Social Media is the Top Way Small Businesses Get Customers Over Holiday Shopping Season

Shoppers love to buy things on holidays. So there is no surprise that Cyber Monday 2019 was the biggest day ever for third-party Amazon sellers. If you also want to leverage the holiday season to grow your sales, you should amp up your social media marketing strategies.

According to a recent survey from Software Advice, social media is the top and most-used channel for businesses to reach customers for holiday promotions. The survey also states that giving discounts is the most preferred strategy to grow sales.

Small businesses should make aggressive social media marketing plans to maximize sales during the holiday season. Also, they should try to offer discounts to tempt customers during holiday shopping. Here’s more 2019 holiday marketing statistics.

2019 Holiday Marketing Statistics

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram can help businesses reach a large audience in a small budget. With an estimated 2.82 billion people using social media, businesses use social media platforms to generate qualified leads.

In the survey, social media appeared the most preferred marketing channel to target holiday shoppers. Other marketing channels that businesses expect to use during the holiday season are email marketing, in-store flyers/posters, prints ads, digital TV ads, etc.

When it comes to return on investment (ROI), social media tops among available marketing channels, followed by email marketing.

Being a small business owner who wants to grow sales during the holiday season, you should not ignore email marketing because shoppers browse marketing mails during the holidays to check discount coupons.

Here is a glimpse of ROI different marketing channels offer:

Retailers employ different strategies to lure customers during the holidays. And offering discounts is the most effective strategy to drive sales during the holiday season, as the survey states.

Most customers want convenient delivery options now. So providing free delivery options can also be a good strategy to attract customers during holidays.

How to Get Prepared for Next Holiday Promotions

The holiday season plays an important role in the growth of small businesses.

So you should get prepared to lure holiday shoppers. Only then, you can leverage the holiday season to grow your sales because you are not alone in the game.

Your competitors are also upping the ante to attract customers. Therefore, You have to stand out from the crowd to win customers.

Here are some tips to boost sales during the next holiday season:

• Create a blend of social media, email marketing, and online ads to maximize success
• Plan social media campaigns based on right themes, hashtags, and user-generated content (UGC)
• Offer attractive discounts
• Track inventory to have optimum stock. You can look at the
• Minimize back-office work to offer quick shipment

Agnes Teh Stubbs from Software Advice said, “In a nutshell: Retailers should engage with customers on social media with offers for discounts on products with free delivery. For existing customers, share your promotions via email for the biggest impact,

“The results of the survey found that when it comes to driving sales for the holidays, social media and email marketing are the most effective marketing channels when it comes to delivering the highest impact for driving sales,” She continued.

“The biggest takeaway here is that both social media and email marketing tools provide the biggest bang for your buck as a retailer to reach holiday promotion goals. Both are highly cost-efficient marketing channels for reaching a captive audience of customers that already demonstrate some form of interest in the service and product (e.g. followers on social media and active email subscribers),” Agnes added.

About the Survey

Software Advice surveyed around 170 small to midsize US retailers. The objective of the survey was to understand which marketing channels businesses use to grow sales during the holiday season. Click here to learn more about the survey.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Social Media is the Top Way Small Businesses Get Customers Over Holiday Shopping Season" was first published on Small Business Trends