jumpstart holiday sales with social media | tips from volusion + hootsuite
TRANSCRIPT
#SocialSellingTogether
#SocialSellingTogether
#SocialSellingTogether
Today’s Agenda• Meet the webinar hosts• Social media & ecommerce• Create a calendar• Plan your campaign(s)• Be network specific• Be Santa• Closing – tools and free giveaways!• Live Q&A session
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Meet Today’s Webinar Hosts#SocialSellingTogether
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Mikkayla CaseySearch Marketing Specialist - Social Media
• PR & Advertising degree from St. Edward's University
• Manages both Social Media and SEO campaigns at Volusion
• Passionate about branding, copywriting and real-time engagement
• Active member of the Austin Beagle Brigade
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Alison GarrisonSearch Marketing ManagerVolusion
• Manages Volusion’s SEO, Social Media and Marketing Consulting teams
• Marketing background in brand management and SEO
• Passionate about strategy, content and helping SMBs outwit entrenched brands
• Proud dog mom of Hilly Bean who’s active on Facebook!
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Michelle GarrigoSocial Media Coach Hootsuite
• A geek for all things online marketing, social media, and soccer
• Can often be found speaking about social strategy around Vancouver
• Online agency background, managing a variety of clients
• Hootsuite's North America Pro, Program Lead: Coaching 1-1
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Social Media Works for EcommerceEspecially during the holidays
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The Pie is Big… and GrowingBudget your time and resources now to earn your piece.• U.S. retail ecom grows roughly 16% every
holiday season 1 • Total holiday ecom sales reached $72.4
billion in 2014, up 10 billion from the year before 2
• In 2014, more than 70 percent of brands allocated more than half of their holiday digital marketing budgets to search and social 3
• Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals 4
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Holiday Social Media BehaviorSocial media has become a critical holiday shopping tool
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Social Media is a Business ToolAnd can meet your long-term brand and sales objectives
• Cost effective• Lots of personal information for targeting • Birds of a feather flock together• Great medium for brand discovery• Probably the most effective marketing tool for
building brand affinity and loyalty• Drives both real-time and lasting results
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Know Thyself & Your AudienceYour Brand Should Appeal to Your Target Market
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SM Success Depends on CommunicationFind your voice and tailor your message to your audience• Clearly map out who you are (brand) and
who your audience is (target market) • Find your brand voice
– Keep communication consistent with brand guidelines
– Ensure your social profiles communicate your brand effectively
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#SocialSellingTogether
TicketLeapQuirky, fun, in-the-know event masters
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#SocialSellingTogether
Find Your Brand Voice
• Identify your core brand values– Some great examples here
• Finish this sentence: Three words that describe my brand are _______ , _______ , and _______.
• A few great resources– Quick 4 Steps to
Identifying Your Brand Voice– Extensive article on
Finding Your Brand Voice– A great
example of brand voice in action here
An effective brand voice will connect with your audience
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#SocialSellingTogether
Identify Your AudienceAnd speak their language
• Identify your target market(s)– Who will benefit from what you offer?– Are there multiple audiences?– Create personas / archetypes based on
demographics and psychographics• Great tools
– Your intuition– Market research– Google Analytics– Great resource from Hootsuite on creating buyer
personas from social data
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Example PersonasWho are you selling to? There may be multiple audiences worth your time!
• Stay-at-home mother of three• College educated• Homeowner• Looking for fun, educational winter
break activities for her kids
• Elementary school art teacher• College educated• Planning her class’ art projects for the spring• Passionate about art, children and her career• Limited budget
Leah, 37 Maggie, 22
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#SocialSellingTogether
Start Targeting Your PersonasBuild your audience on each platform
• Listen. Listen for direct mentions and industry mentions.
• Organize. Use Twitter lists to group contacts so you know how to interact with each one.
• Engage. Use what you've learned to reach out and connect with people, building your audience.
• Build. A community of brand ambassadors.
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#SocialSellingTogether
Start Targeting Your PersonasBuild your audience on each platform
• Other useful tactics for building your audience:– Clickable social icons in webstore template– Social share buttons on product pages – Social sharing widget on blog– Overlays and social media captures – Targeted Facebook Ads
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#SocialSellingTogether
Start Targeting Your PersonasBuild your audience on each platform
Listen. Listen for direct mentions and industry mentions.
