Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are two of the highest revenue grossing events of the year for consumer sales, but that doesn’t mean you just have to sit and wait idly for customers’ orders to garner sales. You actually have every reason to double your marketing efforts considering your chance to multiply your revenues at this point in time. Besides, almost all businesses are working hard for these events – including your competitors. If you don’t double your efforts, your business will surely be left behind. One way to drive sales and make things happen for your business is to leverage the power and influence of social media.
Looking back, Black Friday 2016 generated one of the highest online sales in years at $3.34 billion, but it was crushed by the 2017 Black Friday online sales which was a record $5.03 billion or an increase of 16.9%, Adobe Analytics reported. The 2016 Cyber Monday also set a record in online sales at $5.6 billion but then again it was surpassed by the 2017 Cyber Monday online sales which was $6.59 billion or an increase of 16.8%, the same source added.
We already have the possibilities staring at us. Our mission now is to unveil effective social media campaigns that work to make this happen for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018.
First things first, start off by fixing the basics. Before jumping into any marketing campaign, you must keep in mind the basics of social media marketing campaigns. These can do a lot to keep you on the right marketing track and give you a fair share of the holiday market.
Promote Free or Inexpensive Shipping
A survey conducted on online shoppers found that 90% or an overwhelming majority of online shoppers declared that free shipping is the top incentive they look for when shopping for merchandise online. Nearly half of them said same-day-shipping attracts them to buy from e-commerce sites, while 50% stated they’ve been comfortable with sellers that offer one-day shipping.
Whatever method of delivery is effective for you, you must be sure to emphasize timeliness and cost-effectiveness in the delivery aspect.
Ensure Your Capability to Cater to Mobile Buyers
With the proliferation of smartphones, many people are using mobile phones to shop online. According to the 2018 mobile e-commerce statistics report, 62% of smartphone users have purchased online in the last six months using their mobile device. Moreover, 63% of all online purchases in the U.S. in 2017 came from smartphones.
Although the conversion rate from smart phones has risen from 1.70% in the second quarter of 2017 to 2.83% in the second quarter of 2018, it is still lower than the conversion rate generated by traditional computers which stands at 3.83% for the same period of the current year.
Smart phones account for almost 50% of BFCM traffic. You must make sure that your site is mobile friendly to give it the best opportunity to bring in potential customers come Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Choose the Social Network that Works Best for You
Most social media platforms can help in product marketing, but they can easily distract you, eat up your time and defeat your marketing goals. Avoid this by focusing on just one or two social networks that generated the best revenues for you. You need not be present on all social media platforms to promote your wares for BFCM.
Start Your Campaign Early
If you think that a killer social media campaign on a last minute swoop would work, you’re facing a big misconception. In order to garner substantial BFCM sales, you should plan your strategy, set your marketing goals, and execute that plan early on.
Create Dedicated Landing Pages for Your Campaign
Creating dedicated pages for your BFCM social media campaigns will allow you to monitor and identify traffic / conversions solely from social media.
Time your Offerings / Promos Smartly
Proper timing can also have an influence on a BFCM sales campaign. In 2016, the Black Friday online buying traffic rose steadily until it hit its peak at 12:00 p.m. The Cyber Monday online shopping on the other hand, had a lull that started at dawn and gradually increased until it reached a peak at 9:00 p.m. That said, it would be prudent for you to use these promotional offers. Remember, timing is an important element in business.
1. Discounts and Deals
You will probably make a few sales on BFCM by just tweeting or sharing your top deals. But if you’re targeting for bigger results, you should be a bit more creative.
You can start by making lightning deals and doing something like offering a price reduction of 25% or 50% for example, for a limited time (ex. This promo ends in 30 minutes or while supply lasts). This can trigger buying from a sense of urgency from potential BFCM customers.
Aside from creating an incentive to buy, lightning deals also motivate potential customers to keep checking back in for more promotional offers.
2. Make People Aware that You Intend to Use BFCM for a Noble Purpose
In 2015, an outdoor clothing and gear shop named REI decided to suspend its retail and online sales activity on Black Friday.
Boycotting BFCM is a very unlikely decision for any sporting and apparel business because Black Friday is one of the most popular shopping days of the year. What’s even more surprising is that REI paid all of its more than 12,000 employees to take a day off just so they can enjoy the outdoors.
REI did it to prove that they are true to their brand. They even encouraged BFCM buyers to skip long lines and get out to explore the great outdoors.
Today, REI’s #OptOut which started as #Optoutdoors: is already a year-round campaign with almost 300 national and local organizations joining in including Google, Burton and Subaru.
If you can’t leave BFCM for obvious reasons, you can put a spin on it and help reframe people’s perception of Black Friday and Cyber Monday instead.
One way to do it is by donating a portion, say 20% of your sales or profits to charity. This will make people appreciate the value of your BFCM sales campaign. You may not be able to get all the profits but you will still be able to make substantial returns because of the expected volume of sales you will make.
3. Take It Live
Using Facebook Live to let people watch your BFCM promo will multiply your products’ sales potentials. As a matter of fact, Facebook users prefer to watch FB Live videos 3 times longer than pre-recorded videos.
Before going live, you need to create a real BFCM promotional event and make your Facebook friends and followers aware of it so that they can attend and perhaps invite their own friends and contacts to your event.
4. Make Prospects Laugh
This item may not sound sensible, and it isn’t even backed by serious facts but seriously, humor has some real conversion power. If you can make people laugh, you can also make them open their wallets a little wider. Here are some reasons:
- Humor has the ability to make people forget that someone is trying to sell to them.
- Humor lightens our mood and makes us lower our defenses.
- Humor shifts people away from information processing towards an emotional response. This is where a sales punchline can come in without much resistance.
Humor can be an effective sales approach, but you need to do a research on your audience first to see how your product can help them and why they should buy it. Jokes alone cannot sell.
5. Advertise on Social Media
Advertising on social media is the best way to reach your targeted audience on Black Friday Cyber Monday. Whether Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is your highest revenue generator, you need to leverage social media advertising to multiply your sales potentials.
Effective ways to advertise on social media include:
- Promote your BFCM discount or promo on your Facebook page by posting an engaging video.
- Don’t be afraid to invest $20 to $50 to advertise your promo to your social media followers. This can certainly give you limitless sales opportunities.
- Create a retargeting Facebook video ad that drives traffic to your site. Target only the ones who watched at least 50% of the video.
- Install a Facebook pixel on dedicated landing pages of your BFCM campaign.
- Before the end of your BFCM, create a retargeting campaign based on the FB pixel you installed. You can target first time visitors as well as those who added products to their cart but did not make a purchase. Promote your two to three hottest BFCM discounts on this campaign.
- After Black Friday and Cyber Monday, create one more retargeting campaign based on the FB pixel you previously installed. Again, target first time visitors and those who added products to their cart but did not hit “purchase.”
Social media is ripe with opportunities on Black Friday, Cyber Monday as well as in the coming holidays. Be sure to utilize its potentials not just in building your brand but in letting people know of your products’ value.
Should you need our assistance on this, we at Muzeum Marketing are always ready to pour out our talents and expertise. We can give you the marketing success you want for Black Friday and beyond.
Give us a call at (303) 466-3055 or 1-888-311-1053 so that we can evaluate your needs and offer possible solutions. Your call can be the key to a break you’ve always wanted.
