Can social media marketing help your small retail business stand out? Let's explore how social platforms can amplify your unique offerings and attract more customers. Today, fewer people now walk to your shop to shop; they surf the net for shopping. So many retailers now do something on their Facebook company page every day. It is their primary communication method. Today, in business, using social marketing has never been more important—vital, I would say.

No business can ignore social media as part of its marketing mix.

Checkout statistics for social media in Australia

"85% of the eligible (age 13+) Australian population have active social media accounts and spend an average of 1 hour 47 minutes per day on social media."

Last year, in 2023, I was shocked when a client asked us for help setting up a Facebook page. We helped him out, but now the problem is that he does not know how to use it. I told him that he had better learn. There is no excuse if he cannot get someone to help him. Then, I gave him a few pointers. I advised him that there are plenty of good online courses and that he does not need to pay a cent for them to learn, for example, the Hubspot social media marketing course. I did this social media marketing course online here, which, in the end, gave me a social media marketing certification.
 

I thought it was worthwhile. If you know something better, please let me know, and I will tell people here about it.

Here are some advantages of social media.

1. Visibility: Social media platforms can help you get to a broader audience.
2. Cost-effective: Social media marketing strategies can often be free.
3. Customer engagement: You can interact directly with your customers, building relationships and loyalty.
4. Local Targeting: Social media allows you to target customers in your local area.

Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

Choose the Right Platforms

Not all social media platforms are the same. Ask your customers; this helps you focus on the ones where your target audience is most active. For retailers, Facebook and Instagram are often good starting points.
 

Learning from Successful Social Media Strategies

When it comes to starting social media marketing, it's crucial to learn from those who are doing it well. If you can, get an expert to help you start even better.

Study and Adapt

One of the best ways to improve your social media presence is to learn from successful retailers doing similar stuff by:

1. Identify successful competitors: Look for businesses with engaging social media profiles like yours.
2. Analyze their content: What types of posts get the most engagement? How often do they post?
3. Observe their tone: Is it friendly, professional, or humorous? How do they interact with followers?
4. Note their visual style: What images or videos do they use?

I recommend you go to Facebook and see what a few similar businesses to yours are doing there now. Check the ones you like and take a few notes about what your business needs. Note the words they say, too. Presumably, they have experimented and found that these work. I admit that when I started with social media, I copied people in Canada; they are similar to Australia, and I found that what they did was novel and new in Australia.

So, to start, copy what they do, change it to make it yours and see how you go. As you learn more, you can adapt.

You can always experiment later with the paid services, but like anything, if you are going to pay, it's best to know a little first.

Key Strategies to Implement

Based on my observations of successful retailers, here are some effective strategies:

1. Showcase your products: Use high-quality images and videos to highlight your offerings.
2. Behind-the-scenes content: Give followers a peek into your daily operations or product creation process.
3. Customer spotlights: Feature satisfied customers using your products or services.
4. Engage with your audience: Respond promptly to comments and messages.

My Personal Experience

When we revamped our social media strategy for our POS company, we started by studying successful tech companies and local retailers. We noticed that posts showcasing real-life applications of our software received the most engagement.

We began creating short video tutorials demonstrating how our POS system solved common problems for retailers. These videos attracted potential customers and provided value to our existing clients. We also started featuring customer success stories, significantly boosting our credibility and engagement rates.

Measuring Success

To ensure our strategy was effective, we tracked KPI metrics. Most social media sites give you this stuff for free.

By consistently applying these strategies and measuring our results, I know we significantly improved our social media presence and, ultimately, our business growth.

Remember, the key is to start with observation, adapt strategies to fit your unique business, and consistently measure and adjust your approach. With time and effort, you can develop a solid social media presence that supports your shop and have much fun doing it.

• Engaging: Use high-quality images and videos for your products; your suppliers have this; ask them for social media content. I am sure they have a social media manager who can help you get effective social media.
• Informative: Share tips, how-to guides, and product information.
• Authentic: Show the human side of your business.

Consistency is Key

To keep your marketing campaign going, you must maintain a regular posting schedule and commit to best practices in social media management.

