Welcome to Day 5 of the ‘How to run a Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign’ workshop.  This workshop runs between 27th January to 17th February 2010.  Designed specifically for Zen Cart store owners, each day we will focus on one task to guide you as you run a Valentine’s Day promotion campaign.

Today we will be covering what we can do to market your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign far and wide using social media.  If you haven’t yet delved into the world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking tools, then there is no time like the present to get started.

Jump to today’s task – Marketing your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign with Social Media

In Day 4’s task we marketed our Valentine’s Day Promotions to our existing customers.  Now we are going to turn our attention to attracting new customers using a range of freely available tools.  Having a social media marketing strategy can help you find new customers, increase your brand’s awareness, improve your existing customer loyalty and also help you learn more about how your customers use and view your products and your customer service, for example.  The good news is that while you can always spend your marketing dollars on various advertising strategies (like AdWords), most marketing activities using social media will only take your time, not your money.

What is Social Media?

Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves.

Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. The social media sites typically use tools like message boards, forums, podcasts, bookmarks, communities, wikis, weblogs etc. (source: Wikipedia – Social Media)

Blogs

Blogging has become a popular form of online marketing and is more cost-effective for retail businesses than traditional marketing such as mail outs and radio advertising.  A store blog allows you to speak directly to your customers while also reaping the rewards in the search engine results pages.

If you already have a blog connected to your online store, publish a new post, or a series of posts, highlighting aspects of your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign with a link to your landing page or directly to your Valentine’s Day category listing page.  Leave some details or highlight another product in a follow up post every few days.

Aim to post to your blog at least weekly to keep your content fresh, both for visitors and search engines.  Remember to include plenty of weeks to your individual product pages, new products page, specials page and so on rather than linking only to your home page.

Don’t already have a blog?  There are many benefits to maintaining a blog and connecting it with your online store with deep linking between blog posts and product pages.  It is quick and easy to start a blog, either a hosted solution like Blogger or WordPress.com or by installing the blog software on your server.  Have a think about the commitment required in maintaining a blog and the weekly post updates – and then jump straight in!  There are loads of things to include in your blog such as comments on industry news, staff profiles, tips and tricks, customer reviews and, of course, highlighting new products and promotion campaigns.

If you don’t have a blog, and are not ready to jump into starting one just yet, you can start slowly by commenting on other blogs related to your industry or niche.  Find blogs relating to complementary products to your own range, rather than competing products.  For example, if your online store specialises in fashion for the fuller figure then your might choose to look for store blogs on shoes or other accessories.  The relationships you form with other retail bloggers could end up also providing you with great business opportunities too.  When you comment on a blog, rather than using your home page address, vary the URL to either your landing page or a category listing page.

Forums

Find out where your customers (and potential customers) congregate and participate in their community.  Communicate as the expert in your field that you are and remember to provide advice, share experience and talk without a sales pitch.  Use your forum signature to hyperlink to your online store and then focus on building relationships and becoming a expert resource for the community.

Facebook

Facebook now provides the ability to create a business account to set up Fan Pages for your business.  Facebook can be another tactic in your marketing strategy.  By building a presence on Facebook you are providing an avenue for customers to be part of your brand.  Engage with your customers and you will soon find that your customers will be marketing your products for you by sharing their favourite recipes, tips and tricks, photos of your products in action and the like.  For some online stores it is word-of-mouth marketing such as this that can drive more traffic and result in more sales than search engines as customers rely on recommendations from friends they can trust.

Twitter

What is Twitter?  Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.  People write short updates, often called “tweets”  of 140 characters or fewer.  These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.  (From Twitter.com)

Twitter is a fantastic resource to find people and businesses with similar interests.  Having a Twitter presence also shows that you are committed to connecting with your customers and in real-time conversations.  Twitter is changing the face of support for some businesses and it can be exciting (and at times surprising) to hear exactly what your customers are saying about your business and/or products.

If you are just starting out with Twitter, this Twitter for Business guide may be helpful.

YouTube

Depending on your product range, you may find that a series of videos hosted on YouTube would suit your store.  Short how-to videos for your products, video interview with your product collectors and funny videos with a message are all candidates for YouTube videos that can be used to promote your store.  Videos are perfect for customers to share among friends and colleagues and spread the word about your store for you.

Yahoo Answers

From the perspective of working towards being known as an expert in your field, it is also good to frequent Yahoo Answers and keep an eye out for questions you can help with.  Make sure you have completed your profile and only include your site links when they add value to the asker.

Extending your profile across the Internet can only be of benefit to your online store.  While there are many debates on the effect of incoming links from social media sites, sometimes it is best to just forget about the science of it all and focus on adding value to your customer’s experience, whether that be at your store (through excellent customer service) or through your participation in the different online communities where your customers congregate (through your advice, expertise and personality).

Today’s Task

Select your preferred social media tools and register / sign up for an account if you do not already have one. Complete (or review) your profile.  People are more comfortable if they feel that they know a little about you. Participate in your selected communities.

Tomorrow we will explore marketing your online store using directory sites such as shopping comparison directories and coupon directories.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

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