Republished and adapted from a recent TabSite Press Release:
TabSite (http://www.tabsite.com), the industry leader in Facebook fan page management, is challenging retailers and brands to get ahead of consumer purchase decisions this holiday season and extend the season days longer.
Using social engagement applications, retailers of all sizes have the potential to drive traffic, increase fan participation and boost sales.
With the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasting holiday retail sales this year will expand by 4.1 percent from last year to a whopping $586.1 billion, and the long Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend expected to top last year’s record $52.4 billion takeaway, brands and retailers have an imperative to develop marketing strategies to assure their piece of the largest holiday profits pie in years. But consumer surveys have demonstrated how competitive our wired-in culture has made the holiday season: Almost a third of all holiday shoppers started browsing in September last year, and over 60 percent started looking for post-holiday deals before Nov. 1, the commonly accepted official start of the season. A formidable 88 percent of online shoppers plan to research their gift purchases in advance, and 67 percent expect retailers will offer better deals this year than last year.
It’s evident that time is of the essence for brands and retailers that want to reach deal-hungry consumers, and now is the time to start rolling out holiday campaigns, including that essential social media campaign.
TabSite, the leading provider of custom social media engagement apps, has analyzed consumer behavior and devised a strategy for a well-timed holiday season social campaign that makes the most of how consumers are thinking and acting at each step of their shopping experiences. View TabSite Promo Apps.
“Consumers are increasingly making a jump on their holiday shopping and TabSite advises brands and retailers with the best ways to capture that consumer activity through social media,” said TabSite co-Founder, Troy Rumfelt. “Now is the time to implement a plan that reaches and engages consumers before they’ve made decisions about their gift purchases.”
To create buzz with social media tools and meet the season’s traffic and sales goals, TabSite offers the following strategies:
- Design a new cover image for your Facebook page, one that launches your holiday theme and is consistent across all tabs on your Pages. To get an idea of what kind of specials to offer, 77 percent of shoppers have said their purchases would be influenced by free shipping, 74 percent by price cuts, 55 percent by coupons and 44 percent by blowout sales. (TabSite allows you to load a new Timeline cover image via the TabSite Manager.)
- Create a tab that will reveal a weekly upcoming special, and include maps to brick-and-mortars. (You can do this with the TabSite Holiday Template.)
- If you offer a coupon via a tab on your Facebook Page, include an email signup form.
- Post one photo per day to your Page Timeline, with a text description and a smart URL linking to the coupon tab you created with TabSite.
- Schedule posts for prime times to catch your fans’ attention. TabSite integrates Buffer, Sendible, and Plan Your Post in Engagement Apps for Planning Posts and messages to Social Media Services.
- Follow a seven-day coupon deal with a seven-day free shipping offer using a promotional code using the TabSite Share Deal tool or Friend Share tool. Again, share an image and link back to the offer tab.
- Finally, prepare a post-holiday specials plan to share on tabs and post to your Timeline to extend your sales season and capture those that are looking for deals immediately after the holidays.
“This is a helpful snapshot of strategies for businesses to consider when preparing their holiday campaigns. But more importantly, this approach works for retailers and brands of all sizes, not just for big retailers with big budgets and big marketing teams,” added Rumfelt.
As one of the early developers of social marketing tools for Facebook, TabSite empowers businesses and organizations with the latest social tools and capabilities. With TabSite, there are no fan limits that elevate costs. Businesses of all sizes have access to a comprehensive suite of solutions, from complete design control and integrated social sharing to promotion rich engagement apps and the ability to customize globally for language specific needs.
About TabSite
Founded in 2010, TabSite was established to meet the growing demands of digital marketers seeking to leverage Facebook. The company’s suite of custom content solutions and social engagement applications inspire fan participation, drive traffic and increase business exposure among thousands of businesses, agencies and partner affiliates worldwide.