If you want to boost your bottom line into the black (the original meaning of “Black Friday”), this is the weekend for it, when every retailer in the country will be trying to lure shoppers into their stores or on to their websites. So our social media marketing experts want to help you make the most of your Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales with these tips.

 

1. Plan your attack

If you want to win a war, you need an effective battle plan. And make no mistake, this is a battle: for your fans’ time, attention, and money.

So before the big weekend hits, you’ll need to know ahead of time:

  • what kind of discounts you can afford to offer
  • what offers you’ll feature throughout the weekend
  • how you will attract your fans’ attention

A calendar will help you organize your approach, broken down by hours for each of the two days. Consider building interest by holding limited-time sales, like Amazon’s Lightning Deals, throughout the day. And like the big retailers, prepare to start your sales in the wee hours of the morning, on both Friday and Monday.

 

2. Focus

There are only so many hours in a day. This is not the time to branch out to social media platforms you haven’t been using regularly. You already know which platforms you’re most comfortable with and which are the most likely to produce conversions, so concentrate on those.

In addition, it’s nice to gain new followers any time of year, but for this weekend, you need to place most of your focus on the fans you already have.

 

3. Promote, promote, promote

As part of your plan, you should have decided which methods you will use to promote your deals. Keeping focus in mind, here are some ideas:

  • regular social media posts
  • banners and graphics
  • games or raffles
  • videos
  • a gift guide for the hard-to-buy-for
  • live chats on Facebook

You’ll want to engage your fans’ attention without annoying them, so try to incorporate humor and entertaining hooks into your posts wherever possible.

 

4. Sale possibilities

Still stuck for what types of deals to offer? Try one or more of these:

  • free shipping (the biggest driver of online sales)
  • loyalty reward for regular customers
  • free gift with purchase
  • discounts linked to each post
  • a deal every hour
  • combo deals (buy this, get that for 50% off)

 

5. Start early

The giant retailers have already begun offering BFCM deals. Copy them. Start before Black Friday and build to the big day(s). This is a good way to get a jump on your competition and come out ahead in the contest for shoppers’ dollars.

 

6. Create a dedicated landing page

The big retailers all have dedicated landing pages for their BFCM sales. This makes it easier for shoppers to home in on what they’re looking for. Remember, you’re competing for their attention with every other retailer in the country on these two days, so you want to make things as easy for them as possible.

 

7. Remember mobile

Be sure that your website is optimized for mobile shoppers because approximately a third of Black Friday sales occur using those devices. And many people standing in line at brick-and-mortar stores will turn to their mobile devices to help kill time, so you can more easily grab their attention then. Test the look of your website on the most popular mobile devices, and ensure that all the features work.

 

8. Never give up

When Cyber Monday winds down, that’s not the end of the season. Remember that people will be shopping for gifts right up to the last minute. Given that we have seven fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year (because Thanksgiving falls so late in the month), their shopping window is compressed, and people will be trying to get it all done before the big day. So after the BFCM window, keep those posts coming, and the deals available.

 

For more ways to capitalize on the BFCM shopping frenzy, talk to our social media marketing experts. We can help you make the most of this retail opportunity.