Leveraging Social Media for Your Shop

Here are some ways to use social media to promote your retail shop:

1. Showcase your products: Show photos and videos of your products. If you get new gift items, books, or pets in your shop, take a picture and share it online. 
2. Share customer testimonials: These bring trust by highlighting positive customer experiences.
3. Provide customer service: I have clients whose staff, when they are not busy behind the counter, are answering customer inquiries on social media.

Be a marketer (an influencer).

Measuring Your Success

Measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing, and keep an eye on these KPIs:

Conclusion

"It's 2024, and the retail landscape demands a modern approach. Social media marketing stands out as a game-changing tool for small retailers looking to scale their business and highlight their POS software capabilities. Create a compelling online presence that works in tandem with your physical store by carefully choosing your platforms, developing captivating content, and actively engaging with your audience. The secret to thriving? Begin with manageable goals, maintain regularity, and always focus on enriching your audience's experience.

Let your social media shine!

In today's marketplace, businesses must leverage every marketing channel to captivate their target audience effectively. Each channel offers distinct advantages and considerations.

Your POS System will give you details on what is selling now. Use that info to start your message.

Let us explore the compelling features of SMS, email, and Facebook/Instagram marketing, weighing their costs and benefits to help you make informed decisions for your business.

Some studies show that people who read business messages do give businesses a high success rate. The big problem with electronic messages is getting people to read them.  A typical rate today is about 22% open rate, with about 55% of those who read it action it. 

The fact of life is that you often get what you pay for in advertising. Hold this thought while we go through some options.

The Appeal of SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is probably the dearest electronic marketing option in our client base. Still, it provides some intriguing options with several compelling features that appeal to businesses seeking to engage their customers directly and instantly.

Immediacy and High Open Rates

SMS marketing will capture customers' attention immediately. Typically, they are read within minutes of receiving them. Additionally, SMS campaigns boast impressively high open rates, often exceeding 90%, surpassing email and other marketing channels.

I have a client who has a sandwich bar. Come to 2:00 p.m. if they are looking at a heap of sandwiches that will be dumped if not sold. They send out specials by SMS. Email will not help much if you need to move those sandwiches in less than an hour. Only SMS can do it.

The Cost Considerations of SMS Marketing

Here's a typical breakdown of the expenses for prepaid SMS bundles that would be valid for 12 months of purchase:

Once purchased, it is really about using them or losing them. I had a client who lost when they weren’t using as much as they thought they would.

As you can see, the SMS cost is higher for companies that send a few SMS messages. 

Many would consider $600 a year justified to send 1,000 SMS messages monthly to engage with their customers directly and immediately.

The Power of Email and Facebook Marketing

While SMS marketing offers unique advantages, email and Facebook marketing present compelling alternatives that can deliver substantial results without breaking the bank.

Cost-Effectiveness and Scalability

One of the most significant advantages of email and Facebook marketing is their cost-effectiveness, especially compared to traditional marketing methods or SMS campaigns. These options do not incur much cos, making them convenient for businesses with limited budgets. Email and Facebook marketing are highly scalable, allowing you to reach a larger audience without a huge additional cost. There is no cost for most of our customers; it’s free of charge. It's pretty hard to argue with that!

Rich Multimedia Content and Engagement

Email and Facebook marketing campaigns enable you to showcase your products or services through rich multimedia content, captivating visuals, and engaging storytelling. This approach captures your target audience's attention and fosters deeper connections and brand loyalty. Make sure you take photos. 

Targeted Reach and Personalization

Both email and Facebook marketing platforms offer robust segmentation and targeting capabilities. Most people find that a standard message to all works, but it's nice sometimes if you have a good list to tailor your specific audience segments. This personalisation level enhances your communications' relevance and strengthens customer relationships.

ROI (Return On Investment)

This is tricky. So many factors come into it. However, we can discuss general differences between SMS, email, and Facebook marketing regarding how quickly you might see results.

• SMS Marketing: SMS boasts high open rates, meaning you'll likely see a faster response to your promotions. Did that afternoon text about discounted sandwiches go straight out of your inventory? The ROI for that campaign is pretty clear!

• Email & Facebook Marketing: Email and Facebook marketing rarely provide immediate sales figures; unlike SMS, they can be incredibly effective in building brand loyalty and driving long-term customer engagement. The ROI might not be as instantly measurable, but loyal customers who return for repeat purchases are a valuable asset.

