’s subconscious is that you are an expert but also someone who contributes selflessly, so commercial interactions will be received as sincere recommendations from someone trustworthy.How do you achieve this? It is simpler than it seems. You can make quick polls in your stories, give several options and ask openly “what do you prefer, cushioning or firmness?”, generate debate with niche topics “what’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you while running?” or “what is the best time to train?”If you haven not checked Oreo’s social networks lately, I recommend that you take a look at their profiles. Look at this simple example where they got hundreds of comments just by asking how people dip their cookies in milk (and having a large community, of course):
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@oreo Selena’s got a question, now we need some answers ??
? Double Trouble (Sped Up) - Swimming Paul -
And another example, a controversial one. We are talking about one of the brands that gets the most interactions, although it is not a model I would recommend for everyone; I am showing it to you so you can adapt it to your business in a friendlier tone. I am referring to Ryanair, which bases much of its content on interaction (although, in my opinion, its tone is too aggressive).Notice how they turn the comments and messages they receive into a content resource.
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@ryanair ryanananananana ????? #ryancore #ryanair ? original sound - Ryanair -
I hope these examples have helped you strengthen your content marketing strategy.
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And I ask you: Would you like to know more about how to promote your online store on a low budget?