Online Retailers: Get 4 social media tips for better sales this Christmas from Mint Design on Vimeo.

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Hey guys, I’m Alice, Director of Communications and one of the co-founders here at Mint.

The 2020 Christmas season will be an interesting one. We’ve all seen the news reports with big retail chains like The Warehouse, Max and Bunnings closing down stores.

The good news is that eCommerce sales are up. Multiple reports have confirmed this, I’m sure this won’t be news to you. And nothing has reported just yet but it was predicted that August’s level 3 restrictions in Auckland would see another surge in online sales

Regardless of the alert level, we find ourselves in come November and December, we can be pretty sure that this year will set some new records in online holiday shopping.

And you want your piece of the pie, right? Here are 4 things that you can do to help your social media posts gain better reach and convert more sales.

Tip #1: Turn your newsfeed into a gift guide.

Holiday buyers are limited by two things:

  1. Budget - everyone’s got a limit of some kind
  2. Gift ideas - some people are just so hard to buy for!

So if you can offer some gift inspiration, it really helps people out while showcasing your product range. I recommend that you do categories like "For dad", "For toddlers", "Under $50", "For Sports fans" or "For vegans", "Corporate gifts" etc.

If you can have a gift guide for "people who already have everything", even better because most of us have someone like that who we have to buy for.

Tip #2 Know your cut off dates for shipping and make these well known to your customers.

If there’s one thing covid-19 won’t change in 2020, it’s that many of us will leave Xmas shopping til the last minute.

So cater to your last-minute shoppers by being super clear on your cut off dates for shipping and don’t be scared to mention this a few times, especially for those of you using platforms like Instagram stories and other more casual forms of social media.

You might find that your courier will have different cut-offs for different regions - that’s cool, make that clear to customers. On your last day that you can take any orders, you might like to offer some deals if you want to capture some final sales before you knock off.

Tip #3 Collaborate and cross-promote with similar brands

If there’s a brand you admire and you think your customers might to, get in touch with that brand and see if they’re interested in doing a cross-promo - you give them a shout out and a link, they do the same.

Obviously, you want to find a product that is complementary rather than competitive. So for example, if you’re selling kitchen supplies to foodies, you could do a cross-promo with a local cheesemonger that your foodie fans will love.

Tip #4 Get into the community and help vulnerable Kiwis.

There will be plenty of people who could do with a helping hand this Xmas so if you can, help out a charity of choice and show that you’re getting amongst it by sharing this on your social channels.

I know it can feel a little a strange to share on social media that you’ve just done a good deed - sometimes we just want to help out quietly, but it can really help out an organisation when they are mentioned on your social channel no matter how big or small your audience is.

A couple of years back, we took the team to K-Mart and everyone had to get something to put under the K-Mart Kids Wishing tree.

It was Mint Design’s shout of course and it was a fun activity - one that we posted about on social media. We had people saying ‘thanks for the reminder, I’ve been meaning to do that’. Sometimes the shout out or the awareness is more valuable than the donation itself. And this is a great way to show what you stand for and what your brand is all about.

I hope these tips help. I hope that this retail season is a profitable one for you. October is when you should really be getting your marketing and promos out there so right now is the time to start planning!

Thanks for watching.

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