Harness the power of social media to boost retail sales

Since the pandemic began, social media has proved to be an even more vital tool for retailers. Avocado Social MD Richard Harmon explains how they can maximise its potential.
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How to improve your presence

Get your first impressions right. Ensure your social media feeds look professional and accurately showcase your business. This could mean getting some fresh photographs taken or downloading a photo app on your phone, like VSCO. 

Create a personality for your brand through the language, emojis and hashtags you use. This is a great way of standing out and becoming more memorable. 

To get real results, you must be willing to spend. Competitions, advertising campaigns or influencer promotions are all great ways to get more people following you, sharing your content, and talking about you.

How to increase footfall

Consumers are increasingly looking to social media for word-of mouth referrals, recommendations from people they follow and from brand promotions. Make sure you have a presence on the social media channels that your target customers use to drive awareness of your business.

It’s vital to have content that entices customers to choose you over another brand or competitor. If your content isn’t eye-catching and isn’t kept up to date, you’re not likely to get a customer’s attention. Maintaining positive reviews and responding to customer queries will also reinforce credibility.

Facebook and Instagram offer the chance to directly target your desired audience with adverts that will appeal to their interests. This is a relatively inexpensive means of retailers driving footfall from the local area – by setting out the key characteristics of their ideal customers. 

How to boost online sales

Facebook and Instagram Shopping have been complete game changers. They are immersive shop windows for people to explore your products. And you can link directly to a product page within your online shop. Both are free to set up and will help to drive more visitors to your website and product pages from social media. 

Social media promotions are also good ways of increasing online sales. Creating urgency by setting up ‘limited time only’ offers or sharing unique discount codes will help to create buzz around your brand. 

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