Pro Tip: Use Unique Discount Codes!

Here's a powerful strategy to track the effectiveness of each marketing channel: assign a unique offer for each campaign. This allows you to see what is working. 

Conclusion

Today, in retail, you must leverage every available channel to captivate your target audience effectively. 

The Facebook page for our company went down, as many of you are aware. We were informed that an account associated with that page had been the target of an attempted hack. As a result, we immediately disabled our POS Solutions page while we reviewed their security measures. We decided to keep our page down even though we know this will be inconvenient for many of you; we want to ensure our page remains secure. It's now back up. Once we digest it, I will brief you on what the hackers did, give us a week. It is weird.

Also, consider following us on Twitter for the most recent information and updates if you want to reap the benefits of social media. Keeping in touch is easy with our Twitter account.

Conclusion

Consider this an opportunity to review your cyber security and exercise caution when using social media.

A modern business needs an online presence. The best and fastest way to make such a presence is a Facebook Business Page, and it is free.

Despite what many of you hear from news outlets using overseas information, Facebook in Australia figures are slightly up.

- 6 in 10 Australians use Facebook

-1 in 2 Australians uses Facebook daily

It makes sense for businesses to establish a presence on Facebook to get more customers.

On Facebook, David can compete with Goliath as the page is the same no matter what size you are.

Need help in setting up a Facebook Business Page? It is easy. To start, all you need is a few photos and supply them with a few details. If you are still unsure well for our customers, we provide such a service for free.

In all your communication, e.g. email, you should include your Facebook page address. Every one of your customers should know of it. Push it. As you name spread Facebook will push the word out to relevant people, that is how their systems are designed.

Here are some ideas on what to write about

1) Most industries have a trade cycle, a trade show for the public, etc.

2) Look on Facebook at what other retail stores like you do, take notes of what they do and change it to your needs.

3) Google can be used to generate ideas. Put in a few words applicable to your business and see what comes up. What comes up is what people are looking for now.

4) Almost all businesses have stocktaking sales, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Xmas, etc.

5) Suppliers often notify you of their seasons and promotions. Often they provide free marketing aids, too, like photos and information.

6) If one of your suppliers suddenly grows in the market, write about how good it is and that you have these products.

7) Suppliers often have new products. Write about them. Tell them how it can help bring value to their lives.

8) School holidays often supply marketing opportunities.

9) You can check your sales reports to see when your business is busiest. Try and find out why and let people know what you have at that time.

10) New products in the shop work well too. Take a photo. Most of us have a smartphone that takes excellent photos. Please take a quick snap, add a few words, and you have done it.

11) Best sellers are also good. Go to your top-selling report, check out what is selling now well and let your customers know that you have it.

12) Your community and local area can generate ideas too. This makes you relevant to the local people.

13) Temporary Service Changes, for example, if your business is temporarily closed or you are now offering new or changing services.

14) Testimonials from happy customers are a proven way to grow revenue. Today something like 92% of people checks testimonials before buying something. I look at reviews before often buying nowadays.

15) A customer tells you are interesting story to do with your shop or products, if it is interesting to you, it probably would also be to your customers too.

16) A simple SWOT analysis can generate many ideas.

17) Tips and extra uses for using the products you market can be used.

Nothing here costs you anything.

Final notes:

a) Try to engage your audience.

b) Avoid the knockers. You will make mistakes; we all do. There is always some knocker who thinks they know it all. This is life. You are in business; you need a hard head to pick yourself up and improve.

c) The important aspect is keeping the content fresh.

d) Use Facebook's statistics to see how you are going. If something does not work, try something else.

e) Avoid politics; 50% of people will not like whatever you say.

f) Put someone in charge that likes Facebook. It will not be a job for them but a pleasure.

Try it and grow your revenue and meet customers in a new way.

Many of my clients do use Facebook marketing. When asked, they will say for them it is the cheapest and most profitable form of advertising. That is why they use it.

The first question that many who are not using Facebook advertising will ask is, can they get more people onto their Facebook business page without paying? This is tough as you will find that even with those who liked your page, few get your latest updates.

