Social Promotion Fundamentals: Tips from Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index Spotlight
Long before you decide on the logistics of your retail promotion on Facebook (prizes, duration, how to handle technical issues, who’s responsible for monitoring, etc.), there are some fundamentals you cannot overlook:
- Promotions aren’t right for everyone. DSW always has a giveaway going. Cheaper Than Dirt? Never. Whether it’s due to industry regulations or dissonance with brand experience, a thumbs-down to contests doesn’t have to be a blow to social engagement. Both DSW and Cheaper Than Dirt have social engagement scores well above average on Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index.
- Follow the rules. If you decide social promotions are right for you, make sure they adhere to the guidelines. Many brands are out of compliance!
- Invest as much creativity in social promotions as you do other content. The popular notion is that fans want discounts and free stuff from the brands they “like,” and yet it is not uncommon for brands to experience lower engagement with contests and promotions than they do when having plain old fun. (Spencer’s is a great example of this.) Know what resonates with fans, and infuse your promotions with the same juice. If your brand is edgy, give your promotions an attitude. If your brand has a sweet side, help your promotions inspire some good old fashion sentimentality. Yes, fans want swag … but they want reasons to be excited about it.
- Promotions should be part of your overall branded Facebook strategy. Promotions (like contests, giveaways and sweepstakes), as well as promotional partnerships with vendors or media partners) should not seem out of place in your social stream. A sports-inspired promotion by 1-800-Flowers last month (in conjunction with ESPN) may have been designed to appeal to a male broadcast audience ahead of Valentine’s Day, but it didn’t appeal to fans on Facebook. Customize promotional content so that it closely matches both your brand and your specific audience, which may vary platform to platform.
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Through our “Retail Social Juice Index Spotlight” at Retail Online Integration, we’ve covered social media tactics for over 30 brands and garnered from them about two dozen takeaways. To celebrate a full year of writing the column, we’re revising and sharing some of the content with Media Logic’s audience via a blog post series that highlights our favorite takeaways; this is part two (part one is here: Details That Matter in Social Media).
