social media marketing strategy

August 26, 2019 By Jess Austin Leave a Comment

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:

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.

February 11, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

How-To Create a Quarterly Marketing Plan for Your Store: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 81

A few episodes ago I talked about how important a social media plan is to your social media success, but it’s more than just your social media plan. You need to be looking at all of your marketing and determine what campaigns and strategies you’re running each month. This then becomes your quarterly marketing plan.

Watch the full episode:

The reason why having a quarterly marketing plan is so important is because if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Creating a plan will save you time with marketing. It will help make sure you’re doing everything you need to do as well as give you time to execute it well. Plus, you’ll give you and your team clarity on where you’re going.

We suggest planning out your marketing every three months but depending on your business you might be able to do this every six months. Since technology changes so quickly, you don’t want to plan too far ahead.

Setting aside the time to create your quarterly marketing plan can seem daunting when you have so much going on. But trust us when we say it will make everything so much easier. You’ll have more fun marketing your events, your social content will have more meaning, and your team will be excited and want to contribute to your store’s success.

We’re going to be hosting our Q2 Marketing Planning Meeting on March 5th exclusively for our CM Insiders. If you’re not already an Insider, click here to join for only $97/month.

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.

January 21, 2019 By Crystal Leave a Comment

The Top Social Media Mistake Made by Retailers: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 78

There are several mistakes I see retailers making all the time, but the top social media mistake made by retailers is not having a social media plan. Having a set social media plan can make all the difference in the world. It’s going to keep you and your team accountable and ensure it’s getting done. So, keep reading to find out two simple ways you can overcome the top social media mistake mistake in 2019.

Watch the full episode:

Option #1: Set 1-3 SMART goals and then reverse engineer those goals to come up with your social media strategy. Remember, SMART goals are ones that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. Then put those strategies into action by adding them to your marketing calendar. When we write things down the more likely they are to get done, so this step is crucial!

Option #2: Go through the full Social to Sale training course. This training walks you through step by step on how to create a profitable social media strategy. It’s about 5 hours long, so it will require you to set time aside to complete it. The best part is that it’s a included when you become a CM Insider. Click here to learn more about becoming a member!

As a busy business owner, it’s easy to push things, like your social media, to the back burner when things get busy – I know we’ve all been there! But, when you don’t plan, you plan to fail, so let’s commit to getting your social media plan started and set up for success in 2019.

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.

September 17, 2018 By Crystal Leave a Comment

The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 6: Why Facebook Ads are a MUST, Not a Maybe

Have you ever felt discouraged after posting on Facebook or Instagram because of lack of engagement your post received? Do you ever feel like you’re constantly talking to yourself because nobody ever likes, comments, or shares your posts? Are you often wondering why you can’t get more people to your business both on and offline? Well, here’s some good news! The answer to all of these question can be solved by implementing Facebook and Instagram ads into your marketing strategy.

Watch the full episode:

If you follow us, you know we talk about Facebook and Instagram ads A LOT. We strongly believe they’re one of the best tools small businesses should be using to market and grow your business both on and offline – especially coming on the heels of Facebook’s recent announcement and changes. Let’s face it, they’re not going anywhere, anytime soon.

Need more reason to start using ads? Here are a few things to consider:

Not everything to post online is being seen, only about 0-6% of your audience is actually seeing what you share on social media. By advertising to your followers you’re targeting people who want to see your content you can increase engagement.
Ads help grow your overall exposure, help build your email list, and increase online web and offline foot traffic. You’ll start to build dependable audience groups, groups that you own and can market to in order to increase sales.
Ads are more cost-effective and have a higher ROI than most traditional forms of advertising like radio, tv, and print. We’ve seen small businesses spend less to get much better results.

Once you implement ads into your overall social media marketing strategy you’re not going to know what you ever did without them.

Registration for our Facebook and Instagram Ads Masterclass is open until February 19th. Join us for this two-session workshop covering everything you need to know about running Facebook and Instagram ads, click here to save your spot!

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.