A social media presence is a must. But simply creating accounts for your store on these sites doesn’t cut it anymore. Each week, we’ll explore a new way your store can enhance their online presence in our Social Media Series to make sure you’re taking full advantage of these interactive outlets.
Consumers seek value, and social media fans are no exception. That’s why it’s so important to find new and creative ways to ensure that your page makes clicking “like” worth their while.
Understanding the significance of this concept, the Forty-Niner Shops, Inc., at California State University – Long Beach (CSULB) recently added a new promotion on their Facebook Page: Fan of the Week!
“We’re always looking for new ways to engage our fans and get them to directly interact with us,” explained Joshua Dominguez, viral marketing student assistant at the Forty-Niner Shops. “This is just another way for us to reward our fans for their participation.”
Using updates on the store’s social media pages including Facebook, Twitter and foursquare, Dominguez actively recruits fans to post pictures of themselves wearing CSULB gear or ‘tag’ the store in their photo, so that it posts to the Forty-Niner Shops’ Facebook Wall.
“Each week, I randomly select a winner to be featured as the ‘fan of the week’ on our page. We created a specific profile picture for the promotion and the winner’s name and picture are included,” he said. “Everyone’s looking for their 15 minutes of fame and this is one way we offer our fans recognition for their continued loyalty to our store.”
This strategy also allows the store to spread the brand name, as all the ‘friends’ of that student then also see the image in their newsfeed.
“It’s very viral,” he added. “In the short time we’ve been running the promotion, we’ve increased our page 'likes' by 90%! We've found that, in return, our fan of the week encourages their friends to see their picture on our page, so it’s a great way to increase our fan base.”
But, that’s not the only new feature they’ve added to draw student attention. Recently, the store also incorporated an interactive promotion to increase traffic during key seasons such as buyback and rush.
Spin to Win, which runs off of prize marketing software created by Mystic Net, invites students to interact with a game, spinning a virtual wheel for the chance to win prizes. Although the Forty-Niner Shops chooses to run the promotion through a kiosk, the software can run in a variety of ways including on a retailer's website, e-commerce site or on a point of purchase counter.
“We decided to try the promotion during buyback as a fun way to drive traffic into the store and further reward students for selling their books back to us; it was very successful,” explained Brian Fetterman, book division manager at the Forty-Niner Shops. “At times, the line to play was longer than the buyback line, itself! Students have to input their emails to play, so that was also very valuable for future campaigns. We were able to gain 3,000 student email addresses during one buyback alone!”
After inputting their email address, students spin the wheel for the chance to win prizes. The store is able to load in their choice of products and quantities to both personalize and brand the experience for students.
“Most recently, we spent about $3000 on 200 Coca-Cola related prizes,” Fetterman said. “In the past, we’ve tried offering bigger prizes for promotions such as iPads or laptops and didn’t have much participation. But, we learned that, when we provide smaller items, students perceive their chances of winning to be higher and are actually much more receptive!”
The store has found that the logistics to run the program are also quite easy. When a student wins, they are notified on the screen, triggering a receipt to print with the name of their designated prize. They then bring the ticket to the register where they can redeem their prize. At the Forty-Niner Shops, however, everyone is a winner!
“Students who don’t win, on the game, receive a receipt that entitles them to a store coupon,” explained Fetterman. “We really want to encourage that return visit and enhance loyalty, so we reward all students for their business.”
To advertise their newest addition, the store has cross-promoted the game on both social media and their website.
“It’s all about getting the word out and letting students know what we have available,” he said.
Although the software is not one of the most inexpensive promotions the store has run, Fetterman insists its results outweigh the cost.
“Altogether the software and kiosk technology cost us about $1,000,” he explained. “The results have been substantial. It’s helped increase traffic and promoted the image of our store as a fun place for students to visit. We plan to keep using it for different promotions throughout the year, so I would definitely say it’s been well worth the money!"
For more creative marketing ideas, talk with your MBS Representative.