Although Facebook sees itself as an advertising medium, its main hook is for family and friends. These get priority. What is left, hundreds of million organisations worldwide with Facebook pages are all fighting to get noticed. Now a few years ago, Facebook changed their systems so that unpaid got less to try to get people to pay if they wanted to get people to see their latest stuff. This means you are competing with all these people in a smaller space.

So those that use Facebook today, what they see is what Facebook thinks most interests them. If Facebook feels what you posted is of little interest to your public and does not invite meaningful interaction, they will not display it. 

Your content has to be good to show up if you do not pay.

It is not so easy if you pay either, but that is a story for another post.

Now if you do want to use Facebook you need to test and continually review what is working. No point in using Facebook measures as really who cares how many likes you get in business if no one comes and importantly buys. So put in Facebook if possible a rarely used phone number and/or email address. Most email systems support disposable addresses without needing to register them first. This is perfect for this task.

Next is what you need to know is who did respond to your Facebook post.

Luckily our point of sale software has a very advanced system for doing this. What you need to do is enter into the POS system a Promotion ID.

Firstly you need a Promotion ID here are some tips:

- Make a unique ID for each different promotion. This will allow you to distinguish each promotion. Don’t reuse or recycle these IDs for different promotions. If you feel you must use the same ID  add a date or year after it, eg add say F2Nov2021 (F=Facebook, 2/Nov/2021 if it was first live today).  

- Once you make an ID, don't change it. 

- Do not use spaces, it can be confusing, e.g. a person was looking at Jan  2019, and it sometimes worked, and sometimes it did not. What we found was the ID was Jan 2019 (One space no, two spaces which he sometimes used)

Now in Detailed Transaction Entry see the red arrow, below for more details.

Now you see the Promotion ID. 

Enter the code when putting in the sales.

Now you can watch the transactions based on this code, letting you recognise whether you are receiving value for your efforts.

If your store has a Facebook page, please consider the recent High Court ruling. 

Now, if you post or share content on this Facebook page and allow comments, you may be responsible for the statements made even if you do not know of these comments.

One solution is that you can disable comments, but this is not what any of us want to do, so we are introducing on our Facebook page more surveillance in case.

Under the new defamation laws in some states, you must get a "concerns notice", and only then do they have 15 days before they can file a lawsuit. So you get some time to plead your case. You may want to check on this in your state. However, even if this is true in your state, I am unsure what happens if the affected person is in Western Australia and you are in NSW. In which case, you may not be given a grace period. I am not a lawyer, so I cannot answer these questions.

But, if you receive one of these notices, I firmly recommend that you take action.

If you are not using Facebook to generate more sales, you are already behind. 

An active Facebook page for a modern business is now essential. 

Let us start with some figures. 

There are now approximately 25 million Australians.

There are now 16 million active Australians on Facebook. Some of these have a few accounts, but clearly, most Australians have a Facebook account. 

According to best figures for Jan 2021  {link was removed}

60% of Australians use Facebook
50% use Facebook daily

As a rough value, it is almost certain that yesterday over half your customers were on Facebook. Today they will be on too and tomorrow and so on. That is a lot of people. 

Why not try to reach out to them? Do you know it can be free?

Why not regularly try inviting them to your business?

Looking to go forward

Check out a few similar businesses to yours on Facebook.

Check the ones you like.

See what they are doing on Facebook now.

Please take a few notes about what they do. 

Now give it ago. 

It is not hard.

It can be a lot of fun too.

If you need a hand, well give me a call.

Note: I have done a webinar on the basics of how to market your shop free online in your market space if there is enough interest, I am happy to do another one. 

Hot point for discussion today is that neither Facebook nor the Australian government was bluffing. Both are now busy blaming each other. 

Clearly, Facebook, are more concerned about larger jurisdictions than the Australian government. US, UK and European Union as well as talk in many countries like Brazil and Indonesia. For example, Australia has 14 million Facebook users, and Brazil has over 130 million. To agree with the Australian government could cost Facebook billions of dollars. So Facebook has blocked content from a range of Australia organisations. Besides news, they also stopped a range of sites, e.g. Harvey Norman, Bowel Cancer Australia, University of South Australia and realestate.com.au. This will be a blow to many of these people. 

