Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

Have you noticed that your store’s Facebook reach has gone down? This isn’t necessarily a reflection of what you are or are not doing on your page to drive engagement. Facebook is making changes to what users see in their newsfeed. Find out how the changes affect your page.

Social media can serve many functions. It is a great tool to network with peers, it can strengthen your store’s brand, and it makes conversing with your customers easier. But, merely having a presence on social media isn’t enough to garner results. Finding new and creative ways to engage with your audience is an essential part of establishing a robust online presence.

A variety of content is always a good idea. Offering a combination of images, links, videos and statuses is the best way to reach a broader market of students. Everyone likes different things on social media. I love memes that make me laugh; I stop to read all of them as I am scrolling through my feeds. However, I have friends who watch every video that comes through their feed. By offering a variety, everyone can find something on your page that interests them, which increases their chances of interacting.

You know your students better than anyone. Everything you need to know to reach them on social media is at your fingertips. Why guess at what platforms they are on when you can simply ask them as they come into the store. Start that dialogue with students and use it to offer them a service they want through your social media efforts. Today we are going to discuss how to determine where to find your audience and how to make your page an asset to them.

Building a fanbase on social media isn’t as hard as you think. It boils down to knowing how the platforms work, understanding your audience and offering a variety of content. Once you master these elements, apply consistently. Your posts can experience what I call the web effect — a reach that builds itself as friends influence each other’s choices. Over the next three Fridays, we’re going break down how each of these aspects — platforms, audience, variety — should influence what you do on a day-to-day basis.

Welcome to the social media spectacular!

We talk a lot about the different social media platforms and the potential benefit of using them because they provide a direct connection with students. As Willie Sutton said, “Go where the money is … and go there often.” However, just being on the networks isn’t enough. The content you post and its effectiveness will directly influence the return on your efforts. What does that mean? Your store needs to understand the relationship social media forges between the store and the student, and what students expect in return.

As the world’s largest social media site, Facebook may be the hub of your online platform. With more than a billion active users on Facebook, it is a natural place to look when setting up online advertisements, but how do you ensure you are reaching your specific market? With the declining organic reach, it is increasingly difficult to reach loyal fans of your page, let alone engage with new ones. Advertising and boosting your posts are the next logical steps, but with such a large base, defining your audience is essential. You can choose to do it through keywords, regions, countries, pixels, etc. However, at the end of the day, if you aren’t using Facebook Pixels, you are ignoring Facebook’s greatest targeted advertising tool.

Today you will know how to make at least $800 more than you did yesterday and more than $300 every day thereafter — by doing less. The social media black hole is costing you money each day.

Twitter is one of the easiest platforms to fall into complacency. The breakneck pace of a Twitter feed makes it harder for your message to be read by a significant portion of your followers. Therefore, using Twitter often feels like no one sees your posts because tweets don’t get as much attention as statuses do on Facebook or pictures Instagram. Many businesses quickly wear out on trying to be creative and fall into the pattern of posting periodic links back to websites and reply only to direct messages. They stop engaging in the real manner that Twitter users want, which lead to their message becoming white noise. Revitalize your Twitter account with these five ideas that you can start implementing today.

You want to grow your business and everyone wants to help; vendors are promising you the first page of Google, telling you why your customers are all listening to the radio and why television is the medium of choice for you. You have Facebook ads to think about, why internet radio makes the most sense and, before you know it, you’ve pulled out your hair and you no longer care.