How Social Media Can Help Your Retail Business This Holiday Season

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Social Media Marketing

The holiday shopping season is already in full swing and if your business is relying on heavy sales this month, there’s lots of work to be done. Hopefully, your brand is leveraging social media’s big three: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. As a social media marketing company, we recommend you don’t just settle for those three, but also utilize Google Plus and Pinterest for all of your holiday promotions.

online shoppingThis year is the first time that online sales have exceeded brick-and-mortar sales, thanks to digital technology that brings storefronts to our fingertips. Mobile apps, marketing emails, discount sites, location-based promotions and social sites like Pinterest, are all portals for online shopping. Consumers are spending a lot more time online than ever before, and its influencing the way they shop–in a major way.

Social-Media-Driven Consumers
Consumers are evolving, but they aren’t the only changing variable in the holiday sales equation. Social Media and the way we communicate is rapidly changing as well. People who follow a brand on Twitter, like them on Facebook and repin on Pinterest are more than 3 times as likely to purchase from that company, over one who is not using those aforementioned social media sites.

When the accountancy firm Deloitte interviewed 5,000 U.S.-based consumers in September, they found that 47 percent of them are going to use the internet for holiday shopping this year, the highest percentage in history. Even more compelling is that 45 percent of consumers said they will use social media to assist with their holiday shopping. 

This is the first year that Deloitte Annual Holiday Survey has identified the internet as the number one preferred shopping method over traditional shopping in brick-and-mortar stores (only preferred by 37% of those surveyed).  

Smartphones Let Us Shop Anywhere, Anytime
What is the common denominator of Social Media and Online Shopping? Smartphones. The acceleration of online shopping is strongly linked to the growth in smartphone use. “Nearly seven out of ten smartphone owners will use their phone for holiday shopping,” Deloitte found, “with ‘finding store locations’ and ‘checking and comparing prices’ being the top two uses.”

The marketing firm also reported that six out of ten in-store smartphone-using shoppers felt more connected to product information than store associates.

What This Means for Retailers
Consumers are actively using their smartphones for social media and online shopping. Bring the two together by being active on the top social media sites and posting promotions on a regular basis throughout the rest of the month. Include product information and links to your website where the consumer can quickly and easily purchase your product.

Without having a social presence this year, and a strong digital marketing plan, your target audience will swoop up the deals and steals from other companies, who are online and easy to find. Give your audience an offer they can’t refuse, have a friendly attitude, and get social!

Full-Service Social Media Marketing and Mobile Web Design

If your company needs help building a mobile-friendly website, getting your business familiar with social media marketing, or getting your company ranked on the first page of search engines (Search Engine Optimization), we are here to help. Give the pros at SEO Pro a call today at 510.276.9902 or visit seopro.pro and fill out our online contact form.