By Bruce Newman
My wife loves going to flea markets and uncovering previously unknown treasures. At a recent Stormville flea market, she found a vendor who produces what could be the best jelly in the world. Using beer, wine, Chablis, pectin and natural flavors, Potlicker Kitchen produced 13 outrageous (and delicious) flavors. After my wife tasted several of them, she was hooked. We are now well stocked with truly excellent jelly.
But this got me thinking. What made this experience so noteworthy? And how can this experience be translated into the digital world? After all, the function of social media is to promote (great) products and generate attention and sales.
The first step is to tell a story. I started this article by relating my wife”™s experience with a new product she discovered at a flea market. You have probably never seen or smelled these jellies and yet, they are more noteworthy because of the brief story I just recanted about my wife. It”™s certainly more appealing than if I had just talked about them. Even if I only heard about them through an advertisement, inclusion of a story would enhance my engagement.
Consumers are increasingly preoccupied with the shopping experience. They want faster and easier transactions at a time and place of their choosing that can address their specific wants and needs. This is one of the reasons why content marketing is so important; it can be personalized. It also forms the basis concerning what the consumer is thinking and how can they be influenced. These factors are particularly important as the percentage of ecommerce and mobile (mcommerce) sales continue to increase.
Despite their short duration of existence, tablets have become important mcommerce sales tools. An Adobe 2013 study recently reported that shoppers who use tablets are three times more likely to make a purchase than shoppers with a smartphone. Furthermore, these purchases are usually for larger ticket items than with smartphones. While an increasing number of companies are also creating mobile websites, only a handful is currently optimizing their site for tablets. If they are a brick and mortar store or they sell an online product, tablet optimization can help drive sales.
Video can also be extremely effective, particularly if its content or context can enhance the shopping experience. Maybe a video that shows the product being used and appreciated would inspire the consumer to purchase the product. Positive testimonials and ratings would also motivate consumers to make a purchase.
Many shoppers are now using their mobile devices within stores to: check prices (foremost), learn about the product or competitive products, check product reviews or search for online promotions and deals. This “show rooming” has rapidly increased in frequency with almost 75 percent of stores reporting some type of show-rooming activity by their customers.
Is this necessarily a bad thing? Show rooming can result in lost sales. Even small mom and pop stores can be susceptible to show rooming where people go to a local store to check out an item and then proceed to order it online or purchase it elsewhere. Yet, 64 percent of mobile searches in a store are goal-oriented. In many cases, they will help a customer make a decision. More importantly, a customer is usually already in buy mode. In many cases, all they need is some additional tidbit to close the sale.
Show rooming can also allow stores to share locations for a deal. Or check in to get a deal. Remember, once people buy from you, they are seven times more likely to make additional purchases. Get their information and then create a social media campaign around it. Even if it is as simple as a monthly email, you can now stay in front of them and build a relationship.
So now, here”™s my wife with the jellies. Obviously, in the flea market she got to taste several flavors and have a conversation directly with one of the owners. While this tasting is not possible online (although tastings are possible in stores), the conversation, testimonials, stories and interactivity online are indeed possible. In many cases, this is sufficient to create a continuous stream of traffic, communication and sales for both the product and the retailer.
Bruce Newman is the president of wwWebevents.com, a division of The Productivity Institute L.L.C. Newman is a social media guru and webinar production and promotion expert. He is also the creator of The Complete Webinar Training Course, an online course that helps companies create and promote highly successful webinars. Bruce can be reached at bnewman@prodinst.com.
