Jun

Social Media And Retail Wrap Up: Ready, Aim, Oops!

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Media, Oops, Ready, Retail, Social, Wrap

Social Media And Retail Wrap Up: Ready, Aim, Oops!

I’m not a marketing professional, and I don’t play one on TV, but I do understand the fundamentals of marketing. You need to reach out to your target market with effective messages they can appreciate and will act on. I have said (as with many others) in the past that social media marketing can allow you to effectively hit your target market with deadly precision.

I have a friend (he will remain nameless for his own good) who is just getting into social network marketing. So what’s a guy to do to get started? Well, he writes an article about social network marketing. I had a discussion with him about which groups he should join to help better market himself and he listed the major networking sites that most of us are already on. He also mentioned one site (email me if you would like to know which one) that he found out about during a ’social network marketing’ course he took. I asked him what about that site is appealing to him. “I’m trying out new things’ was his response.

I received a text from him yesterday touting the fact that one of his articles on this particular site got over 4000 (yes that’s four thousand) views and a bazillion comments. I was really happy for him. Then I started asking questions.

”How many people got back to you about the article?” I asked.

“Counting spam emails?” he asked.

“No” I replied

“About 4 or 5 inquiries and 2 phone calls”

If I were to gauge the success of that article in military terms, I would say my friend sank the Bismark.

Let’s forget about consultants and gurus and other professions that offer expertise. What about retailers? In yesterday’s post, I mentioned how important it is to know where your customer goes for social networking. I’m going to repeat myself for everyone’s own good:

It is important to know which social networks your customer uses and actively engage those networks to reach out to your customer and acquire new ones.

Maybe my friend is a bad example. He’s not a retailer. But it illustrates the importance of finding the right environment to deliver your messages. Grocers put circulars in the Saturday and Sunday paper because they know their customers are looking for them to set up the week’s shopping list. Dollar stores use Twitter to blast out when new inventory comes in because they know their loyal customers are waiting for new and different products. Merchants create Facebook Fanpages so that their customers have a central place to get information and news about the brand. Some retailers use social media mobile marketing to get people into their stores with unique mobile promos and specials.

Know your customer, know their habits and know how they prefer to communicate (retailing 101?). Then create a social media marketing campaign that delivers messages through the appropriate networks.

I hope you enjoyed this discovery. I actually learned a lot myself. Ultimately, there is a place for social network marketing for retailers. Big box, small format, boutiques, corporate and independent merchants should use these tools to market themselves in real time. This is a situation where you must look before you leap. The time commitment required to actively engage your customers through social networks is considerable.

Please share your social media stores and thoughts with me directly: doron@gocaptus.com or comment right on the blog.