Black Friday has long been a much-needed boost to retailer’s profits, and this year may be especially bountiful as stretched consumers hunt for early festive bargains.
The cost-of-living crisis means people are focusing on buying fewer and cheaper items, according to GlobalData research, and many retailers are launching pre-sales events to serve this need.
There are several fantastic, effective ways that retailers can use social media to highlight offers and deals in the lead-up to Black Friday itself.
Stoke anticipation with sneak peeks
Use creative social content to give people an early look at upcoming deals. Retailers know that things like countdowns offer a great way to build anticipation for big sales events, but there are other things you can do with social content, like spotlight the best deals.
Features like live streaming can help create a sense of exclusivity and anticipation too.
Use social media to understand & give people what they want
Many people will be hoping that more basic, everyday essentials will be on sale – as well as the more ‘gift-focused’ items that they need for the holidays.
So things like children’s clothes, school and university supplies, festive food for the freezer – things that people need help with affording.
Social media can offer brands a great chance to listen to and engage with shoppers about what they want to see on offer this year.
Use social to take the hassle out of shopping
Shopping isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and it’s especially hard when you’re watching the pennies! Anything brands can do to help make the shopping experience entertaining and easy will be an instant win with consumers.
In terms of social content, this could mean giving easy ways for people to shop online or on social apps, creating content with the essential information people need to make a quick decision and having a brilliant team of customer service specialists on your social pages to deal with any issues efficiently.
Go where your community is
You don’t have to be advertising or posting tailored Black Friday campaigns on every social platform. Instead, focus on where most of your community is and look for ways to engage them there.
For example, booksellers may want to head to TikTok and take advantage of the #BookTok trend. Retailers targeting parents may prefer to focus on Facebook.
Also, consider working with key influencers with relevant communities on these platforms. By working with the right influencers (by, for example, offering their followers exclusive deals), retailers can create content that really resonates with shoppers and offers them what they need this Black Friday.
Consumers will be looking to Black Friday to help them save money on a wide range of things in the run-up to the holidays, and they’ll be keeping a keen eye on retailers’ social channels for any deals that they can find.