Organize. Use Twitter lists to group contacts so you know how to interact with each one.
Engage. Use what you've learned to reach out and connect with people, building your audience.
Build. A community of brand ambassadors.
#SocialSellingTogether
#SocialSellingTogether
Create a CalendarIdentify what holidays or themes you want to engage
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Craft a CalendarA little organization now will make the holiday season a lot smoother
• Craft a calendar and map when certain things should happen
When do you want to begin the holiday dialog? • As you plan for a campaign, have a clear path that includes
social - for example:Consider using the Facebook Carousel to promote
several popular products in a single ad When laying the groundwork for a blog post, plan your
Tweets and Twitter Cards too• Helpful social media templates from Hootsuite
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#SocialSellingTogether
Spend Time Crafting Your CalendarDon’t just dive in, give the holidays some thought
• Identify the seasonal events that may matter to your audience
– It’s not just Thanksgiving and Christmas!– Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday,
Green Monday, Free Shipping Day, New Years, Chanukah, Kwanza, Advent Calendar, the 12 days of Christmas, Super Bowl Sunday, Boxing Day, Festivus, etc.
• Why do these holidays / events appeal to your personas?
– Craft messaging and promotions that tap into that
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#SocialSellingTogether
Social Game of ThronesSocial media winter is coming. Are you prepared?
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Marketing Mix
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Sigma BeautyFinding the right holiday messaging for your brand
• Merchant sells beauty products• Identified several relevant holiday
themes for their personas: – Black Friday– Holiday Parties– New Years Resolutions
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Global Planning
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When to Post• This is unique to your business and the audience
you're targeting. But there are ways to figure it out!
– Know where your audience is located– Use analytics to help you figure it out – Try Hootsuite AutoSchedule
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Plan Your Campaign
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Rule of Thirds
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Encourage User Generated Content
• Give users a reason to share with you– “We are giving this assortment of stocking
stuffers.” + Open Ended Question like: • How would you use it?• Where would you take it?
– “Tag a friend who would love to have this ______!”– “Share a video of _______!”
• Promote user generated content and credit the content’s creator
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#SocialSellingTogether
Encourage Sharing• Make it relevant and funny (when appropriate)• Ask them: “Comment on this post”• Encourage action
– Top Shop example - it’s not about the sale; it’s about the dialog and building brand affinity
• Shortstack, Promosimple or third party giveaway– You get that database of info; whatever you require
them to enter (ex. gender, age, can build out your email list)
– Application shows in your Facebook navigation bar• Show a visual
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#SocialSellingTogether
Content That Works• Vary your content• Make salesy things more palatable
– This or That posts– Open ended questions
• You can use posts to do research and better understand your audience– Learn what they like, what you should stock and who they listen to
• Base some posts off historically successful, high-demand products• The right tone
– Happy, fun, humorous, heart-warming, nostalgic– Matches your brand
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#SocialSellingTogether
Planning Your PromotionsWhat types of promotions should you run?
• Make them simple• Use visuals to communicate the deal• The audience needs to be able to
comprehend what you are offering while skimming a feed
• Budgeting for holiday promotions– How much do you increase?– Monitor coupon codes– Forecasting?– Limited # or time?– Can lose money if you don’t plan
• Promotions don’t have to be sales oriented
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Plan Shareable PromotionsWhat types of promotions should you run?
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Encourage Action
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Network with BloggersCoordinate ahead of time
• For best opportunity at coverage, let bloggers in on your calendar ahead of time
– Tell them what you’re planning, instead of what you’ve already done
– Give dates for specific promotions or giveaways– Make it enticing for the blogger
• Your pitch shouldn’t be “Cover what I’m doing!”• Instead, explain why they should cover it and how it
willhelp them grow their audience engagement
– Be flexible• Sometimes bloggers have schedules planned out
well ahead of time — flexibility will help you fit in their current schedule
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Be Network SpecificEvery platform brings with it some expectations
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Network Specific Posting
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How Hootsuite Can Help
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Holiday Specific BrandingDress your brand up for the season (or any occasion!)
