chessMy blog so far has been a place for me to share things that I find interesting as well as helpful tips and information that I’ll often refer back to myself. It’s almost like having a personal set of bookmarks that are accessible everywhere I go without having to use any bespoke service.

However, a friend has asked me for some advice regarding their newly launched online business and since I happen to work predominantly in the online / media / marketing world, I thought this blog is as good a place as any to write up my suggestions.

Although I’ve intentionally kept the name of the company anonymous, the principles behind maximising online opportunities for an online retailer apply can be applied by anyone.

The background

The company my friend works for is a niche SME online retailer that has decided to branch out in to a new range of products (home accessories and home gifts) outside of its existing offering (beauty products). Rather than expand the existing successful brand, a new separate entity has been created. A good, well designed web site has been constructed; an expansive range of over 400 niche products has been selected and available from launch at competitive prices; and some initial social media activities have been undertaken. So far, so good – they’re sounding like they’re doing a lot of the right things – but what can they do to take things to the next level?

Activities so far

Ok, well in order to advise on the best route forward, we need to understand what they’ve done so far and why they’ve not been entirely happy with the results.

The site itself appears to be well built, has clear navigation, clear calls to action, uses lots of great visuals of the products for sale and runs pretty smoothly and quick. They cross sell across product ranges with related products being highlighted to users and lots of quick “add to basket” buttons are well placed and used liberally.

A Facebook page was launched on the 17th January with promotion initially to friends and family, but to date has only amassed 61 likes.

Advertorial space was purchased in a relevant magazine whose audience demographic mirrors the targets of the company.

A Twitter handle was set up, but has largely failed to engage with potential customers, attracting just 19 followers and publishing 23 tweets.

They’ve sought reviews from individuals in the industry.

What have they done wrong?

A key issue that I’m surprised they’ve missed is that social hasn’t been embedded on their site thoroughly. Whilst visitors are rightly encouraged to share individual items through Email, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook – there’s no clear navigation to the company’s own social presence. Customers should be given direct routes to engage with a company through the manner they choose. So, if they want to find out about your products by following you on Twitter, or seeing your latest status updates about new products on Facebook, then let them. In this instance, the channel is less important than the message and communication itself. Ultimately, if the message gets through and it leads to a visitor returning to the site to buy, then that communication effort is working.

The team behind the site have also been quite sporadic about their online social media activity. Looking through their Facebook page, there seems to be a post every couple of days but they’re talking more about blog posts from the two reviewers they’ve managed to find or discussing the advertorial they’ve secured. Out of the 8 photos uploaded to the profile, none feature the very products the company is selling. There are very few call to actions besides a few links back to the web site – and then a bug bear of mine is that they’ve just used one of the images off their site for the Facebook Page header image which includes a call to action, but it doesn’t work because it’s an embedded image within Facebook. How much extra effort would it have taken to remove the embedded button from the image?!

These are just a handful of the more obvious drawbacks from an initial examination – and there may well be more – but I’d like to focus more on the positives and consider what can be done now, to improve the business and its online offering.

What should they do?

