The holidays always come at the same time, but the year flies by so quickly that it can easily get away from you. So now we're on the brink of the biggest selling season of the year and Deloitte, the world's largest consulting firm, is predicting upwards of $1.1 trillion in sales for 2019. How do you maximize your slice of that pie?
Help is as close as your smart phone or tablet. In this newsletter our California fulfillment services experts offer helpful tips for leveraging Facebook to get an instant boost in holiday sales even if you've started late with your planning.
Nine Tips for Using Facebook to Boost Holiday Sales
1. Formulate a Game Plan
Within the holiday selling season, there are specific peak days:
• Black Friday – November 29
• Small Business Saturday – November 30
• Cyber Monday – December 2
• Green Monday – December 9
• Free Shipping Day – December 18
Plan posts and ads focused on these days, zeroing in on your target customers and promoting particular actions for them to take.
2. Schedule Strategic Posting
Facebook's Page Insights tool provides valuable data about when your customers are likely to be online. Maximize exposure by scheduling posts and ads during these times.
3. Follow Facebook Policies
Time is of the essence, and few things will derail your campaign faster than creating ads that violate Facebook policies. Chief among those is the rule that ads and cover photos cannot include more than 20 percent text. As a benefit, your ads will be more compelling and stand out in news feeds.
4. Offer Promotions
Get inventory moving with a promotion such as buy-one-get-one deals. If you don't already offer free shipping, this is the perfect time to do so, at least temporarily. According to media analytics company ComScore, more than 80 percent of holiday sales in 2018 included free shipping. This represents a significant jump from the 67 percent to 77 percent between 2015 and 2017.
5. Encourage Consumer Engagement
Last year, mobile transactions accounted for 40 percent of online holiday sales, with the number predicted to top 50 percent this year. Build brand loyalty by making it easy for customers to share their experiences on Facebook and other social media.
6. Give Posts a "Boost"
Expand the reach of your top posts by choosing Facebook'\'s Boost option, which lets you share posts with current and targeted customers as well as set a time frame and budget. Use this function to help capture last-minute shoppers.
7. Go Where the Customers Are
Facebook Marketplace is a digital mall that has expanded from peer-to-peer selling to incorporate vendors. The 800 million people browsing Marketplace each month are already motivated to buy, so it's a great channel to reach potential customers.
8. Create a Video
Forbes cites a recent statistic that a staggering 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day. In addition, more than half of that is done via mobile and 92 percent of those viewers share videos. Can you afford to ignore that kind of activity? Facebook has a video creation kit with templates to make videos using existing photos and text.
9. Generate Conversation
Social media is intended to facilitate interaction among people of different ages, genders and opinions. Use that quality by stepping away from obvious sales posts for a bit and get viewers involved with polls, contest and other interactive content. You'll create buzz and learn information about your audience.
Let Our California Fulfillment Services Handle Your Holiday Fulfillment Rush
During the busy holiday season, customer satisfaction can make or break you. Contact Medallion to learn more about how our California fulfillment services handle the details while you focus on selling.
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