retail

Social media offers tremendous opportunities for small and local retail businesses to find customers online. 

People looking for local businesses will find you easily if you leverage social media platforms well. Social networks are ideal for showcasing most retail products since many are optimized to share images. 

In this post, we’ll look at different ways that you can make the best use of social media features to become visible online and attract customers. With consistent effort and good quality content, you’ll be able to engage your audience and thrive as a local retailer. 

1. Be present on multiple platforms

Today, you’ll find your audience active on different platforms. It’s worthwhile doing some research to find out where your target demographic is most likely to be present. Did you know that nearly 50% of adults on Facebook are above the age of 65? The younger generations, Millennials and Gen Zers, form the largest proportion of users in newer networks like Tik Tok and Snapchat. 

Information like this can help you focus on the right platforms for your business. However, it’s important to be present on different networks to target your audience more easily. You’ll also make it easy for people to find you. 

When creating your social media profiles, make sure that you use every feature by filling in all the information sections. Adding small details about where your business is located, your operating hours, and adding images with descriptions can have an impact on whether your business shows up as a result for local search queries. 

2. Build a content calendar

The biggest mistake that many businesses make is not creating a content calendar. Research on digital marketing shows that the one major difference between top-performing businesses and ones that do poorly is the use of documented content marketing strategies.

Once you’ve set up your social media profiles, you’ll need to start publishing content right away and on a consistent basis. You’ll soon see that creating content for several platforms is challenging, more so when you have to do it daily or even multiple times a day. To add another layer of complexity, each social network favors different types of content.

So, create a content calendar for your social media by planning posts for at least two weeks. You can schedule these posts by using social media management tools and then focus on responding to comments and converting your audience into paying customers. 

A content calendar ensures that you maintain a consistent tone of voice in your marketing. You’ll also use your time effectively and free up resources to deal with other customer issues. 

3. Share live videos

Social media content often includes text posts, GIFs, and image content. These types of posts are the easiest to make. However, it is essential to include video content as a major part of your content creation strategy. 

Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to create high-value productions to get good results. Nearly all social media networks today have video sharing options that include live videos, ‘Stories’, and editing features. You can add graphics, text, filters, and more to create interactive and attractive video content with just your phone. 

Today, short video formats that are entertaining get the most engagement of all types of content. Live videos where you feature events, answer questions, or generally engage with users are also important. They create a personalized experience for your audience and convey authenticity. 

4. Create social media feeds on your website

There’s another way to leverage social media and that’s adding social media feeds to your website. Doing this gives you a few advantages that help you deal with the drawbacks of using social networks:

  • You can keep customers on your site longer since they won’t be distracted by competing content
  • Hosting social media feeds on your website gives you greater control over branding so that users remember your business

Integrating social media feeds into your website is easy to do. All you need is a social feeds plugin for your WordPress site. Once you’ve connected to your accounts, you can instantly showcase your social media content on your site pages. 

5. Leverage emotions

There’s never any guarantee that your content will get attention or go viral on social media. Social media algorithms change frequently and how they pick content to showcase will always remain a secret. However, there’s one common element that top posts always have—emotion. 

Your best bet at attracting engagement is to add emotion to your content. You can do this by sharing stories related to real-life or by posting entertaining and funny videos. 

When creating content that generates emotions, think about the kind of feelings you want to generate. A safe but effective approach is to make funny content that’s appropriate for your audience. 

Back to you

We’ve covered a few ways that you can market a retail store on social media. You can also create ads or work with influencers to reach other people. 

Combine the techniques mentioned here to come up with strategies that work for your business. Remember to do your research, track data, and carry out split tests to see how people respond to your content. 

By tweaking your content and engaging with your audience, you’ll ensure that your retail business gets visibility online and thrives in today’s climate

Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With over 10 years of experience, he’s the leading WordPress expert in the industry. You can learn more about Syed and his portfolio of companies by following him on his social media networks.

Retail stock photo by Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock