Impact of Social Media on the Retail Industry
Social media, with its ability to reach wide audiences composed of average consumers, immediately made ripples in the marketing world. No longer would companies have to pay for ad spots in magazines or banners on billboards. Now, for free, they can jump online and reach real people.
For instance, the "Share a Coke" campaign, which eventually made its way around the world, featured a Facebook ad in 2012.
"The ad invited Facebook users to create their own custom Coke can as well as share virtual cans of Coke with their friends," explains The Payments Association. "The campaign was so successful that the Facebook website saw an 870 percent increase in traffic and the Coca-Cola Facebook page had a 39 percent increase in fans."
Coca-Cola was hardly the only brand utilizing Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and others to get its message out. From small mom-and-pop stores to bespoke makers to public companies, marketing online soon became de rigeur.
Not All Good: Social Media Retail Challenges
In addition to bringing in audiences, though, social media also brought -- and continues to bring -- challenges.
Prevalence and Ease of Negative Reviews
It's easier than ever to tarnish a brand's image by posting negative reviews. The number of consumers who leave positive reviews does exceed those who post negatively -- 53 percent compared to 35 percent. However, a company still runs a serious risk of ticking someone off and seeing their image impacted.
Siloed Departments
Social media success depends on curation and intention. Too many companies, however, have scattered approaches to social. Perhaps they focus on creating beautiful visuals but don't have a good system for responding to negative reviews, for example. This leaves customers feeling talked at rather than talked with.
Declining Organic Engagement
As social media exited its infancy, the pay-to-play model burst onto the scene. Large brands -- and even small ones -- should now expect minimal organic growth. The use of prioritized content (such as Reels on Instagram) can help somewhat, but businesses who want to see serious improvement must now work ads into their marketing budgets.
Choosing the Right Channels
It's not always clear which channels are the right ones. Who hangs out where? And when? And what do they do there? Knowing where to find your audience is half the battle, and it requires research to figure this out.
Maximize Your Social Marketing Impact
Social media is a tool you can use well if you know how. Here are five places to start.
1. Do Your Research
Market research has always mattered, and never more so than now. Luckily, social media analytics offer a wealth of data from which to draw insights about who your customers are, where they live, when they're active and what they like. Put that information to use immediately!
2. Choose the Right Platform(s)
To some extent, you can draw broad conclusions about your audience: Twitter reaches industry leaders, Instagram reaches millennial shoppers and TikTok is huge with Gen Z influencers. However, you will need to experiment for a while to find the right platform for your product, imagery, copy and so forth. Once you gather data for a while, you can confine your efforts to one or two successful platforms.
3. Integrate Your Strategy
It's important when implementing an intentional social media strategy to do away with siloing. The right approach involves art directors, marketers, salespeople, customer service and analytics all working together to create seamless campaigns paired with excellent customer service.
4. Use Influencer Marketing
Influencers have a lot to offer. For the price of a product or two, and perhaps a low-cost payment, ordinary people will showcase your brand on their social feeds. This can lead to a major uptick in organic traffic.
5. Pay to Play
Where necessary, you might want to consider buying ad spots. These get lots of eyeballs on social media. And although it hurts to loosen the purse strings, statistics show you'll likely get more bang for your buck with ads than pounding away at organic traffic.
Overall, social media has had a huge impact on the retail industry. It's no longer possible to run a viable business and ignore it. If you want to see the best possible profit margins for your company, these tips will give you a significant return on your investment, so try them today!
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.
