Promotions 2.0Blurring the line between interactive advertising, promotions and social network marketing.

March 22nd, 2010

Sell it Socially. Retailers are Missing the Social Mark.

There are 400+ million potential customers on Facebook. They’re talking about your brand and they are eager to participate with it, learn more about it and share their love for it and what it can offer others. Retailers are missing a huge opportunity to not just reach their customers but to actually engage and begin the purchase process in the social sphere. But, before we jump in too deeply to tactical thoughts, let’s look at a few details which cannot be ignored.

The “2010 Social Media Report” from ForeSee Results shares that 69% of online shoppers regularly use social media sites. Furthermore, it was found that more than half of these shoppers choose to engage with these brands on social sites by friending or following. These users clearly want to engage with brands, but as for all of us, their time and attention span is limited.

When teamDigital develops promotional programs for brands that operate in a retail environment, we recommend in path product/service offers and deals. This might mean that, after a direct interaction within a share and ‘you could win instantly’ scenario, we deliver a product that is relevant to the experience at a discounted price or offer free shipping. Consumers can them be driven to the brand’s existing e-commerce system to fulfill on that offer. teamDigital encourages and often works with our clients to continue this methodology within their Facebook fan page, adding value and incentive for consumers to stay engaged with their brand even after the promotional period has ended. A few ways in which brands can continue to add value and drive consumers to purchase consideration:

1. A Facebook Fan Page Mini-Product Shopping Experience.

Utilize your Facebook tabs to showcase product that is relevant to the consumer right now. They’re within Facebook (which is perceived as comfortable, safe and friendly) and they’re already engaged with your brand. Run seasonal, holiday or other thematically based product selections on this tab and offer some sort of incentive: free shipping, a discount, buy one-get-one. Then allow the user to click out to an in-cart shopping experience on your site. Threadless, a t-shirt company that allows individuals to upload graphics to a website and then via a community voting system produces the most popular, is using Facebook to extend their community experience and rating system while also allowing users to step directly into the purchase process. See it in action.

2. Use Facebook to Drive Interest in these Products and Incentivize Participation.

Extending from the above or another similar experience, you can allow users to share their favorite products, recommend them to friends or send as virtual gifts directly within the Facebook platform. Now, here’s the hook. You can link that peer to peer recommendation directly back to your Page, and if the user is not already your Fan, require them to become one in order to take advantage of your special offers.

3. Use Video to Create Stories About Your Product.

Will It Blend is web only content segment that showcases a product blender from a company called BlendTech. There is a charismatically awkward host who each week uses a BlendTech blender to destroy the newest hottest electronic gadget. Two things happen. First the video showcases something new and hot for consumers and leverages the internet-buzz about that product to drive traffic - the iPad for instance. And then, with a magical change of focus, the once amazing new device is pulverized to dust by a seemingly ordinary product (the blender) when compared side by side. Will it Blend has created a reputation for its BlendTech blenders as being the most powerful blender on the market by creating content that is semi-relevant and slightly shocking. Sharing this content within a social network such as YouTube or Vimeo has allowed them to expand their reach and provided nearly free advertising as the videos are embedded in blogs, social sites, emails and other mediums around the web.

As the US retail e-commerce sales begin to resume their estimated 12.7% year over year growth, staying ahead of competitors and being innovative where consumers are active most will lead to greater brand awareness, consumer social share participation and ultimately sales.