Brooke Hatfield, our resident guru, breaks down how to use different platforms to your advantage.
As promised, Brooke is taking over What’s In Store today to talk about social media. She’ll also touch on what she’s learned since working on Freddie and Co.’s social platforms. Take it away, Brooke!
Mailchimp was pretty active on social media before we started Freddie and Co., but we’d never set up an account with e-commerce in mind. Launching Freddie and Co.’s social media required we learn more about how those platforms can support a business.
There’s a lot to consider when creating a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account for your business. For starters, make sure everything looks spiffy — get those profile and cover images uploaded! (And make sure your profile image looks good small, since lots of people will view it on their phone.) Fill out your business’s profile information, including contact and location, and include a link to your newsletter signup form. (You’re sending a newsletter, right? ?)
Freddie & Co. has Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat accounts, but we’ve focused mostly on the first 3. Our main goals have been to 1) raise awareness of our store, and 2) field questions from customers. We don’t expect to see a deluge of sales from social. Despite the rise of the Buy button, most people don’t purchase things on Instagram. (Yet?!?)
That being said, social selling is still a burgeoning practice for lots of folks. While you should manage your expectations, there are some big opportunities for businesses. Many e-commerce platforms offer relatively simple integrations that let you sell your products directly from a social account. Our store, for example, runs on Shopify. Here’s how we e-commerce-ified our social accounts:
So, how many orders have we gotten from all this? Revenue attribution from social media is notoriously tricky, but based on Shopify’s reports, the answer is…10. Four from Facebook, 4 from Twitter, and 2 from Instagram — totaling $202.64. Hey, you gotta start somewhere!
And, we’re not done experimenting! Next up, we’re trying some paid tactics like Facebook’s Custom Audiences, boosted Instagram posts, and maybe even a contest or two. Stay tuned! If nothing else, we still have an internet-famous bearded dragon at our disposal.
Thanks, Brooke! She didn’t tell y’all this, but she’s also really good at Snapchat. You should follow Mailchimp on Snapchat and see all the fun stuff she does there.
I’ll be back next week, and I have so much to say. I wanna talk about developing our design aesthetic, but I’m not sure how to whittle it down into one issue! Wish me luck. I plan to get started as soon as I press Send on this one. Oh, and after I high-five Freddie.