Still, how does it affect us?  

The first point is that none of that money Facebook was to pay was intended to go to my clients even though the online availability of news has affected many of them too.  

Those who run a Facebook page for their business will need to select where they get their news they share carefully. Currently, Facebook does not tell you that it does not share; it just does not share the page. As many pages are affected beside news sites, you may not know it was not posted to your target market. What you need to do is once you post to Facebook go back into your personal page and see if it was shared with them. If it was not, then you need to search for a Facebook allowed site with similar information. 

It will affect many of the online promotions until the advertisers adjust.

Other then that can you see any effect? I can't so let us move on.

Update: 

This video I think shows well Facebook's position.

I saw this on my facebook page, and I think it is an excellent idea for my clients who have businesses that are local to do. Have a read, and I will take you step by step through the process.

What has happened is that Facebook has recently just rolled out a feature that allows you to invite everyone to like a page that you found. This is what they are asking everyone to do.

If you go to a Facebook Page, in this case, I will use Ingleburn newsagency for the example, but what I suggest you consider is doing this for your shop.

On the left-hand side, you will see "community" (which I have circled in red with an arrow). click that

Now on the right-hand side, you will see this.

Now click "See all Friends" where the red arrow is, click that.

This is what appears.

Now they press the red arrow, and then the green arrow and the invites are off.

See how you go.

If you want to learn more about Facebook marketing, click here.

Note: If you still have not got a Facebook business page and are unsure about how to set it up, and your a client of ours, contact us, and we will set one up for you free of charge.

I was listening to a video newsletter. In this video what the presenter did was did an interview with a small business owner who owns and runs a successful lotto agency in Dandenong. 

She is clearly an experienced business owner, running a business not too dissimilar to many of my clients. Now, what when asked did she think was so important to her business success. Her response was social media in particular Facebook and Instagram and being involved in the local community. When I looked up her business Facebook account, I could see that yes she was regularly posting information relevant to her customers on the latest in lotto and her community. Clearly based on her interview here, it is working for her business. 

Too many people today have not caught on that the traditional methods of marketing advertising or direct mail are less effective. Today much of the world largely connects, as she states through the social media community.

PS: What is weird about social media and shows how different it is, is although I do not know her or her business, through social media, I can see that she is a friend of a very close friend of mine. It is a small world.

What is amazing with such powerful tools like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, etc which are free to business what amazes me, is too many business people do not use it. Yet the reality is that these have fundamentally changed the way we are now connecting, communicating and collaborating.

If you have one of our websites, it is easy to automatically connect these social media to your site.

Here are some benefits of doing social media:

Customers: 

It can bring more customers to your shop. Most people are looking regularly at their social media accounts if you are there, it brings your shop to their attention.

Create more Sales:

Have something to sell them, why not offer them something. New products are coming in all the time. It does not have to be earth-shaking, a new shipment of pet food, a new range of cards, some cooking pots that are now on sale, some new magazine, etc 

Cost: You cannot beat FREE. 

Builds Relationships with your Customers: People on social media are communicating. You can answer questions, give advice on a product and talk to potential customers quickly and efficiently. 

Still unsure

The first point is to look at facebook to see what similar business to yours are doing. Then if you like what you see and want something similar and need help and are a supported user of ours, we do offer a free setup of a facebook account for your business.

You have a Facebook page for your business!

The way Facebook works is that the business pages are connected to the person who created it. So if you got someone to make you a facebook page for your business, that Facebook page is linked to their account, it is their property. Now say they leave your business, there can be problems as even if the person gives you admin access to that page, as it is still technically connected to and owned by them. In today's case, the separation has not been a happy one, and they refuse to even talk to the owner of the business.

The only way around this if they wish to continue with Facebook is to start a new page and start again. They then have to report to Facebook that the old one is impersonating the business which is messy as I am sure that Facebook does not want to get involved in disputes regarding the admin position of this page.

If you have such a Facebook page now, make sure that it is linked to your account. Also, consider giving someone else your passwords just in case something happens to you, and so the business can still use its Facebook page. If you are reluctant for some reason to do this, consider setting up a “legacy contract” for that someone who will take over an account is for some reason you cannot.