Christmas shopping will be social this year – customers search for brands and products on social media, they are looking for ideas, suggestions, they hunt down discounts and offers, and they seek social proof (their friend’s approval) of their purchases. But the big question is, are they talking about YOUR retail business and products?

More than ever, retailers should be using social media to take advantage of all those prospective sales. And here are our top 5 reasons why:

 

1. Reach

How many customers visit your shop each day? How many customers do you talk to?

Even if you are in a high traffic location you are still only reaching a fraction of the customers you could be reaching if you talked to them on social platforms and not just in real life.

Even if you have an e-commerce business, you can significantly increase the traffic to your online shop with social media. Of course customers aren’t all going to visit your shop tomorrow, but they are much more likely to if they have seen you tweeting and talking about the fantastic products you stock.

By reaching out to your customers, your brand and shop are much more likely to be remembered the next time your customer needs a product that you sell.

2. Relationships

Establishing a presence on social media takes you a whole new audience, but more importantly has the potential to take you even further. A customer finds you, shops with you (rather than your competitor), and tell their friends and connections on social media about you.

Your customers recommending you is the ultimate form of marketing and one that is very easily attainable. Your network plus your customer’s networks equals a hell of a lot of customers.

3. Awareness

A daily reminder of why you are the best place to shop goes a long way. Repetition is key to being remembered. That doesn’t mean constantly filling a followers news feed or timeline with your content, it just means being consistent in your posting so that you are top of mind on the occasion they are looking for what you sell.

4. Expertise

The majority of your content shouldn’t be self-promoting. Customers are on social media to be social, and they won’t follow you if all your talk about is yourself. But if you are offering solutions the problems that they have (like gift ideas at Christmas) then they are much more likely to follow you.

You are demonstrating that you understand their problems and illustrating that you can solve them.

Add in some relevant news, an observation, something you saw that you found interesting, some tips and advice. Give your customers a reason to follow you and over time you will build trust that you are the go to place for the product that you sell.

5. Customer Service

It is a fact customers complain on social media. If they have reason to complain about you and they came into your shop you wouldn’t ignore them, and nor should you on social media.

Respond quickly and efficiently and make sure you recover from the fall out with great customer service.

A good recovery is great for PR even if there was cause for complaint. By the way, should a customer be complaining about your competitor, why not jump in and offer them your services. They are bound to be grateful.

Now if that doesn’t convince you, we don’t know what will. Get your shop out there on social media and if you need any help, you’ll know where to come.