Using Social Media to Drive Holiday Sales

This year more than any other, social media is going to play a huge part in driving holiday sales.  According to a recent survey from ecommerce consulting firm Guidance, 30 percent of online shoppers say that the best way to find bargains and discounts is through shared links, comments, or social sites.

And if that’s not enough to get you on the social media bandwagon, another recent survey found that a whopping 85 percent of consumers want to interact with companies through social media platforms.

That’s right – your customers are waiting for you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media sites.  But they’re the ones driving the sale – not you.  In order to effectively use social media this holiday season, you must build a community around your brand and products and engage members in a meaningful way.  Give your customers something of value (like Papa John’s is doing), interact with them and help them (like Zappos), and allow them to share their own ideas (like Epicurious does on their own website).

So, how can re/etailers use social media to engage customers and drive sales this holiday season?  I asked the LinkedIn community to get a few ideas, and I came up with a few of my own to provide you with a bit of pre-Black Friday inspiration:

• Create a Facebook page and post special discounts and valuable content (like how-to videos, recipes, tips and advice) for fans.

• Get on Twitter.  Use it to answer customer service questions, share product specials/discounts, and links to valuable content (like how-to videos, recipes, tips and advice).

• Have a holiday-themed contest for sharing creative photos or videos via your Facebook page and give away a shopping spree.

• User-generated content can be excellent content.  Interact with your Facebook fans with opportunities to write on your wall – their letters to Santa, holiday wishes, holiday tips and advice.

• Partner with a charity and donate a percentage of proceeds from online sales to that charity.  Promote via Facebook, Twitter, and your website.  Develop a widget for others to post on their blogs.

• Develop holiday-themed “how-to” videos and post on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and/or MonkeySee (a video site specifically for how-to videos).

• Develop a wishlist and gift suggestion widget and/or Facebook app that people can customize, share, and post on their blogs or Facebook page (creates links directly to products on your site!).

• Is your business involved in local community efforts?  Make sure to take photos at events and post them to your website and/or Flickr.  Share your photos via Facebook and Twitter as well.

• Having an in-store event?  Promote it via Facebook events, or create a Meetup group for your store.

As you’re developing ideas and strategy for external social media marketing, don’t forget your own website in the process.  Everything you do should be promoted on your site as a means for customers to interact with you during the holidays.  Useful content should be displayed prominently on your site, and you should also make sure every product and content page gives visitors the ability to share links to those pages via email, Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, etc.

What are some of the ways you're using social media for your business during the holidays?