Mobile shopping is expected to grow more than 10% this holiday season, far better than social media for the attention of smartphone consumers.
Follow these six steps to ensure your limited-edition deals create a social media sensation this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
1) Prepare your social media profiles
When planning your social media strategy, it’s always best to start with your personal profile. Coordinate your social media accounts to ensure all profile pictures, banners, bios, descriptions, and links are updated to promote your Cyber Monday and Black Friday promotions.
Here are some optimization tips:
- Your cover photo is the first thing people notice on your social media profile. Create a custom name for each of your profiles to boost sales.
-Update your bio or call-to-action button to include a direct link to your dedicated Black Friday or Cyber Monday landing page.
- Post a tweet or Facebook post at the top of your timeline announcing the best deal.
2) Create a sense of urgency
Most shoppers have a natural sense of urgency during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t inject some FOMO (fear of missing out) into your social media campaigns.
A simple yet effective way to create a sense of urgency in your marketing is to sprinkle time- or scarcity-related words throughout your social media content. Words like “today” or “now” create the perception that something is in limited supply and urge consumers to act now.
Other examples of time-related trigger words you can weave into your content and CTA buttons include:
-hurry
- Go shopping now
-Limited time offer
- Instant savings
- Save today
-Limited quantities available
-Don't miss it
- Only today
Pro tip: Don't overdo it. Shoppers can quickly become uninhibited by a slew of so-called limited-time offers. Moderation is the key to success. Test a few calls to action and see what works for you, rather than bombarding your audience with fixed sales pitches.
3) Create a targeted gift guide
Choosing gifts for friends and family is always a challenge. You can make it easier for your customers by creating a series of gift guides targeted to different segments of your target audience.
Let's say you run an online store that sells clothing and novelty items. You might create a guide that includes your products, such as "The Best Gifts for the 'Game of Thrones' Fan in Your Life" or "30 Hostess Gifts That Are Better Than Wine."
Post these guides on your own blog, or as a guest post on websites with a similar target market, and promote them using paid Facebook ads that reach a specific audience.
4) Use a dedicated hashtag
Before planning your social media campaign, do some hashtag research. This will help you understand the sentiments and interests of your target audience and you can plan your social media posts accordingly.
While there are some obvious hashtags for the main Black Friday and Cyber Monday (e.g. #cybermonday, #cybermondaysales, #blackfridaydeals, etc.), it’s worth finding out what other popular hashtags you can use in your posts. For example, during the holiday sales season, searches for #giftsforher, #giftsforhim, and #christmasgifts increased significantly.
Choose hashtags that are relevant to your Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and use them in every social media post that promotes your sales.
5) Harness the power of emotions
Humans are inherently emotional beings. They love to feel, and when they do, they also love to share their feelings with family and friends on social media.
A study of 1.6 million organic posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ by social media optimization platform SocialFlow found that 99% of posts received little or no engagement. The content that does go viral makes people feel something.
Here are the 10 emotions that work best on social media:
-entertainment
-pleasure
-Benefit
-joy
-surprise
-hope
-happiness
-emotion
-happiness
-inspiration
Embed these emotions into the content of your social media posts to draw attention. Get it right and your post could go viral.
6) Plan and schedule your posts
In the fast-paced world of social media, timing is everything. Posting at the right time can be the difference between creating social media magic and a marketing strategy that falls on deaf ears.
When preparing for a Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign, it’s best to start early, plan your campaign, and create and schedule social media posts ahead of time.
There are many social media scheduling tools, including Hootsuite and Buffer. If you sell on an e-commerce platform like eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, or Etsy, you can use a tool like Around.io that can help you create posts directly from your product listings.
Three reasons why you should schedule your social media posts:
-When you create all your content at once, your design and messaging will remain consistent.
-You can schedule posts at times that will best attract your target audience.
-You can focus your time and energy on selling during your busiest months.
Final Thoughts
Regularly evaluate how your social media content is resonating with your customers. Make sure to reschedule posts that generate more engagement.
Finally, don’t forget that while discounts and deals are a big part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, shoppers still value the overall customer experience, and a social media presence is a big part of that.
