Holiday tweets: Can this increase our seasonal sales?
My husband and I sell a very seasonal product, Vermont Maple Syrup products that make great gifts to bring around on the holidays. As we approach our busy season, how can we increase our seasonal sales? We have a pretty strong social media following in our community. Should we be using Twitter to spread the word? If so, what should we be tweeting about? Thank you in advance for all your help!
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Nov 4, 2015
Hi, I went to college in VT & there is no better maple syrup! Facebook & Pinterest are the main networks to reach the consumer. Google+ & Twitter are great for exposure. Tweets come up in Google searches. Are you blogging? Maybe you can show pictures or videos of the maple trees & processes in harvesting the syrup. Recipes would be a nice thing. Pin them to Pinterest and them tweet them out. I've got lots of tips on my blog on my site. Just search for AZ Social Media Wiz. I also give a free 30-minute phone consult & analysis of your efforts. Click on the link on my site to schedule yours.
Giselle
AZSocialMediaWiz . com
Nov 4, 2015
Creating shareable content is a great way to maximize social reach. For example, you could use Pinterest to post recipes using your maple syrup products or you could create a hashtag on Instagram to post pictures of recipes- get your following talking with others!
Nov 2, 2015
Rema, what do you think makes your Vermont Maple Syrup different from your competitors? The further out you go with your product, to more you need to understand your positioning in the marketplace and why buy Maple Syrup from you other than from someone else? Your USP Unique Selling Point or Proposition, can you define it? Some times just word of mouth helps you increase your sales, but to really increase around the holidays you have to get through all the noise and make your product syrup really stand out.... I would try an ad on Local TV and in all Computers within your area...... Hope this helps.....
Nov 5, 2015
Differentiation is a key part of marketing. However, the power that consumes have in today's market place is making it nearly impossible for sellers to win by highlighting differentiations between their product or service and everyone else's. I'll bet you develop a list of a hundred people/companies selling Vermont Maple Syrup. Even your local customers are likely to opt for a seller even in a different state or country if they can get it cheaper and without leaving their home. Branding, value propositions, or "made in America" type approaches have become facile. Cost, convenience, and communication are the keys. So, we need to move to a paradigm where you differentiate based on how you sell. Mobile brings it all together.
Nov 2, 2015
Social media can be a time consuming task. An automated posting tool could at least allow to to work in batches or blocks as one manager used to tell me. Social media is a good way to maintain top of mind awareness and to sell to your existing base of customers. However, we've done a lot of research and over and over again the research points to a mobile offering like eCommerce except on a mobile device. Mobile or native apps can cost thousands to develop and deploy. You can try and do it on the cheap. There's a likelihood it will glitchy and actually drive down customer satisfaction. So, we developed a web app that allows your customers to shop, order and pay directly through the app. Web Apps exist in the cloud as they say. It doesn't require a download so your customers don't have to take valuable memory space. It can't access their data so it's more secure for them. They have to opt-in so it does not involve any spamming. Better yet, you will be capturing your customer's data which will allow you to market to them again an certainly start to build a larger customer base going forward. It will also make going national or even international a breeze.
Nov 2, 2015
I noticed that your website is a subdomain. Unfortunately, this means it will be very difficult for it to rank on a google search. You could employ a PPC campaign. But, that site only seems to be for your spa. It renders nicely on mobile and seems to have an option to book an appointment online. I would add your phone number right on the front page. When people search for a destination like yours they want to be able to make contact within a click or two. I suspect you will get a higher bounce rate (meaning they will move on without contacting you) and you may be losing them to your competition. There are simple fixes. But either way, I doubt a local search will bring up your site because it's a subdomain, unless they were withing very close proximity. None of this will do any good for the maple syrup business. I didn't see anything on that. Feel free to call me.
Nov 2, 2015
Hi Rema, The product sounds lovely! Where are your followers now? Are they based on Twitter? Do you have your own social media pages? My initial thought would be to find out where your audience are and go on to those social media platforms. I would advise creating a weekly plan so that you are not wandering about aimlessly but you know the direction you are headed. Look up some groups in your area or people that are talking about holiday ideas and see if there are posts/tweets which are relevant to you joining the conversation. (This way you are not 'selling' but you will be at the forefront of people's minds when they realise they need your product). Images are very successful at drawing people's attention to you (and software such as Canva is very good at allowing you to create images for free). Quotes relating to your industry. Recipie ideas...The list is endless.
Good luck! I would love to know how you get on:)
Yes good for exposure, but probably not very effective at converting. The top organic (non-paid) listing on a google search:"Vermont Maple Syrup" is for the Vermont Maple Syrup Association (their website stinks) which lists literally dozens of sellers. There are a little less than 10,000 websites competing for that search term. this means even an SEO strategy will be difficult. A PPC campaign might be effective, but again only if you have a mobile option. A mobile option will also make sure that you are first in line next season. So this years sales equal next years repeat sales. Either you practice catch and release (Booo!!!) or eat what you kill (Yes!! Winner, winner chicken dinner!!).