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Naughty or NiceLearn how to stay on each platform’s Nice List
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• Be active and post regularly• Engage with the audience• Create holiday-specific landing pages• Create network-specific coupon codes• Size your photos correctly for each
platform
• Low quality images• Exclusively sales focused posts• Forgetting to proofread • Ignoring the holiday season completely
General Rules
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#SocialSellingTogether
• AdvertiseTailor your ads to holiday themesIncorporate carousel adsAdd an end date!
• Create custom holiday images • Update Call to Action button’s link• Run holiday contests and coordinate
boosted posts to promote them• Pin sales promotion posts to top of
timeline
• Not increasing your ad spend• Broadly targeting your ads• Ignore or act combative toward bad
reviews• Scheduling posts without regarding time
of day Insights
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#SocialSellingTogether
• Use gifs• Rename your images• Create a Twitter card for top-selling
products• Use holiday-themed hashtags• Pin sales promotion tweets to top
• Using text-only posts• Auto-posting from Facebook• Ignoring character count
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#SocialSellingTogether
• Ensure product pins point to product page
• Post vertical pictures • Creating holiday boards and gift guides• Custom holiday images• Promoted Pins - sign up now!
• Hashtags (spoiler: they don’t work!)• Pinning without a keyword-savvy
description• Repinning without checking links• Ignoring location-based pins for brick-and-
mortar stores
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#SocialSellingTogether
• Choose hashtag wisely• Humanize your business with pictures of
employees and products together• Regram user-created posts• Make videos (under 15 secs)• Run contests & giveaways• Change bio link to holiday-specific sales
• Scheduling posts in Hootsuite
• Not sizing photos correctly (InstaSize)• Not using the @ when replying to another
Instagram user• Leaving locations out of posts for brick-
and-mortar stores
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#SocialSellingTogether
Be SantaIt’s the time of the year to be generous… and make your generosity work for you!
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Respond to Customer Complaints Quickly
• Customers may tweet their issue/question instead of emailing
• Be sure to address these concerns quickly• We see more of these issues during the
holidays• Surprise & delight! If someone comments
with a customer service issue, maybe offer them something above and beyond
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#SocialSellingTogether
Delight Your Audience
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#SocialSellingTogether
Have a Crisis Management Plan
• Be prepared for the unexpected– The last thing you want is a PR meltdown
during the holidays– What are you willing to do to keep customers
happy in a less-than-optimal environment?
• Keep in mind message tone, timeliness and transparency
– Don’t give generic responses
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#SocialSellingTogether
Research Your Social Environment
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Live Q&ATweet your favorite takeaway and #SocialSellingTogether in the next 24 hours for a chance to win a free social media audit!
Call 877-591-7006 or email [email protected] for information on how to work with Volusion’s social media marketing team. Sign up for services in September and we’ll set up your Hootsuite account!
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Our Favorite Resources• Social media templates from Hootsuite• Free and paid Hootsuite Plans• How to craft your brand voice• Free Holiday Images from Volusion• Free design tools – Canva, Picmonkey, Recite,
InstaSize• Great resource from Hootsuite on creating buyer
personas from social data• Great third party tools for contests include
Woobox and Shortstack• Past Volusion Webinars• Volusion Blog• Hootsuite Blog
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Webinars on Digital MarketingDigital Marketing for Beginners• How to Market Your New Store Online
• Marketing Panel Q&A for Beginners
• How to Use Google Analytics
• Beginner’s Guide to the Building Blocks of Paid Search Success
• Creating a Social Media Strategy that Converts
Intermediate Digital Marketing Strategies• Optimize Your Product Pages Webinar
• Demystifying SEO for Ecommerce
• How to Boost Your Store’s Conversion Rate
All Upcoming Webinars #SocialSellingTogether
#SocialSellingTogether
Live Q&ATweet your favorite takeaway and #SocialSellingTogether in the next 24 hours for a chance to win a free social media audit!
Call 877-591-7006 or email [email protected] for information on how to work with Volusion’s social media marketing team. Sign up for services in September and we’ll set up your Hootsuite account!
#SocialSellingTogether
Thank you!Thank you for joining us, many thank to the Hootsuite team, and a special thank you to Monica Chow of Volusion Design Services for her design work!