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3 Facebook Live Tips to Drive Last Minute Shoppers In

Christmas is 2 weeks away đŸ˜± and, for some, that means one thing: It’s time to START shopping! The good news? While these last-minute customers might be stressed out, you have the chance to save the day. Stores are about to get slammed with crazed consumers, so I want to give you 3 Facebook Live tips that will have them running to your store.

Consider the following before you hit the Live button…

Meet them where they are.
Join their (stressed out) internal dialog. They know they’re behind the holiday 8-ball here. Let them know it’s ok. Hit Live and supportively say, “Hey, if you’re stressed out only a couple weeks to check gifts off your list, spent hours scrolling and adding to your Amazon cart, and still have little to show for it, I’ve got you and I’ve made it super simple.”

Limit options.
Give only 3-5 gift idea suggestions. Don’t overwhelm customers by listing every item you have in-store. Fewer options mean fewer decisions for the customer to make – it’s science. Pick your top 3 selling items (or top 3 items you need to move) and share a few simple reasons why they are the perfect gift.

Make it simple.
Give them the price and the how, when, and where they can buy it. Period, done. If you can gift wrap it to save them time, great. If you can set it aside with a simple comment on the Live video or post, even better. Whatever you can do to make it a simple no brainer, do it.

That’s it! Three simple tips to help your stressed-out, last-minute holiday shoppers take note of (and action on!) your Live and run into your store. 😁

Psst
 Before you go, are you more of a Buddy the Elf or the Grinch? Let me know in a comment below.

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3 Tips to Drive Sales This Holiday

Happy December! One month to go and then we’re on to the next decade! Phew. Are you ready?!

Before we ring in the New Year, let’s make sure your cash register is ringing this holiday season. Here are 3 of my favorite tips to help!

  1. Post a Story on Instagram each day. Ok, ok
 Before you think I’m crazy for asking you to post to Instagram every single day during hectic December, listen up. Posting an IG Story can take you just one minute or less. Truly. Your Story doesn’t need to be super professional or polished. Just be you and share something your audience would enjoy seeing. I recommend setting a reminder alarm each day to jump on your store’s Instagram account to talk about one item you’re loving, that’s hot/trending this holiday season or, if running low on something, to create FOMO about. When posting, add your store location sticker (from Story’s Stickers section) and a hashtag sticker of your local area (for ex: #carlsbadca). Boom that’s it! Watch the daily exposure of the awesome gift items you have this holiday season.
  2. Create one video a week on Facebook. If you personally use Facebook, you know that Facebook loves video because they’re always showing video posts. Get into your customers’ feed this December by making a quick video each week. Just one! Similar to your IG Stories, you can share trending items, one-of-a-kinds, top product picks for the week, staff picks or maybe even your own weekly themed event like Wine Wednesday. These videos should be direct, connect with your perfect customer, and feature YOU! If you’re afraid to hit record or even stand in front of the camera, I want you to know you’re not alone! Many retailers feel this way. I encourage you to do it anyway. 😊 And once you do, will you share it with me?! My team and I would love to see your video (and be your biggest cheerleader)!
  3. Promote an Event or Sale with Ads. There’s a good chance you have an event and/or promotion happening this month. If so, I want you to create a Facebook Event Page with the details. Then, create 1-3 simple Instagram Stories with the event details, saving them to your phone. Next, advertise the Event Page and Instagram Stories using Ads Manager to these audiences:
    • Your Likes
    • Your Email List*
    • A Lookalike of your Likes*
    • A Lookalike of your Email List*

This tip might be confusing if you’ve never run ads before. Don’t let it overwhelm you. You can create a quick, engaging video to share the event or sale details and Boost the event on Facebook, and/or Promote on Instagram (depending on what platform you use; advertise on both if you use both). I’d use at least $25 to promote. Then put “Contact the Crystal Media team” on your calendar to either teach you Ads or completely take it off your plate in 2020! It should be a part of your daily strategy.

* You need to set this audience up first if you haven’t done so already.

Ok, now it’s your turn. Pick one item from the above and take action! My team and I are wishing you a very happy and successful December!  

 

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Tips to Draw in Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 76

Christmas Eve is next week, can you believe it? We’re in the homestretch of the 2018 holiday season. If your customers are anything like some of the Social Edge HQers, they’ve waiting until the last minute to get their holiday shopping done. So, we’re sharing some quick tips to help optimize your social content to draw in those last-minute shoppers. You want to do what you can to make sure their shopping experience with you is as easy as possible.

