How to Use Social Media to Up Your Holiday Sales
It’s no secret that social media is an incredibly powerful tool for businesses. The average American spends about two hours every day on social media – so social media can certainly be the perfect gateway for you reach new customers. For some businesses, like retailers, there is a huge spike in sales during the holidays. So the question is: how can you use social media to up your sales during the holiday season?
Retargeting - Use Your Pixel
The Facebook pixel is a piece of code from Facebook that you insert into your website. This piece of code allows you to track your website visitors and target ads to them. It’s a consistent reminder going out to those who are actually interested in your products/services. Retargeting is an important tool that every business with a website should be using. Even if you’re not currently running Facebook ads, you should have the Facebook pixel installed on your website. Should you decide to run ads, you’ll have a historical log of your website traffic to tap into.
The pixel does so much more than just track your website’s traffic though. It allows you to target those who have viewed specific pages on your website, those who have clicked certain buttons, or performed a variety of other actions on your website. Amazon is the perfect example of how to use targeted ads. You know when you look at something on Amazon but don’t complete the purchase… then you see it in your newsfeed for the next two weeks? That’s retargeting. You can do that too.
Feature Your Products
It’s easy to post a photo of some new products you have in store, but what will really help you stand out in the newsfeed is leveraging video. Go live on Facebook, share a story (or seven) on Instagram, upload a video to your website or Yelp! page. Using video helps your customers see more of your products, gives you a chance to explain and even demo them for your followers. If you’re live, you can answer real-time questions and take requests for products that people want to see. You can also utilize the “questions” feature in Instagram stories and the poll feature on Facebook to gain insight from your followers. You have a huge resource with your following, use them!
Create Events
Facebook has made a huge push in 2018 to connect people – even when they’re offline. Cue, events. Having a big in-store sale on Black Friday? Make an event on Facebook! Don’t just put the event up and let it be, but actually market the event (or hire an awesome marketing agency to do it for you). Make it an event that your customers don’t want to miss! Use the Facebook event to build up some hype. Have some door prizes, some free food, maybe a special guest, or exclusive release launching that day. You want to engage your followers and RSVPs before the event to help generate buzz. Encourage your followers to invite their friends or bring their friends. There are dozens of ways to increase the attendance of your events using social media. Want to pick our brains or need help? Let’s talk!
Utilize Shopping on Instagram
Earlier this year, Instagram launched a “visual storefront.” If you have a business profile on Instagram, you can activate the “Shop” tab and give your followers an easy way to see the products you offer. Instagram provides a great set up guide too!
Use Quality Media
Most importantly, it’s essential that you are using quality media during the holiday season. Newsfeeds are going to be saturated with local shops and national retailers trying to get sales – you need to make sure of two things: First, that your marketing is high enough quality to be taken seriously. You need high quality, well-lit, clear photos and videos. Second, that your marketing stands out from the crowd. Don’t be afraid to go bold! Below is an example between a poor quality product photo (cell phone shot, poorly lit, with lots of distractions) and a high quality product photo (taken with a DSLR, properly lit, and arranged for visual appeal). Fun fact? Both of these photos were taken in the same spot, just from a different angle! Set up matters!
With so many ads being fed to us every day, we’re having to work harder to make sure our ads are actually being seen and not just scrolled past.