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Preparing for Small Business Saturday Made Easy: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 71

Small Business Saturday is fast approaching, will you be getting involved this year? As a small business, you absolutely should. Local businesses are what make each and every community unique and vibrant across all cities in America.

Watch the full episode:

According to AMEX, in 2017 an estimated 108 million consumers reported shopping or dining at local independently-owned businesses on Small Business Saturday – generating roughly $12 billion in reported spend.

Imagine the impact a Small Business Saturday event can have on your own community. When people shop locally the money flows back into your local economy, unlike big-box retailers where money flows right back to the business.

American Express does a great job at making it easy for you to get materials for the big day. Check out their Shop Small Studio!

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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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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4 Ways to Cash in on the Back to School Season: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 58

It’s that time of year again, people are preparing to head Back to School and are ready to shop for the upcoming school year. In fact, it’s estimated that 2018 Back-to-School spending will reach $82.8 Billion.

How are you going to get in on the action as a local retailer?

Watch the full episode:

Back-to-School Promo Ideas for your business:

  • Double your teacher discount for a day/weekend/week.
  • Share a graphic with your local high school’s football schedule and talk about how excited you are for back to school and football season!
  • Go live and feature anything a student may need for the Homecoming dance. (Mints, flowers, shoes, etc.)
  • Share employees’ favorite teachers and their reasons why.

Check out the Retail Content Pack for more customizable Back-to-School content and graphics!

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 31: Holiday Gift Guides for Everyone in Your Life

The countdown to Christmas is on and it’ll be here before you know it. The hustle and bustle of malls and shopping centers is a common sight to see this time of year. People are out looking for the perfect gift for those important people in their life – which can be completely overwhelming! Most people turn to online channels and social media for ideas and inspiration, so why not capitalize on it? Consumers often look to you as the credible source, for gift inspiration, so tell them what to buy for who and why with holiday gift guides.

Watch the full episode below:

Holiday gift guides make for great content across your social media platforms. They provide a solution to a time-consuming, daunting, and often stressful task. You’ll be able to provide unique ideas that can steer away from the same old, same old. Let your creativity shine when creating these holiday gift guides. Remeber: the best way to get the most engagement across your social media is to go live or use video. But, we understand that can be challenging for most. Which is why we wanted to share some ideas you use can use outside of going live.

Slideshows

Slideshows are great because they add movement, but don’t require the time or energy that comes with being on camera. The moving images can help keep your customers looking at and engaged with your content longer than they might have otherwise.

When creating a slideshow you’ll want to upload anywhere from 3 to 10 images. You’ll then want to set a timer for how long each image is displayed – we recommend 2 seconds in between before showing the next image. You can also add music to your slideshow from the approved choices available of Facebook.

Albums

Albums are a great way to keep everything in one place. You can always create multiple albums, each with their own theme, to make it an easy viewing experience for your audience. Title your album clearly to help send your customer to the right place, i.e. “Gifts for Her” or “Gifts for Mom” make it clear about types of items are inside.

Once the album is made it’s always important to include the product name, price, and store contact information on every image. This makes it easy for your customers to find the item in-store or to get in touch with you if needed. If you have an online shop you can also include the direct product link so people can purchase online.

We recommend creating an album with a minimum of 5 images. When viewed from a mobile device or computer people will only see thumbnails of the first few images, so you’ll want to catch peoples attention early and get them to click over to view what else is inside. Again, it’s about increasing the time people spend with your content and engage with it.

Carousels 

Are a collection of up to 10 images that can link to a specific place online. These are great for e-commerce businesses or if you sell online because you’ll be able to link directly to the product page. You can use carousels on both Facebook and Instagram, but they vary slightly in how you set them up.

Flat-lays

Flat-lays are a great way to share content and can be very visually appealing. You’ll lay your products down against a clean, simple background or you can just use your floor. Then you’ll take the picture from up above over the items to showcase all the items in the image. You can get super creative with flat-lays. These are great if you want to share outfit ideas, themed item, or even items of a single color. You can share these across all platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but especially on Pinterest.

Tip: For more flat-lay inspiration each #flatlay on Instagram.

Stories

Stories work for holiday gift guides because they allow for quick snapshots or videos of your products. If you’re doing special sale or want to let people know you’re almost out of an item, this can help create urgency to get people through your doors.

Remember, these ideas can be used for more than just holiday gift ideas. You can also create guides for “Holiday Party Decor” or “Christmas Party Outfit Ideas” or even “Office Christmas Party Favors”…honestly the possibilities are endless.

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.