Industry:Social Media
important role in retailers’ marketing strategies by allowing them to engage with customers directly, boost awareness of their offering, gather feedback, run competitions and so much more. Many sports retailers in particular have
Making the most of new forms of social media I
n recent years, social media has opened up a new type of dialogue between businesses and their customers. It now plays an
become adept at using Facebook and Twitter to build up their profile online, interact with their customer base and promote products. However, newer platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are increasingly an integral piece of the social media puzzle. The problem is that the ways in which retailers can utilise these platforms is not as widely documented, so many are leſt unsure where to start with these image-led networks. We’ve compiled our top three tips for sports
retailers on how to use Pinterest and Instagram for their business to engage with existing customers and gain new ones. On Instagram, the community is huge, from
personal trainers and gym bunnies to athletes and sports retailers. A key tip is to get creative and post aspirational images, rather than simple product shots. When people scroll down their feed, images take up the majority of space, so it’s important to grab their attention and illustrate how your products could be used in their life.
On Instagram, the sports and fitness
community is huge, from personal trainers and gym bunnies to athletes and sports retailers. A key tip is to get creative and post aspirational lifestyle images, rather than simple product shots
For example, post action shots of people
wearing or using your products that you stock, with an image of colourful products scattered on a plain background. Experiment with interesting
22 SGBGOLF
Adrian Mills, marketing manager at Cybertill, looks at how you can keep abreast of new forms of social media
ways to frame your photos, you don’t have to be a professional photographer, snap away on your smartphone and see what works best. Boost interaction on your image posts by asking your followers questions about their preferences.
highly in search results. To utilise your performance on search engines
Aſter Facebook, Pinterest generates
the most referral traffic and conversions for retailers
Another way to join in with the community is
using hashtags which optimise who can see your posts. Much like Twitter, using a hashtag before a word makes it clickable. Use this to tag the theme of your posts, whether it’s a certain sport, event or sports team. When it comes to Instagram, users also like to see behind the scenes shots that they may not see through traditional media. If you live in a beautiful part of the country, which many sports retailers do, post pictures of the scenery while out and about or encourage staff to share their sporting tips and tricks. Aſter Facebook, Pinterest generates the most
referral traffic and conversions for retailers. It is therefore a particularly useful platform if you have an ecommerce website alongside your bricks and mortar store. It allows you to create a visual representation of your products in an engaging way. Pinterest is made up of ‘pins’ which are images
containing click-through links (such as product pages). You can create different ‘boards’ for your pins which are oſten used for ideas and inspiration. For instance, you could develop a running ideas board, repinning the best routes and events in the UK, creating product recommendations. Pinterest is also search engine friendly, which
is a big benefit. Pinterest boards are seen as an authority for keyword terms that include ‘ideas’ or ‘inspiration’ and therefore they oſten show up
through Pinterest, ensure you create a username that is easily recognisable (ideally your business name or as close to it as possible) and use an eye- catching image. Rather than creating boards by product type, sort by different ideas or themes such as ‘Motivation’, ‘Best UK Courses ‘Putting Tips’ and so on. Make sure to fill in each board’s description field with info about what you’ll be pinning on it and place your board within the correct category on Pinterest. When it comes to images, Pinterest is slightly
different to Instagram. Posting the right images is directly related to conversions as the image is the web link right through to your site. Research by Curalate found the mix of factors that result in the most engagement to be: • Colour - images with multiple, vibrant colours had 3.25 times more repins than those with only one dominant colour.
• White space is a turn off - images with active backgrounds are repinned two to four-times more than ones with a solid colour background.
• Use people, but not faces - images that included angles of people that don’t include their face garnered 23% more repins. Finally, ensure to cross promote your social
media profiles to boost followers on each. For instance your Facebook fans may not know you have a Pinterest account but once they do, they may like to follow you on there as well.
Cybertill provides retail soſtware, including fully integrated EPoS and ecommerce, which allows
retailers to sell in store and online seamlessly. Cybertill is cloud-based, which means retailers
can access the soſtware from anywhere and see live stock levels, sales and orders as well as manage their loyalty programme, promotions, purchase orders and customer details with support 365 days a year.
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