Banking on Black Friday: Savvy Social Media Strategies for Your Business

Thinking of ignoring the madness around Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday? Think again. According to New York Business Journal, consumers spent a whopping $5.5 billion during 2012's Small Business Saturday. This year, smart small business owners should begin planning early to make the most of the post-Thanksgiving weekend by launching targeted social media campaigns designed to alert consumers to Black Friday deals while promoting their brand as a small business worth talking—or tweeting—about.

Pay Attention

The benefit of getting started early means that you're in proactive mode. Search image sharing platforms like Pinterest and Instagram to see what your target consumers are most excited about this year, and be sure to highlight your similar offerings on those platforms. On Instagram and Twitter, monitor the trending hashtags in your industry, and be sure to incorporate them when you begin previewing deals and products available during your Black Friday events.

Prime the Pump

Retail giant J.C. Penney has already started a campaign to encourage customers to sign up for texts and emails about their Black Friday deals. But this method isn't just for big retail — in fact, USA Today recently reported that a Hubspot survey showed that 52 percent of small business marketers found leads through Facebook, all without paying for any expensive advertising campaign. The goal is to get your potential customers excited and encourage them to opt in to your email and text lists. Payoff is crucial here; be sure to send out some truly compelling special offers lest you risk making your customers regret signing up.

Rewards

Since Black Friday has grown to be a three-day weekend of holiday spending and deals, you have the chance to publicly reward customers who do business with you on Black Friday in order to encourage future sales on Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Consider offering discounts or free prizes for customers who tag you in a Tweet, Facebook status or Instagram post about their purchase. This not only builds loyalty with your current customer base, but it also helps spread your visibility across a range of social media platforms.

New Tools

Staying current is key for a small business with a social media presence. While Facebook and Twitter have been old standbys, consider jumping on the Vine bandwagon to bring something different to your Black Friday campaign: video! In a move that ultimately increased their Twitter following by 50 percent, Zatarain's and Popeye's, two Louisiana brands, used a combination of original Vine videos and a Twitter contest to advertise their recent partnership. The agency responsible created nine different videos and posted them as a way of keeping up customer engagement during their “Tweet Your Way To Mardi Gras Campaign.” While your business may not have the bucks to send a lucky customer on vacation, anyone can produce short videos displaying your holiday gifts on Vine to get more viewers' eyes on your brand.

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