When To Post To Social Media If You’re A Retailer

When To Post To Social Media If You’re A Retailer

Marketing is built on human relationships. Social media marketing can help improve and grow these relationships. Businesses have been using social media marketing to grow these relationships for several years. This became even more important during the pandemic. Without access to in-person events and limited access to in-person shopping, it became more important than ever to connect with customers through social media marketing. This blog will help you decide why and when to post on social media as a retailer to get more clicks and make more sales.

1. What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing uses social media platforms to connect with your customers. It can build your brand, drive website traffic, and increase your sales. There are many different channels in social media and each has its own part to play in a marketing strategy.

2. What are the main social media channels?

Facebook has the biggest reach of all social media channels. In 2021, it registered 1.8 billion daily users

Ninety percent of Instagram users follow at least one business.

Seventy-nine percent of people who are on Twitter follow brands.

LinkedIn is the top-rated organic social media platform for B2B users, responsible for 80% of the B2B leads for social media. 

TikTok’s growth over the last year has been huge. In January 2021, there were 689 million users. In September 2021, it surpassed the 1 billion user mark. That translates to a 45% increase in less than a year. It is now the 7th most popular social network in the world.

Most popular social media platforms globally (source)

3. Why is social media marketing important for retail businesses?

As more and more people connect with others and shop on social media, social media marketing is more important than ever for retail businesses. A HubSpot Marketing Trends survey showed that  “social media is the most effective channel marketers leverage, as well as the channel they use most.” Social commerce is selling products directly from your social media platform and social media marketing helps to drive more sales. According to an Accenture report, social commerce will reach $1.2 trillion by 2025, up from $492 billion in 2021.

This is good news for small businesses. As the report also indicates, instead of favoring big retailers, there will be a power shift towards small businesses in the next few years. That means there will be millions of individuals and small businesses selling to one another in a large social commerce network. Big brands will continue to face increasing competition from these smaller businesses. Since 62% of consumers say that they trust small and local businesses more than major retailers, now is a great opportunity to use social media marketing to expand your customer base and increase sales.

62% of consumers say that they trust small and local businesses more than major retailers

3. Why social media marketing vs. traditional marketing?

When discussing this topic, many people fall into the trap of thinking that you can only do one of these. Social media marketing provides many benefits over traditional – it is still important to use both!

Social media marketing is one of the most powerful avenues for marketing in the information era. You and most of the people around you are most likely already using social media. In fact, 57.6% of the world’s population uses social media. If you have a target audience, chances are they are already using social media. So what are the benefits of social media?

Measuring and analytics

Tracking the performance of marketing campaigns has never been easier. With social media marketing, you can view how well your strategies are performing. Metrics like the following give you a good idea on the efficacy of your campaign:

  • Reach (the number of people who have seen your content)
  • The demographics and geographical location of people reached
  • Conversion rates (how many people are actually doing something from your ad, like claiming a promotional code from your post) and exit rate (number of people leaving after seeing your content)
  • Bounce rate (% of people who left after visiting one page of your website)
  • Number of likes/favorites/shares on your post

These are jus a few metrics you could look at. The rise of digital marketing has made marketing a much more understandable process.

Targeting

Each social media offers various methods for targeting audiences. Targeting features include location, age, interests/likes, age and more. This lets you find your specific audience and market directly to them. Targeting on traditional marketing (like newspaper ads) was always very general.

Cost effective

You can get more bang for your buck with social media marketing. Traditional marketing methods can be expensive. Social media can help you reach a bigger audience at a cheaper price!

Trusty marketing

Traditional methods like flyers have this bogus feeling to them. When consumers look at them they feel like they are being sold something. With social media you can make content which feels organic. This keeps your audience have more trust in your brand.

Building bonds

Old school advertisements were a one way conversation. It would be the brand communicating to a consumer, and not the other way around. With social media you can have many ways of communication. Brands can connect with customers, customers can engage back with them. On top of that, customer can even interact with other customers!

These are just some of the benefits social media provides over traditional marketing.

4. How do I create a social media strategy?

It’s important to remember that content quality is more important than content quantity. In other words, what you post is more important than how much you post. Posting consistency is also more important than posting frequency.

