How to use social media to raise awareness and create community for your store

A common question resounds among Christian retailers today: “How can I get customers through my door and on my website to make a purchase?” In effect, the question is really two, one related to drawing customer traffic and the other about creating an environment that invites the purchase. One of the many factors that helps retailers answer those  two questions is a store’s online presence.

With customers searching for the best price and value, it has become commonplace to start by researching online. Customers also ask for recommendations from friends and family, read product-related blogs, look up online reviews to determine if a particular product is right for them and then find the best place to purchase it.

At Harrison House Publishers, we polled a number of our store accounts and, strikingly, found that only 20 percent of them are on just one social media platform (Facebook), while the other 80 percent have no social media presence at all! That 20 percent is barely tapping into social media marketing, and the balance of the respondents have completely disregarded this form of marketing as a means of drawing customer traffic.

That said, social media marketing has proven to be one of the best ways to market a store in today’s tech-savvy world. It can drive customer traffic into your physical store as well as to your store’s website. Online word-of-mouth can take your business to the next level and get people talking about your store.

DEVELOPING COMMUNITY

How do you build online community? First, focus on interacting with your customers in the social media space. Second, know that fans and followers want shareable content and practical information. If you provide these extras, they will be more likely to follow you online and recommend your store to their friends.

Being able to identify your customers’ wants and needs is vital. Be careful, though, as those retailers who have used social media mainly to promote products have seen their efforts backfire. Rather than only promoting products, use social media as a link between you and your community to engage your customers to determine their interests and meet their needs.

Any retailer’s concern when using social media is that it doesn’t take too much time, so you’ll need to develop a strategy and stick with it. It is easy to get distracted online or want to start out too fast, joining everything at once. If you are just starting, join Facebook and Twitter first and build from there if you wish.

Lorraine Valk, owner of the Parable Christian Store location in St. Joseph, Michigan, believes in the value of social media, and for her store, mainly uses Facebook. Valk tends to “follow the rule of 90 percent ‘likable’ posts, 10 percent advertising, to create positive name recognition and encouragement,” she said.

On Facebook, you can like author fan pages so you can share their posts with your fans. This will aid in the promotion of the authors’ latest books. You can also ask your fans what books or music they are reading or listening to to encourage interaction on your fan page. This will enable you to make sure that you are carrying products from their favorite authors and artists.

The Facebook Events function is also a great way to promote in-store or online events. Make sure your customers know what events are happening at your store so they can share the information on their own social media and invite their friends.

Use Rafflecopter (rafflecopter.com) to post giveaways from your store’s Facebook page. The service offers a free option to add to your page so you can easily run successful giveaways online.

Retailers just getting on the social media train will be served well if they follow Valk’s advice.

“Do not get political!” she cautioned, especially as the 2016 election ramps up in the news. “Do not make it another form of advertising. Use it for people to get to know the flavor and personality of your store. Consider adding your personal name to it and photos of staff for connection points when they come in. I’ve actually had someone come in and actually say, ‘I knew you were wearing red today, because I saw it on Facebook.’ ”

Twitter also can help you stay in contact with your customers as you tweet inspirational messages. Hashtags (for example, #worship, #josephprince, #prophetic) allow you to join in a conversation or follow the progress of your own post as others retweet and comment. Encourage your customers to use certain hashtags if you are promoting an event or product.

Try giving away a book or other product on Twitter to followers who retweet or use a hashtag that you create. Follow the hashtag by clicking on it, and it will bring up everyone who has used it in tweets about your store or the giveaway. Some also make use of hashtags on Facebook to follow posts or shares.

Make your tweets memorable and shareable (funny, original or helpful). If you were viewing your tweet from a customer’s perspective, would it be something interesting enough to retweet?

If you need to add a website or blog link to your Twitter post, use a site such as tinyurl.com to shorten the link.

Also, encourage interaction by tweeting a simple question like “What are you reading right now?” or “What are you listening to?” Find out what your followers are thinking.

