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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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It’s Never To Early To Plan For Holiday

Already thinking about your holiday sales strategy? You should be! Why? Online shopping is flattening the spending year which means holiday shopping no longer means that crazy week before. In fact, in a 2018 Valassis Research survey found that a whopping 49% of people said that Amazon Prime Day (in July!) encouraged them to get a jump-start on their holiday shopping. 

Facebook also released its Holiday Guide*. Check out these tinsel-turning numbers:

bar graph for when holiday shopping startsstatistic graphicbar graph of different media channels

What does it all mean? That putting off your holiday marketing strategy is a big no-no. In an ideal world, retailers should start thinking about the holiday season in January, but we know that can be impractical. So ensuring that your strategy is tied up with a bow by the summer will help all the pieces of your plan fall into place as the cold weather creeps in. While there is no “right date” to begin your holiday launch, aim for November 1st.

Here are a few other quick tips to help your strategy shine:

  • “Plan” all year long. If you notice other efforts that work throughout the year, take note and include them for the holidays.
  • Spend money to make money. Now is the time to put your marketing budget to use in Facebook and Instagram ads.
  • Think about your audiences. Tap into customers from the previous season through VIP parties, holiday cards or email lists.
  • Have a merry marketing time. Holidays are a time to let creativity shine! Use those fun custom graphics and GIFs, videos or templates.

Thinking about the holidays might make you sweat, but careful planning and execution (with a healthy dose of inspiration and imagination) will help make this the best sales season yet!

*Find the Facebook Holiday Guide here.

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Stop Hitting Boost Start Seeing Results With Facebook Ad Campaigns: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 70

We had 100’s of retailers register for our Facebook and Instagram Ads Masterclass. It took place over two weeks in October and covered everything one needs to know about running social ads. Not only did students walk away with tons of valuable information, but also with confidence in their ability to run successful Facebook ad campaigns. Which is why we’ll be sharing the top three takeaways from the masterclass in this post. We absolutely believe you can benefit from them too!

Watch the full episode:

Takeaway #1

There’s so much more you can be doing than just boosting your posts. With all the ad types and tools available at your fingertips, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not utilizing them and running ad campaigns.

Takeaway #2

You should test different audiences with different ad types. You can use Facebook’s Detailed Targeting feature to find your Perfect Customer Groups, or what we call your PCGs, and advertise to them.

Takeaway #3

The holidays mean more competition from other retailers running ads in November and December. This typically means you’ll see higher ad costs and a lower reach. You may want to consider setting aside a little extra money for your ad budget these next two months.

Ads are going to be the most cost-effective way to gain exposure, engagement, and traffic (online and offline) during the holidays. Remember, you can do this! We know retailers who are seeing results from ads every single day. Click here to find out how you can get your hands on the Ads Masterclass.

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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Spooktacular Content Ideas for October: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 65

Content planning is tough, especially for a small business owner. You have a million other things happening on a daily basis, and with the holidays right around the corner, you need to find a way to balance it all. So we’re sharing examples of content ideas you can find inside our Retail Content Pack.

We didn’t record a video this week but you can view the post, here. 

Idea #1: Host a #TBT picture contest and ask your audience to share pictures of themselves in their favorite childhood Halloween costume. Give away a gift certificate to your store to a few lucky winners valid starting in November. This is a great way to get people in your doors during the busy holiday months.

Idea #2: Give a discount to anyone who shares a cheesy Halloween joke at checkout. Share the best ones on social media, and give the joke teller a shoutout.

Share your fun Halloween content ideas in the comments below.

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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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.