Listen, we get that there’s been plenty of talk about the importance of social media during Covid and you’re probably sick of hearing how you need to keep showing up on social media platforms and engaging with your customers, so we won’t lecture you on it again…maybe ;). But what we will say is that it’s clear that your online presence is more crucial than ever and making changes that ensure you get sales through social media marketing is key as we navigate these upcoming months.
For many business owners such as tradies and cafe owners, there’s been a sigh of relief as we move down from lockdown level 4 to level 3, with a slight easing on who can operate. But the move has come with plenty of restrictions still.
So while it means you can enjoy a flat white from your favourite cafe again (from a distance, of course), and get Bob the builder back to finishing off that reno, it won’t look quite the same as before. New technology requirements like ordering apps and contactless payments, along with social distancing rules, will make it harder for businesses to serve their customers in person and, for many other businesses, it will mean having to remain operating online.
Now is the time to get your new Shop Front ready for customers. By that we mean your online presence, and using social media to market your brand for this new ‘norm’. Here are our top tips to help get you started.
Get your house in order
If you aren’t heading back to the literal shop floor, your online Shop Front must be picture perfect. How’s your landing page looking? Are your social media pages up to scratch? Does your Facebook cover page show a happy group of people all gathered together? If so, consider updating it to reflect what’s happening now. What about the Page Info on Facebook? Does it need a revamp? Contact details and About Us sections – do they need updating? Spell check is not enough here. Proof-read, and proof-read again. Get two other people to do it. Cross those ‘t’s’ and dot the ‘i’s’. First impressions last and with a lot more eyeballs on your content, you need to make your social media marketing efforts count.
Don’t stop advertising
The great thing about using social media to market your brand is the ability to define who you want to target. Choose the demographics, where to promote your message and when. We’ve seen some new emerging demographics online. Take for example the older generation. This demographic has been forced to change their shopping habits, and need you to be there, in the right places at the right times, ready to guide them to your virtual ‘shop front’. Get the right message, in front of the right audiences, add-value, solve a problem, and you’ll get the sale.
Move over brick-and-mortar shopping
The new way to ‘shop’ could see a complete shift in how we purchase for some time to come. Will physical shops shut-up permanently, and just opt for all online shopping in the future? What will happen with shopping malls? Will we ever enjoy a night out at the movies again? At this stage, it’s hard to know. What we do know is that change is happening – and it’s happening fast.
Countdown, for example, now has one permanent eStore and has temporarily converted other stores around the country to keep up with demand. And why wouldn’t we want to shop online? Online shopping is convenient, easy and saves our valuable time – a commodity that is worth a lot!
Content that informs and tells the story
Your content will make or break you. By that we mean, creating content that educates, is clear, precise and tempting enough to leave your customers feeling like a need has been met. Habits are changing. Whilst there isn’t much else to do, people are tuning into social media much more frequently. However, one of the downfalls of all this spare time we have to browse online, is that competition for attention is greater than ever. So, making sure you’ve got killer content is more important than ever. Content that jumps right off the page at you – that gets you, hook, line and sinker. Something that adds-value to your online experience. If you add-value, you build trust and loyalty, which will ultimately earn you sales.
Sell online directly through your social media platforms
Is there one place that’s better than others when trying to ‘sell’ online? There are plenty of online mechanisms within social media platforms where you can directly connect and make a real sale. Using the Facebook and Instagram Shop function you can drive people directly to your website to bag that all important sale. Ecommerce services such as Shopify are great for businesses with a physical product to sell. You can set up your ‘shop’ which is synced directly with your store. The sale is made then and there, without the need to go anywhere else and therefore lessening the chance that the customer you’ve worked so hard to snag will ‘click away’. Simple straightforward sales using your social media platforms.
How do you get sales for services through social media marketing?
Ok – we hear you. Selling a product online might work for some business – but what about the service industry. Never fear, social media marketing is here! If you’ve got a service that setting up Facebook Shop for just won’t work, then creating an ad campaign is the answer. It’s like an ad you’d see on TV – but on social media. There’s the creative content with the important call-to-action linked directly to a clever form to capture important sales information. Think of this as your direct sales lead. You decide what you ask your potential customers, you get their details and then you get in touch. Easy as.
So, that’s it! Totally straight forward and easy, right?