As you become more informed about social media, consider engaging your community through Instagram, Pinterest and other options as well.

If you’re not sure you can handle all of these outlets, know that there are sites that make it easy. For instance, Hootsuite allows you to manage multiple social media accounts and post from all of them simultaneously, or schedule posts for set times.

Although some retailers really take to social media, remember that overposting can cost you fans and followers. Quality over quantity is the best policy.

Share stories, videos and posts from others too. Get a good mix going: promotions, humor, resources, tips, photos, videos as well as posts from authors, publishers, artists and gift vendors.

BLOGGING CONTENT

Blogging also can benefit your store. If you are in need of material for your blog, invite your staff, local authors or even customers to write a guest blog post.

Blogs can give you online space to do book or music reviews, post quotes from books or photos of new releases and engage customers with product giveaways. Blogger.com and wordpress.com are simple sites that are free to use.

Some publishers or publicists will set up Virtual Book Tours to promote their authors. Blogs work great for contests and giveaways. For example, you could post a question or product information for a giveaway and award a prize to a random person who comments on the post.

Once you start a blog, it’s a commitment. It looks bad if you leave a blog online (perhaps tied to your store’s website) that is outdated. No one wants to read a 2012 posting in 2015.

CREATING VIDEOS

On YouTube and Vimeo, you can find music videos, book promos, video vlogs (a blog in which most of the postings are in video form) and promotional videos to share on your store’s social media platforms. If an author has a new book coming out, you can find related short messages about the book on such a site. For example, if author and television personality Andrew Wommack has a new book coming out, you may be able to access a video clip of him preaching about the subject of the book.

Consider creating your own videos about your store or to introduce a new product. Videos at about 30-90 seconds are ideal for promotional purposes. Offer a coupon or discount on the featured product if the customer comes into your store and mentions that they saw the video.

And why not make a video to introduce your staff to your customers in a humorous or unique way? Funny videos are shareable, and social media is all about sharing.

Harold Herring, owner of The Christian Soldier in Goldsboro, North Carolina, frequently makes his own videos. Often Herring and his wife, Bev, appear in humorous Facebook videos that they record on the sales floor of their store to highlight products or sales. In all videos, don’t forget to give the location of your store and the link to your website.

MANAGING CAMPAIGNS

What are your customers’ interests, and what might they be motivated to purchase right now? Find out what publishers, music labels and gift companies are promoting to know what they are investing in and what you can also support at your store.

Time is limited, but if you enjoy designing, get creative with flyers and other marketing pieces that can be tailored to your customers. Ask the publisher or supplier for product images to incorporate.

Build your online community by allocating some of your advertising budget to online ads, including Google AdWords. Don’t forget Facebook and Twitter too.

With Facebook, for example, you can run an ad that will reach customers in your area who are interested in certain authors, keywords, community involvement and more. Facebook ads cannot have more than 20 percent text, and to make it easier, the site offers a tool so you can upload your image and see what 20 percent would be.

Social media is also a great way to introduce e-books to your customers. At Harrison House, we work with Ingram Content Group to provide our e-books to online bookstores. Ingram provides immediate access to thousands of e-books from top publishers, providing a download link that gets emailed to your customers upon purchase. Retailers who sign up with Ingram can sell the e-books directly through their store’s website.

Social media is critical in this tech-savvy world, but don’t expect miracles in terms of increased sales.

“It very difficult to quantify, but I have had only positive feedback, and people do see it!” Valk said.

It’s important to realize that in this digital age, for some potential customers, if you’re not online, your store simply doesn’t exist! With that in mind, get a social media game plan  in place for the benefit of your store and your customers.

Christina Mussman serves as the marketing and information data manager at Harrison House Publishers and has worked in the sales and marketing industry for 15 years. Harrison House is celebrating its 40th year in publishing this year, continuing its mission “to challenge Christians to live victoriously, grow spiritually and know God intimately.”

• Prev
• Next