If a company has already started its online retail strategy, it can’t miss the opportunity to implement it with Social Media, especially if it has never had one. In fact, social selling is a method for companies to create a series of actions to have deeper interactions with their clients.
In the last few years, this trend has become an important factor to take into account in the retail industry, thanks to the exponential growth of social media.
Today customers are increasingly informed and aware of social selling, they are able to evaluate every option regarding their purchases online. For this reason, traditional channels, such as telephone and emails, are outdated tools.
Modern clients are always connected on social networks and it is necessary for a retailer to be able to use them correctly: it’s time to invest in new tools. For this reason, we highly suggest a digital turn: you need to implement every commercial action with a social media strategy focused on social selling.
Nevertheless, many companies seem to hardly understand the importance of implementing these activities in their commercial strategy.
Here are some tips to implement a successful social media strategy:
1- A dynamic and formal approach
There are different ways to approach clients on social networks, but the most successful is to adopt a dynamic and formal approach. On the formal level, there is a monitored process to follow. On the dynamic level, on the basis of the results, it is possible to control and align that process. It is necessary to adopt at least one of the two approaches to create an efficient social selling strategy. In that way, you can have a predetermined process to pursue.
In this case, coordination with the marketing department of the company is fundamental. In this way, you can build a consistent message which can guide commercial activities in a more efficient way.
2- Performances and feedback
It is fundamental to evaluate the success of the social selling strategy:
- You can understand your weaknesses in order to improve your existence in social media networks.
- Social selling strategies determine different benchmarks and objectives for the company, in order to have performances always checked
- It could be useful to use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to manage all interactions that companies have with (potential) customers analyzing all data based on customers’ history.
3- The right place and the right moment
Not all social networks are suitable for all companies, it depends on their objective. Every social media channel has different requests and the user base on each channel demands custom content. It is important for a retailer to understand which could be the most proficient social platform for its purpose.
Another fundamental element for companies is to understand the right moment to sell product on social networks. The best way to deal with this problem is to plan every post in the right time frames during the day. In addition, it is important to be constantly informed about circumstances that could be in line with the company’s objectives.
Therefore, social media networks are the best way to better know customers. That is the key to success. For example, many social media platforms implement its Insights by which companies can understand language, age, sex, country and any other information about their customers. This means that companies can use all this information to build a dedicated social media strategy.
As well, it is possible for the retailer to:
- check competitors
- expand its audience
- receive real-time feedback
- create deep engagement with customers
- share contents easily
- increase its brand awareness with a low budget
So, even if there are still many sceptical companies, implementing a social media strategy today is needed. Once a retailer has identified its objectives, and established why it needs a social media presence, it can enforce key strategies to ensure that it is successful.
If you want further information, contact us here.
About Annalisa
I am a Communications graduate working as an intern at Arema Connect in a European placement. I have a background in Communications Sciences and foreign languages from the University of Calabria and I have worked in a vast range of different activities within Communications departments, press and media. At Arema Connect I am supporting the Marketing department. After the completion of my internship, I would like to travel and gain additional experience in the communications field.
