a Black Friday social media strategy necessary for your eCommerce store? In short, yes.
Cyber Weekend has become one of the most pivotal weekends in the retail calendar for any online business, with 74% of Black Friday shoppers planning to shop online to avoid the large queues in brick-and-mortar stores. If you don't make the most of this huge rush of online traffic, your bottom line will miss out.
But offering exclusive discounts and deals alone won't cut it. To make the most of the opportunities presented by Cyber Weekend, you'll have to actively market your Black Friday and Cyber Monday offerings.
The best way to do it? Through social media. Not only does social media marketing cost nothing (if you don't pay for ads), it's effectiveness is proven, with 52% of brand discovery from online sources coming through social media. By combining social media posts with a dedicated help desk for eCommerce, you can enjoy your most successful Cyber Weekend yet and keep your new customers coming back for more.
Not sure where to start with your social media strategy for Cyber Weekend? We've got you covered.
TL;DR
- Cyber Weekend takes place just before the holiday season, from Black Friday (this year 25th November) to Cyber Monday (28th November). During this weekend, brands from all sectors of all sizes offer temporary discounts on their products and services.
- Having a social media strategy during Cyber Weekend is an excellent way to boost your revenue, attract new customers, and appeal to a wider audience.
- By scheduling content in advance, making the most of content created by your customers, and utilising customer service helpdesk software, you can boost your sales and encourage loyalty from new customers on Cyber Weekend.
What is Cyber Weekend?
Cyber Weekend refers to the period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, when brands of all sizes and industries offer significant discounts and deals on their products. Cyber Monday takes place every year on the Monday following Thanksgiving. Cyber Weekend is strategically placed in November to attract consumers doing their holiday shopping.
Black Friday originated in the US decades ago, whereas Cyber Monday is a more recent phenomenon. The term was coined after retail analysts noticed that people were continuing to shop the Black Friday deals online even after returning to work on Monday. Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year, so if you're an eCommerce business owner, it's worth planning for.
Why is social media marketing for Black Friday campaigns important?
Social media is one of the best tools that any business owner has at their disposal. Not only is it free to use, but it's also used by over 4.7 billion people worldwide. That's billions of users who could potentially see your business, products, or services.
In an increasingly digital world, more people than ever rely on social proof to decide whether or not to make a purchase. Social media is the best source of social proof available, with users posting stories, pictures, and videos of your products and giving authentic recommendations to friends and family in the process.
Social media also allows for user-led growth. By sharing images or online reviews and testimonials of your products and service, social media users can do marketing on your behalf, with images of your products being shared over social media platforms via consumer-created content.
Here are our tips to create a killer social media campaign for Cyber Weekend.
Tips for the ultimate Black Friday social media strategy
1. Get your social media profiles ready
If more consumers are searching for your products during Cyber Weekend, they'll probably land on your social media profile. In an age of scrolling from page to page, you're battling against five other open tabs and several social media profiles that your users will switch to in seconds. You only have a few posts worth of time to get your customers hooked.
Make sure your social media profiles are curated with aesthetic pictures of the products you want to sell, and testimonials from happy shoppers.
Video content is becoming increasingly popular, so including videos of your products or services in action is a great way to clinch a sale from a potential customer. If you're using Instagram or TikTok to promote your products, you can 'pin' particularly successful posts to the top of your profile. That way, you can curate your feed to show customers what you want them to see first when they visit your profile on Black Friday.
2. Make your content interactive
Encouraging interaction with your profile has tons of benefits. Not only does it make your brand feel more 'human', but the more users that interact with your profile through likes, comments, or responses to polls, the more the algorithm will push your content out to other social media accounts. Social media sharing is a completely free way to increase brand awareness, so it's worth taking advantage of.
In the run-up to your Black Friday sale, post polls or question boxes on your Instagram stories asking customers which products they'd most like to see discounted. Not only will it boost your profile's interaction, but you'll also get an excellent insight into your target audience. If you get it right, it's essentially free market research.
3. Focus on your customer support strategy
Picture the scenario. You've ordered a shirt from an online clothing store in black, but the store accidentally sent it in white. You submit a complaint. The clothing company responds with sincere apologies, sends out a black shirt for free, and offers you a discount on your next purchase.