If you haven’t built an audience yet, don’t worry. There are still some universal things to consider with your social media strategy. In general, there are 4 things involved when posting on social channels:

a) Having a clear objective in mind

When creating a social media strategy, it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve. If you don’t have a goal, you won’t know if your marketing strategy is working. This means knowing if your intention is to drive more foot traffic to your store, increase online sales, improve customer service, promote new products to existing customers, etc.

b) Determine the best channel(s) for your business

There are a lot of social media channels and new ones are starting all the time. Most businesses don’t have a dedicated team or the resources to promote their business on every channel. The best way to get better engagement on social media is to start by focusing on the social media channels your customers are most likely to use or be active on.

c) Determine the best time to post on social media

You will need to manage your audience’s expectations. If you decide that your customers respond best to Facebook posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for example, you should post on those days. Your customers will know that they can visit your Facebook page on Tuesdays and Thursdays and find new content.

When developing your social media strategy, look at your past engagement to see which customers responded most at certain times. Use this information to test posting dates and times and then analyze the results. You will need to figure out the best times to post on social media so you can engage the right customers at the right time.

d) Consider using social media scheduling tools

Instead of rushing to post on each social media channel individually, it’s a lot easier to schedule social media posts in advance. This will give you time to focus on other aspects of your business. To make it easier, many of the social media scheduling tools will let you create templates of the types of posts that get the most engagement and sales conversions.

5. When are the best times for retailers to post to social media?

When To Post To Social Media as a retailer for each platform
Summary of when to post to social media by platform

Besides your own understanding of your customers, you can also refer to the best practices of other retailers. In general, the best times for retailers to post on social media are 10:00 am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to get the most likes or engagement.

Facebook: The best time to post on Facebook is 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Instagram: The best time to post on Instagram is 11:00 am on Wednesdays

Twitter: The best time to post on Twitter is 8:00 AM on Mondays and Thursdays.

LinkedIn: The best time to post on LinkedIn is 9:00 AM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

TikTok: The best times to post on TikTok are 7:00 am PST on Tuesdays, 10:00 am PST on Thursdays, and 5:00 am PST on Fridays.


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Sell More With Year-Round Retail Holiday Marketing

Sell More With Year-Round Retail Holiday Marketing

After several years of restrictions, shoppers are increasingly looking for opportunities to celebrate their lives. While many retailers make a significant portion of their sales at the end of the year, there are a lot of other seasonal holidays that can help to spread out sales throughout the year.

If you’re looking for merchandising ideas and sales opportunities, consider adding some of the following celebrations this year to your retail holiday marketing calendar.

Winter Holidays

  • February
    • Black History Month (February)
    • Lunar / Chinese New Year, Asia
      • Note that this holiday follows a lunisolar calendar. Therefore the timing of the holiday changes every year and can start any time from the end of January to mid-February. It is usually a 3 week festive period with the first day being celebrated as the New Year day. For the New Year day in the Gregorian calendar until 2031, you can refer to this website.
    • Super Bowl Sunday (February 13) 
    • Valentine’s Day (February 14)
    • President’s Day (February 21)

Spring Holidays

  • March
    • Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday (March 1)
    • St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)
    • International Women’s Day (March 8)
    • Daylight Savings Time begins (March 13)
    • Spring Break/March Break (March 14 – 18)
    • White Day, Asia (March 14)
    • Holi Festival (March 18)
    • First Day of Spring (March 20)
  • April
    • April Fool’s Day (April 1)
    • Ramadan begins (April 2)
      • Note, this holiday is also dependent on a lunar calendar
    • National Pet Day (April 11)
    • Tax Season (April 15)
    • Good Friday (April 15)
    • Easter (April 17)
    • Passover (April 15 – 23)
    • Earth Day (April 22)
  • May
    • Wedding Season (May)
    • Graduation Day (May)
    • Ramadan ends (May 2)
      • Note, this holiday is also dependent on a lunar calendar
    • Eid al-Fitr (May 3)
      • Note, this holiday is also dependent on a lunar calendar
    • Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
    • Victoria Day, Canada (May 23)
    • Mother’s Day (May 8)
    • Memorial Day, US (May 30)

Summer Celebrations

Back to school retail holiday marketing
  • June
    • Pride Month (June 1- 30)
    • World Environment Day (June 5)
    • Father’s Day (June 19)
    • Juneteenth, US (June 19)
    • Summer Solstice (June 21)
  • July
    • Canada Day (July 1)
    • US Independence Day (July 4)
    • Islamic New Year (July 29 – 30)
  • August
    • Back to School season begins

Autumn Festivities

Halloween retail holiday marketing
  • September
    • Back to School season ends
    • Labor Day (September 5)
    • Grandparents’ Day (September 11)
    • National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
    • Autumn Equinox (September 22)
    • Oktoberfest (September 17 – October 3)
    • Rosh Hashanah (September 25 – 27))
  • October
    • Yom Kippur (October 4 – 5)
    • Canadian Thanksgiving (October 10)
    • Diwali (October 24)
    • Halloween (October 31)
  • November
    • Daylight Savings Time ends (November 6)
    • Singles’ Day, China (November 11)
    • Veterans Day, US (November 11)
    • Remembrance Day, Canada (November 11)
    • American Thanksgiving (November 24)
    • Black Friday (November 25)
    • Small Business Saturday (November 26)
    • Cyber Monday (November 28)
    • Giving Tuesday (November 29)
TAKU Google integration for retail holiday marketing
What Is Omnichannel Retail?

