Stephanie Frasco – Musings on Social Media Marketing

The good, the bad and the ugly….Social Media :: Retail Wars

Happy Cyber Monday! As the holidays are coming up quickly, retailers are amping up their promotions.  Next to Black Friday, Cyber Monday is coined as one of the next most popular shopping days of the year.  Cyber Monday is the online version of Black Friday, meaning people are shopping heavily today and they are doing it online.

According to a recent survey over 100 million consumers are expected to be shopping online today.

Although Cyber Monday may be halfway over, online shopping is up 3% this year and I expect that to be slightly higher for this month.  Which means if you aren’t doing anything NOW is the time to REV up your Social Media Retail Plan.

WHAT ARE OTHER RETAILERS DOING?
According to a new study by Deloitte Services, National Retail Federation

• 47 percent of retailers plan to increase social media use for the holidays
• 75 percent will improve their Facebook pages
• 59 percent will boost Twitter use
• 60 percent of consumers will use social media to locate coupons and discounts
• 53 percent will research gift ideas through social media

What can you do?
Here are some easy ideas to accelerate your sales online through the holiday season.

1.  Make sure you have your facebook/twitter page up to date with current products, images, and deals. (Need help?)
With over 50% of consumers researching gift ideas through social media and 60% using social media to locate coupons and discounts, now is the time for you to make your mark!  Your brand needs to be found.

2.  Create an online promotion for twitter, tweet it yourself and submit it to relevant feeds.

• CheapTweet- Designed for medium-to-large e-commerce sites and national brands, our Stores program delivers maximum exposure to eager buyers across all CheapTweet properties
• CouponTweet – Will retweet related sale tweets
• TwtqPon – Allows you to create your own twitter coupon

3.  Submit yourself to different Social Shopping Sites and Coupon Forums where people will be shopping online.  If the key is exposure, make sure you are able to be found.

• CafePress
• Etsy.com
• Zazzle
• Amazon
• Ebay
• FatWallet
• ThisNext

4.  Utilize your own network and email list to notify current customers and encourage pass along and sharing to their networks and friends.

5.  Listen to the conversations out there.
For example I did a summize search on Gift Ideas.  Here is your first lead.

6. Advertise
My choice for Advertising is Facebook.  If you need help with this let me know!!!  It is my forte.

Do you have a B2B product/service to sell?
Tis the season!   You too should be doing some sort of promotion.  You never know what is on people’s Holiday Wish List.  Check out some other tips from Internet Marketing Guru, Jason Clegg here.