Imagine the same scenario, but with a different company. This time, the customer service team takes weeks to reply, by which time you've found a different black shirt. When the staff do reply, the response is lacklustre, and nothing is offered to make up for your inconvenience. Which company are you likely to buy from again and recommend? The answer is obvious.
Customer service is crucial to your company's success. Black Friday and Cyber Monday mark the start of the holiday shopping season, and are two of the busiest days of the year for any eCommerce business. So your customer service game has to be particularly on point over this weekend and the following period.
If your customers tag you in photos or stories of your products, improve your Instagram customer service offering by leaving a like and a comment.
To ensure you and your customer service team can reply to customer queries instantly and accurately, try customer service software that supports social messaging. Our customer service Helpdesk allows you to unify all your customer messages, queries, and order information into one single view – so you always have the information at hand to respond to customers quickly, and you'll never leave your customers waiting for a response.
4. Schedule content in advance
When it comes to Cyber Weekend, the chances are you'll be spending most of your time dealing with customer queries and putting through orders – especially if you put our social media tips to good use!
With that in mind, you'll need to plan and schedule your content in advance, to avoid rushing social media posts with no clear purpose on the day. You can use social media scheduling tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite, and SocialPilot to create a social media post schedule in advance.
That way, you can focus on your Cyber Monday deals and online sales without worrying about uploading new posts.
5. Create a targeted Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign
Cyber Weekend presents a completely unique opportunity for eCommerce businesses, so make sure your social media reflects that. Avoid posting as you would on any other week, and instead, use your social media posts not only to showcase your Black Friday promotions, but also to establish a sense of urgency.
To get customers excited about the upcoming exclusive deals, create a countdown on your posts and stories every day during the week leading up to Cyber Weekend. So that shoppers know what to expect on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, post 'spoilers' on your social media, letting customers know which items you plan to discount.
Make sure any content associated with Cyber Weekend uses the appropriate hashtags. That way, social media users searching the hashtags will come across your products organically.
6. Reward loyal customers
All too often, brands reward new customers for subscribing to a service or buying their first product, but neglect long-term, loyal customers. Your repeat customers are what keep your business afloat. They’re the ones who are most likely to recommend you to friends and family, so don't underestimate the impact they have on your bottom line.
To reward loyal shoppers, offer free shipping or exclusive discounts to repeat customers as part of your Black Friday campaign. Using social media, encourage previous customers to post pictures of their purchases, for a limited deal, discount code, or free gift in return. You'll not only reward customers who market your products, but you'll also encourage others to do the same in future, all while proving your customer service credentials.
7. Focus on benefits, not features
Many of the decisions we make are based on emotions. Sure, many consumers buy a designer sports car because they're impressed by the engine or the leather seats. But others buy it because they want the status that comes with it.
When you're planning your social media marketing campaign, focus it on the emotional benefits of your Black Friday products, not the features. A great way to do this is to create content that shows your products being used in real-life scenarios, so potential customers can see how your products can improve their day-to-day lives.
Working with influencers or online creators to put together this content can add extra authenticity.
8. Make data-driven decisions
Before planning your social media strategy, do an audit of your social media channels. Take a look at which types of posts receive the most engagement, and keep an eye on the demographics that follow you on each platform.
Different platform users respond differently to content. TikTok, for example, is primarily used by Gen Z and Millenials. With that in mind, any TikTok content you create should be aimed at that demographic. Facebook, on the other hand, is generally used by all generations, so you can take more of a generalist approach to your Facebook content.
9. Keep the momentum going
So you've attracted a whole new audience of social media users with your Black Friday campaign, and your follower count and engagement have increased. What next?
If you've benefited from an influx of new traffic during Cyber Weekend, don't let the momentum go. Keep your new followers engaged with polls and question boxes on your stories, giveaways, and exclusive discounts.
Alongside offering rewards for repeat customers or great reviews, social media interaction can increase customer loyalty. If you're doing it right, you should see an increase in social media response and sales over the holiday shopping season, and – if you keep your social media content regular and engaging – even into the new year.
The bottom line
The right social media strategy can breathe new life into your business. Cyber Weekend is one of the most lucrative periods of the year for eCommerce stores, so don't miss out on the vast array of opportunities by leaving your social media campaign to the last minute.
Struggling to manage your customer service over multiple social media platforms? You'll benefit from an eCommerce Helpdesk like ours. With all your messages and order details in one handy dashboard, you can easily give your customers the best customer support experience possible (and you can try it for free!).