  • Develop a (content) plan
    • First and foremost there needs to be a plan of action that underpins the online activity. Yes, you should remain flexible and able to respond to current events, trends and other influencing factors – but you shouldn’t wait around for something to happen that you can respond to. You should know that there’s a foundation level of content that you can use, repurpose and distribute across your channels to maintain user interest, attract new users, generate traffic and leads and ultimately, sell to.
  • Be product focused
    • The company exists to sell products, yet apart from the primary web site, the other online presences fail to focus on the products. Show potential customers the products. Use images; be visual. Talk about the products rather than your efforts to promote them. Get others to talk about the products too.
  • Use the Facebook page properly.
    • Talk about the products, have pictures of them. Link back to the site, frequently and with calls to action – i.e. buy this now. Run promotions – discounts, offers, sales, etc.
  • Get on Pinterest
    • Pinterest is made for this sort of online offering. It’s very visual so the product images would work well here. Remember, as an online retailer, your customer base is potentially global. Pinterest is one of the few social media networks that has a different gender bias in that more females engage through the channel. But Pinterest has enabled businesses to have pages now. You can not only set up your business page and list your own products (including descriptions and links), but you can also engage with other users too. Remember to focus on the products too.
    • Once you’re established on Pinterest, set up a relevant, collaborative board and invite selected users (Pinners) to contribute
  • Get on Google+
    • Google+ is arguably the new kid on the block, having started life after successive iterations of previous Google social networks – but it’s rapidly gaining traction and there’s plenty of talk about this being the year that it really takes off. Not that it hasn’t already taken off either… with 343 million monthly active users (compared to LinkedIn’s 200 million), it’s no small beer – and the way it integrates with other Google offerings means it could well be the Facebook killer it’s often being billed as.
    • There are lots of good things being written about using Google+ so I’m not going to write tons about this – but there are some key things worth noting. Firstly, like Pinterest, Google has recognised the value in attracting businesses to their network – so you can quickly and easily set up a business page for your company.
    • Circles are Google’s way of categorising your friends, fans, followers, colleagues, etc. Unlike Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, you don’t have to request permission to add these people to your Circles. You can also tailor specific updates and only make them visible to specific Circles. See how nice and easy this could be for delivering targeted communications to individual niches?
    • Communities are Google+’s equivalent of Facebook or LinkedIn Groups – and it’s a great opportunity to create a unique environment for people to gather and discuss your products. But here’s where I’d advise departing from the strict promote-your-own-stuff approach, and I’d consider establishing (if one doesn’t exist already) a generic community that you can lead, be involved in, but doesn’t necessarily try and ram your own products down users throats all of the time.
    • Google+ is good for SEO. As you’d expect from the world’s largest search engine, their social network includes pretty powerful search functionality. But it has also been revealed that Google’s general search will favour results from within Google+ apparently. A good resource about G+ SEO benefits is http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tips-to-use-google-for-seo
    • Look up authorship (https://plus.google.com/authorship) and how that’s an important feature of Google+
  • Cross-sell
    • The site does already cross-sell within itself with the good use of recommended product links, but has any thought been given to cross selling with the sister company? Is there a fear of potentially damaging that brand, or are the product sets too dissimilar (not in my opinion) that the decision has been made not to cross sell?
  • Identify influential individuals (3I’s)
    • This has already been done to some extent with the two site reviews that are posted on the Facebook page… but surely these aren’t the only two people in the industry. How were these identified? Are there other bloggers that focus on the sector?
    • Don’t just limit yourself to bloggers too. Who are the most active or influential people on the other social networks too? How can you get them involved? Do you ask them to review your web site (boring!), or can you send them a free sample product and ask them to review it on their blog/channel/network?
  • Consider PR
    • Traditional PR activities shouldn’t be ignored, as press coverage on or offline can generate significant traffic and leads. Think about stories that are likely to appeal or be interesting to a wider audience. Don’t ever attempt to be commercial in your press releases as that’s going to be the quickest way to end up with your release in the bin. Consider running a survey (once the site is more popular and traffic numbers are up); publications love stats and quick facts, especially if you can make that visual. Infographics are not just used on web sites and Pinterest – they’re often picked up and used by traditional media too. Relate your PR to current events and activities too.
  • Test
    • You’ll never know if something will truly work until you test it. With a new business, there has to be an element of trial and error. Don’t over-commit yourself and blow your budget on a single venture, but pilot activities, consider soft launches and develop communities through sharing relevant information, engaging with individuals and being helpful and interesting.
  • Integrate
    • None of the activities I’ve discussed here should be used in isolation. They should form part of a systematic, integrated approach to promoting the business. Different channels work in different ways, attracting some users whilst turning others off – so your aim is to be consistent in your approach and present at each of these potential touch points for your customers.
  • Measure & Evaluate
    • Look at the stats. Google Analytics are a good starting point to analyse what’s working and what’s not on your site – but it doesn’t really help you understand things from a social perspective, unless you’re look at social referrals. However, there are good resources available that can help with this. Things like Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com/en) and Addictomatic (http://addictomatic.com/) are good for helping measure your online performance. Other tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social, for example, offer more structured reporting – but these are chargeable services. They’re not expensive though and if you’re to know what’s working and what isn’t, I think a social media management / reporting system like these is a sound investment.
  • Refine
    • Ok, now you know what’s working and what isn’t. Remember to take in to account influencing factors – e.g. bank holidays, the weather, sports events, financial crises, etc. – things that may influence either online traffic or retail activity. But assuming you have considered the macro environment, you can revisit that plan you developed right at the start. Make tweaks where necessary. Focus your efforts on the things that are working right now. You can always expand at a later date or try new things once the traffic numbers and conversions increase.
  • Remember to evolve too. Don’t keep peddling the same messaging, the same images, the same products… keep fresh, stay interesting and people will want to engage with you.

Other things to consider

Facebook has made changes to its algorithm, EdgeRank, which now means that fewer fans will see your update unless they visit the page itself or look at their Pages feed. Facebook certainly has a role to play in an integrated, consumer focused online strategy, but unless you’re going to pay for the privilege of promoting your post(s), you’re going to be reaching fewer and fewer people with your communications.

Consider offline activities too. To an extent, this approach has been adopted with the advertorial piece – but what else can be done? Perhaps consider partnership arrangements that can be mutually beneficial. Are there other companies that you can partner with, even on a trial basis locally to test ideas? For instance, local estate agents will know when houses are sold or rented, and a friendly partnership might result in them including a flyer for the online site in their welcome pack that they send out. It’s a nice touch for them and a potential lead for you.

Finally, my best bit of advice to the people running the site is to read and get involved directly in the relevant social media channels. On Google+ for example, there are some great channels about SEO, Social Media Marketing, Ecommerce, etc. – get involved in those groups, read about developments and new strategies, and learn from others.

I hope that’s been of use to someone other than just my friend and her site! If anyone else has any other ideas, tips or advice they’d like to offer – then please add this in to the comments section below.

Thanks!