Watch the full episode:

Tip #1: To draw last-minute holiday shoppers, you want to make sure you post gift-guides or gift ideas for the people who are most important in our lives like spouses, parents, friends children, co-workers, host/hostess, etc. Share your top-selling items or most popular customer favorites. Also, if you’re running low on inventory share that information to create urgency. The best way to do this is in a live video.

Tip #2: Another way to draw in last-minute holiday shoppers is to include the price, your store info, sizes available, if they can put the item on hold, and any other important information on the post. Make it really easy for them to know what they’re getting and how to get it. You want to help ease the stress of last minute gift shopping.

Your life might be a little crazy right now, but the little bit of extra effort you put into optimizing your social media content this week can have a big return in your overall sales. You want people to love what they’re buying from you, and to be a returning customer in the future.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

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Create a Consistent Brand and Experience: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 69

Branding isn’t just for big-box retailers. As a brick-and-mortar retailer, you should be working towards building your brand too. Below are the top three reasons why having a strong brand identity is important for your business.

Watch the full episode:

Reason #1: A strong brand improves recognition. Everything from your fonts, colors, and logos should work together to help people online know immediately what they’re seeing is coming from you.

Reason #2: A strong brand creates trust. In a recent study from Facebook, 87% of people said trust and security were the two main motivators for a local purchase. By nature, people are more likely to purchase from a business that they trust. A part of building that trust is by always providing a consistent customer experience. When we know what to expect when shopping at a business, we’re more likely to return again and again.

Reason #3: A strong brand can lead to new customers. When your current customer base is satisfied they’re more likely to refer friends, family, and even that stranger they met in line at the grocery store to your business.  Word of mouth marketing is powerful – think of happy customers as your own personal viral sales soldiers.

People shop from businesses they know, like and trust and branding is essential to making that possible. Now your challenge is to take a look at your business’s brand and ask yourself, “Is my brand consistent online and offline?” It’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to break through the holiday noise and get in front of customers, old and new, in November and December.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Never want to miss an episode? Click here to join our list!

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Social Edge Live, Episode 32: Facebook Ads Made Easy Plus Tips For Success

It’s not a secret that Facebook Ads can be one of the best tools small businesses can use to grow their businesses online. When done the right way they can even increase sales and engagement online and offline. But they’re time-consuming, technical, and can we hard to learn/understand which is why Social Edge can help make running ads easy for you.

Watch the full episode below:

For those of you currently running Facebook ads here are some important factors/tips to remember:

  1. During the holiday’s Facebook Ad costs are higher and overall reach is down.
    • There’s an influx of people trying to advertise this time of year. More competition means more people bidding over limited advertising space make it harder to get in front of your audience.
  2. Use video to help reduce ad costs.
    • Video is here to stay. Clients we work with see some of the best results when they use videos in their ads. It allows for more free, organic reach and more engagement across your social media platforms.
  3. Create and promote online events, like 12 Days of Christmas campaign.
    • Online events and sales can be fun to run because they create buzz and something to talk about. You create a sense of urgency for people to take part so they don’t miss out on the latest deal.

Social Edge offers Facebook and Instagram Ads management for qualifying businesses – taking all the hard work that comes with running ads off your to-do list. Below you’ll find an overview of what this service offering entails and how we can help.

  1. You need to advertise, your customers are on Facebook – but you don’t have to be the one to do it. Your focus should be on the daily operations that come with running your business and focuses on helping your customers.
  2. We become an extension of your marketing team. Your Ad Account Manager will take a look at your social media and overall business goals in order to come up with a content and ads strategy that is catered to reaching those goals. They’ll provide you with post/event ideas, tips, and inspiration in order to help jumpstart your efforts, save you time, and have it be strategic.
  3. Allows for some accountability to post on social media consistently. We provide you with the ideas, but it’s your responsibility to implement and execute them.
  4. Bringing in QUALITY LEADS versus sales. While we can’t guarantee sales, our ad clients have had record-breaking sales days within days or a few weeks of working with us. Ads help get people through your doors and then it’s your job to sell them while they’re in your store.
  5. One client said, “I really feel safe knowing you are always looking out for me.” This is true because we’re in your account daily making sure make sure everything is running smoothly, checking ad costs to make sure they’re where they should be, as well as making adjustments to your ads when needed to make sure they’re fulling optimized and performing well. It’s all about having peace of mind in knowing you’re being looked after. 
  6. Our ads management service works if you work it – you need to participate, but the results will be worth it. It’s all about teamwork because we can only do our job if you’re implementing our strategy. Your account manager will check in with you to see how everything’s going and to see how sales are. You can provide them feedback and adjustment will be made accordingly.

If you’re interested in having us run your Facebook and Instagram ads for you in 2018? You must go through our application process to be considered. Click here to learn more.

You can catch new episodes every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.