Blog - Crystal Media

June 17, 2019 By Pauline Leave a Comment

How to Overcome Slow Traffic Days

Big community events often seem to have one of two effects. They can drive traffic, or kill it. But, with a little creativity and planning, you can score big this summer.

Check out what one Insider is planning to do to overcome slow traffic days. What I love most about this thread is that our community jumped in with all kinds of promotional ideas that don’t cost a red cent to the business!

*Please note names and profile pictures have been covered to respect our member’s privacy

These are all great ideas because they’re:

Fun – Using a play on words and games make it fun
Interactive – Asking people to participate builds community and interest
Branded – Branded shopping bags keep you top of mind
Ads – You can reach people that otherwise might not know you exist. 😊

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be a pet store or dealing with college football to make some of these ideas work for you. Think about how you can tweak and adapt ideas that you love.

Here’s to fresh promotional ideas!

Pauline

If you’re looking for more ways to overcome slow traffic days, we’ve got you covered! Join our Insider community and unlock hundreds of unique content ideas to help drive traffic into your store. Click here to learn more!

June 10, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

One Tip to Optimize Social Profiles to Show Up in Google Search

Today, I want to go back to basics and talk about your social media profiles. A much more significant topic than you might think. So let’s jump right in to today’s tip.

Quick question. When’s the last time you updated your social media Abouts and Bios? If you’re like most, it’s probably been awhile. Or maybe it’s fallen off your radar completely. But ensuring your profile is up-to-date can be a game-changer when it comes to appearing in Google search results.

Take a look at your profile. Have you listed ALL the consumer-known brands you carry as well as all the categories you carry? Here’s why you should.

If someone Googles “vera bradley san francisco” or “yankee candle atlanta” and you sell that product in that area, we want your business to show up in the search results. At the top!

If you’ve included those brand names and your location on your social profiles (especially Facebook and Yelp), there’s a chance your business will show up at the top of the search results.

Don’t forget about other online profiles too, like your Google My Business Page, Trip Advisor, Bing and, of course, Yelp. Tailor your focus to those sites your customers use in your area.

Because of the large amount of traffic those sites already get, this helps them show up top in Google search results. That’s why I want you to fully review and complete your profiles with the relevant keywords and products consumers are Googling daily.

Take action (it won’t take long, I promise) on what you learned today. It can really help more people find you online! And isn’t that what we want out of our business social media anyway?

To the future,

Crystal

June 3, 2019 By Crystal 1 Comment

How Often You Should Post to Your Facebook Business Page

I get asked, “How often should I post on Facebook?” ALL the time while I’m traveling the world teaching social media to retailers. So if you’ve wondered the same thing, you’re not alone. I created a short video to answer this FAQ below. Enjoy and happy learning!

To the future,

Crystal

May 20, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

Two Creative Marketing Ideas for Retailers in June

June is fast approaching so I thought I’d share two upcoming “holidays” that can make for unique marketing opportunities and events at your store.

June 21: National Selfie Day (also my Grandma’s birthday!)

June 30: National Social Media Day (also my Mom’s birthday!)

As you can see, I have a personal and business love for these two dates since they’re both social media-related AND fall on the birthdays of two important ladies in my life! 🥳

If you feel like celebrating Grama Carol and Mama Cindy in-store, go for it (and please send me pics, haha)! But I think these dates can be super fun to promote on your social media as well as create engaging and entertaining store events.

Below are a few ideas to get your wheels spinning. Feel free to use these as is or create your own. But just a small favor? Please let me know what you plan to do by leaving a comment on this blog post or DM us on Instagram. (Thanks in advance. 😊)

Ideas for National Selfie Day:

Create an in-store Selfie Station with fun props. Ideally, include signage with your social media handles (your profile names) in the picture so people can find and follow you. Entice your social media followers and email subscribers to come in and snap a selfie on National Selfie Day (June 21st) and enter to win a $50 gift certificate (or a denomination you’re comfortable with). Only catch? They must use the branded hashtag you create (Instagram would be best for this type of campaign) to be eligible to win.
For five days leading up to the 21st, take a selfie around your store with a product you love. On each post, tell Facebook users that they can win that item if they post a selfie of themselves in a comment on that post.
For the month of June, invite people to come in and take selfies with something unique to your store (for ex: a statue you have in front of your store, a line you’ve always carried, a selfie with you or someone on your team!) and to post them to Instagram tagging your account. On the 21st, you can randomly pick one winner from those customers or DM everyone who entered a $5 or $10 off coupon.

Ideas for Social Media Day:

On June 30th, throw a party in your store and decorate with emoji balloons (these actually exist!), thumbs up signs and Instagram photo frames. Ask attendees to follow you while they’re at the party and post live in honor of Social Media Day.
Give a special discount to all social media followers that can be used on June 30th only. Encourage shoppers that day to follow you and share pictures from the store, tagging you and using #socialmediaday.
For 7 days leading up to the 30th, highlight top fans that are active on your Facebook and/or Instagram by sharing their pictures and gifting them 20% off an item or their purchase. Expiration date on gift: June 30th.

To the future,

Crystal

P.S. Speaking of Social Media Day, I’m hosting my own exclusive Social Media Day on July 8th in Grand Rapids Michigan. The only way to attend is to have a ticket to the Retail Success Summit, which begins the day after my event. Click here to get your Retail Success Summit ticket first (using the code CRYSTAL at check out to save $700) and once purchased, get in on Social Media Day for just $297.

May 13, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

Two Retail Success Stories Using Facebook Ads

At Crystal Media, we directly manage ads for retailers. So I thought it important to share stories from two retailers who recently saw successful results using Facebook Ads; by my assessment, one of the most powerful marketing tools for independent stores today. I hope they excite you to take action. Enjoy!

Mary Todd’s Hallmark: Video View ads

After achieving great success with Mary Todd’s Hallmark’s 12 Days of Christmas campaign, we continued to promote their video using Most Recent Video Views.

- Cost dropped from $0.02 per View to $0.004 per View (!!)
- 14,492 Views in the first 3 weeks of March vs. 4,019 in February (⬆️ 260%)
- 20,606 Engagements in the first 3 weeks of March vs. 15,650 in February (⬆️ 26%)

Korna Pet: Traffic ads

Korna Pet’s goal was to drive more traffic to their website, so we ran Traffic ads on FB and IG.

- 804 Landing Page Views in February
- $0.19 per Landing Page View vs. $0.45 average
- Traffic to their website driven by Facebook and Instagram increased 109% in February from 456 visits to 954 visits.

Aren’t those awesome results?!

If you’re ready for us to take the wheel on your ads (and possibly be our next success story), click here to learn more and schedule a Discovery Call with Pauline to see if our Ads Management is right for you and your store.

I need Ads Management help pronto! Click here to schedule your call.

To the future,

Crystal