Christmas, is just around the corner and it is so important that you capitalise on this busy, yet lucrative period by making sure you lay the right foundations prior to this hectic time, so that you can enjoy maximum sales without any frantic last minute planning. Marketing will play a key role in bringing Christmas traffic to your homepage and so much of this can be done through paid search on social media and various search engines.
Social media
Facebook, recently changed the definition of cost per click (CPC) to only include clicks to external websites and apps. You no longer pay for “likes” and comments. This is good news for retailers, as any request for payment from Facebook will mean that traffic has been sent to the retailers homepage, increasing traffic and potential sales. It is well worth your time to invest in Facebook ads, to drive traffic this time of year. If you don’t receive clicks to your website, at the very least the “likes” alone will increase brand awareness. You can also use a tool known as Facebook Custom Audiences, to re-target the consumers who have clicked on your paid search ads already.
Instagram advertising, has a hugely high success rate, if you get your content right. The more unique your videos and images are the better, therefor time must be dedicated to sourcing the right material. Click through rates on this platform once paid advertising is brought on board, tend to be higher than average. Instagram’s “Shop Now” call-to-action can be incorporated into pay per click ads, which also helps to stimulate clicks.
Paid search
In order to gain optimal results through paid search, scrutinise old data and make sure to rediscover what worked and what didn’t work. It is worthwhile to look into any external events that could influence online shopping and specifically the consumption of particular products. If it’s predicted to be a warm winter for example, this could make your lighter clothing choices more popular amongst consumers, so you may want to adjust your bids accordingly. Remember to set aside a considerable budget, as there will be hefty competition around key dates.
Also, it is well worth your time to look into the benefits of using Bing. Bing powers Siri’s web search on the iPhone, so it is valuable to use paid advertising on this particular search engine. Bing Shopping Campaigns, even allow you to import Google campaign structures.
A combination of both paid search and social media
The way your consumers use social media, is the key to understanding how to run your paid search campaign. The behaviours of your target market on your various social media pages, should inform your social advertising campaigns. Running your social campaigns at the same time as your paid search campaigns, is hugely beneficial. For example, if you are already
promoting visual images of your products via Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs) you can look at which images gain the most traction, via the analytics sources and then use these images more frequently on Facebook, to garner more clicks and interactions.
Mobile is crucial for getting your hit rates and sales up during the festive period. So much product research is carried out on mobile, as are purchases. These patterns are only going up, so you may wish to take the time to invest in an app for your store that products can be purchased directly through. You should look to enhance the visibility of your app, through search ads on Google Play. You could even look to advertise your app on the app store and through various native mobile ads.
The pace of change in digital marketing, means that there are always new way and opportunities to maximise your sales at the busiest times of the year. A combination of paid advertising on Google and social media, is hugely effective if done right.
Christmas, could see your traffic levels hit unprecedented heights, but remember that this does not necessarily guarantee you sales. Your site will need to be correctly mapped out, with the best possible navigation system in place, so that customers can find what they want, head to the checkout and make their purchases with ease.