What Is Omnichannel Retail?

Although the word omnichannel is often used in retail, it is a term that is often misunderstood. Here is an explanation of what omnichannel means, how it works, and how it can help you increase your profits.

1. What is a retail sales channel?

Sales channels refer to every different method used by retailers to sell their products to customers. Sales channels go beyond brick & mortar stores. Other sales channels could be events, trade shows, resellers, dealers, curbside pickup, and on-the-go pickup. Additionally, sales channels can also include social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok), SMS, instant messaging, and even Google Ads.

Most retailers start off selling on a single channel. This can be a physical brick and mortar store or an online only webstore. Prior to the pandemic, an increasing number of retailers have started to add new sales channels to their businesses as shoppers now expect to be able to shop and pre-shop in more than one place.

2. What is omnichannel?

Omnichannel is a fully-integrated retail experience for shoppers. So when omnichannel works, it means customers will have the same experience no matter which sales channel they use. A customer who buys products from a brick & mortar store should have the same experience as one who uses social media channels to buy products. This is the ideal outcome for a successful omnichannel retail business.

Buy online, pickup in store diagram for omnichannel retail

What many retailers aren’t as familiar with, is that retailers must use a system that can share sales, inventory, and customer information (data) across all sales channels to be able to offer omnichannel retail. This means handling all store sales and fulfillment of online orders under a single login. In particular, omnichannel systems make store-managed e-commerce such as “buy online pickup in-store” a lot more efficient.

A successful system handles data for sales, inventory and customer information across all brick & mortar stores, online storefronts, ecommerce marketplaces, mobile channels/apps (WhatsApp), and social media commerce (Facebook or Instagram Shop). You should be able to sell to your customers no matter where they shop. In the past, omnichannel systems were expensive and only available to very large retailers. However, today’s modern cloud systems have made it possible for small-to-mid-sized retailers to take advantage of the cost-savings and sales boosting benefits of omnichannel retail.

3. What is the difference between multichannel & omnichannel?

It’s important not to confuse omnichannel with multichannel, despite their similarities. Like omnichannel, multichannel refers to retailers selling to customers through different sales channels. Yet, in a multichannel setup, these channels are not integrated. 

Unlike omnichannel, multichannel does not unify the customer experience. And more importantly, multichannel retail costs merchants a lot more money because they need to log into separate tools or channels to manage inventory separately, or see sales and customer history. This is a time-consuming process that can lead to lost sales and errors. It also increases the complexity of your sales and tax management. Additionally, multichannel increases the cost of managing inventory if sales are being fulfilled from the store or the same place.

Multichannel retail costs a lot more money to run because a retailer needs to manage her or his business in separate tools or channels.

4. Why is omnichannel retail important?

Omnichannel selling offers a data-driven approach to retail. As stock levels change, you will want to know the product levels in every channel. A good omnichannel system will do this automatically. This means you will never have to manually manage stockouts. A good omnichannel system will also increase sales by highlighting your best customers across all sales channels. It will focus on faster fulfill of every sale, no matter where the sale originates.

Omnichannel systems are increasingly effective at attracting people to brick & mortar locations. They do this by linking to Google to drive foot traffic to stores based on how close nearby shoppers are to available stock. This increases overall profits by increasing in-store and sales conversion rates.

The goal is a memorable and positive experience for your customers. Omnichannel can make this happen.

TAKU Retail can provide you with a comprehensive and integrated omnichannel strategy that will remove friction between channels. Because TAKU is cloud-based, it can function on any device since it’s not tied to any specific type of hardware. This enables you to use any existing web-enabled devices from desktop computers or tablets to smartphones.

TAKU can not only help you increase sales and reduce operational costs, but it can also help you get in front of shoppers before they even leave their homes. Click below to find out about other ways TAKU Retail can help you achieve a successful omnichannel system for your business.

Omnichannel retail with TAKU Retail