Gift Shop Plus Spring 2021

Top Marketing Trends to Avoid By Joe Tacosik

In a world where digital has become an integral piece of every retailer’s marketing strategies, there is only one thing worse than having no strategy at all — having a bad digital marketing plan based in bad habits. We’re taking a look at some of the marketing trends your business should avoid throughout 2021 and beyond.

SPAMMING YOUR CUSTOMERS

One of the cardinal sins that many retailers commit when it comes to digital marketing is “spamming” their customers — continually inundating them with emails and social correspondence. Aside from the obvious privacy laws and FTC compliance issues that can arise from spamming your customers, it’s just bad business and will eventually drive them elsewhere.

The risks of “spamming” can be eliminated by mapping out your marketing strategies and promotions to make sure there is very little (if any) overlap. When sending promotional emails, for example, make sure there is a timeline that you are following — one that lays out specific dates for email sends, and a tactical approach to what’s being sent. This is the perfect way to make sure you’re sharing just the right amount of content with your audience.

POSTING TOO MUCH

Many retailers equate the amount of times a business posts on social media daily (or weekly) with the amount of people they will reach — and they couldn’t be more wrong.

While posting multiple times is a good way to stay engaged with your audience, the amount of posts has no weight on the amount of people you’ll reach in a news feed. Take Facebook, for example. The amount of times posted has nothing to do with your company page’s ability to reach a wide audience, but rather, the content you are sharing.

When you post multiple times at once, Facebook will show all of those posts to your audience in one grouping — totaling the same amount of exposure (or less) than if they were spread out. Therefore, what your page is sharing, and how you’re engaging with your audience on the content that is shared, is much more important than the amount of content being shared daily.

SHARING UNORIGINAL CONTENT

Going hand-in-hand with avoiding too many social posts is making sure you’re sharing organic, original content — arguably one of the most important pieces to an effective social media marketing strategy.

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have all announced news feed changes in recent years that prioritize organic, original content over articles and shares. On Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, native images with captions that engage users are seeing two and three-times the engagement rates of sharing a simple link with a short caption. On Instagram, the feeds are prioritizing content that is non-sponsored and highly engaged with, including likes and comments.

Make sure that, if you’re sharing articles and written content, you’re mixing in some pieces from your own company’s website as well. And if possible, share as much organic content as possible, including photos, graphics, videos or polls.

IGNORING ENGAGEMENT

Sometimes, when the focus gets shifted to content, business owners forget to keep up with the “social” side of social media — and the engagement that comes with it.

Responding to comments on an image or post, for example, is a great way to keep the conversation going, and gain favor with the social algorithms, like Facebook’s news feed. Keeping up on incoming messages through Facebook messenger and Instagram and Twitter’s “direct message” features are also vital to keeping up your company’s response rate — especially on Facebook, where it shows your response times directly on the page.

Social media is meant to be “social,” and should first and foremost always be centered around engaging with other users — keeping up with comments, messages, questions, concerns and more can help your company maintain a professional, yet positive, reputation on the various social channels.

About SmartSolutions

Joe Tacosik is a marketing specialist with SmartSolutions, a partner to Gift Shop. Our team of expert marketers bring their unique perspectives and diverse experiences together to provide a one-stop, full-service marketing solution to help your business thrive. For more information on how your company could benefit from a comprehensive marketing strategy, contact Joe at jtacosik@smartsolutions.media or visit https://smartsolutions.media today!