Know-How Exchange : Social Media

It depends on the specific product category, your current position within the category, the geographic market, and your objective(s). Can you fill us in a bit more?

Retail furniture store, serving the mid to upper end of the market in a southwest resort community.

STOP. WHAT. YOU'RE. DOING. RIGHT. NOW.

No one visiting this store's social media streams or PPC landing pages is looking to buy furniture.

Furniture shopping sucks.

And no one wants to be sold furniture.

I moved house recently and I can tell you that the process of buying furniture is a pain in the ass.

While the management of this store thinks they're selling furniture, what they're actually selling is the idea and ethos of a home away from home. A retreat. A bolthole. An escape from the rat race. Perhaps even a home in which to retire.

They are also in the business of gathering, segmenting, and tracking user data so that they can establish relationships and build a series of avatar-based dialogues as a result of specific actions and anchor points triggering certain outcomes.

Your 20% branding and 80% sales event-driven ad ratios are off-kilter.

Forget about branding and sales and instead, focus on stories, narratives, outcomes, and real-life examples of the ways in which this store has helped people turn a space into a home.

I urge you to test stand alone ratios of 80 - 90% stories and narratives and 20 - 10% promotional offers that are time-limited and that are triggered by an on-page action (such as scrolling to a certain place on a page), or that are triggered by clicking on a specific link, or that are accessed by someone spending a certain amount.

These are not sales. Any imbecile can run a sale.

These are experience-based outcomes. This is a treasure hunt with a double payoff: a saving of money and a beautiful home.

I had a legitimate question and your response is pretentious and condescending. Content marketing evangelism is all well and good, but I am dealing with real world constraints on time and money.
Thanks for nothing.

So, your inability to grasp the importance of using social media to create a sense of inspired community based on value-based relationships is my fault?

Got it. Good old logical fallacy rides to the marketing rescue of the ignorant once again. Why even ask your question? You evidently know it all.

The customer focus of the business home page is zero. I tested it. There isn't a single word on that page dedicated to the needs of your ideal customers (hint: those are the people buying furniture, not the people selling it).

The content shared across your company's social media streams is dull, uninspired, repetitive, insipid, empty, and lacks warmth, soul, passion, and believability.

You asked two questions: should we be pushing the white-label service to enable event-driven promotions (like a semi-annual sale)? No.

Should we just focus on continuous promotions and/or branding? No.

Neither of these things creates intrigue, curiosity, or interest which are the vital elements to get people through a door and interested in outcomes that matter to them.

I had legitimate answers to your question and your response is indicative of many of the things wrong with marketing in sectors that have competed on price and SALE, BARGAIN, REDUCED shouting-based cliches for the last three decades.

Markets are changing.

Customers are smarter, they have more leverage, and they have greater power now than marketers who won't change, can't change, or will never change will ever realize, which is why Mealey's Furniture are shuttering their doors.

Adapt or fail. Pick one.

Good day to you.

So, your inability to grasp the importance of using social media to create a sense of inspired community based on value-based relationships is my fault?

Got it. Good old logical fallacy rides to the marketing rescue of the ignorant once again. Why even ask your question? You evidently know it all.

The customer focus of the business home page is zero. I tested it. There isn't a single word on that page dedicated to the needs of your ideal customers (hint: those are the people buying furniture, not the people selling it).

The content shared across your company's social media streams is dull, uninspired, repetitive, insipid, empty, and lacks warmth, soul, passion, and believability.

You asked two questions: should we be pushing the white-label service to enable event-driven promotions (like a semi-annual sale)? No.

Should we just focus on continuous promotions and/or branding? No.

Neither of these things creates intrigue, curiosity, or interest which are the vital elements to get people through a door and interested in outcomes that matter to them.

I had legitimate answers to your question and your response is indicative of many of the things wrong with marketing in sectors that have competed on price and SALE, BARGAIN, REDUCED shouting-based cliches for the last three decades.

Markets are changing.

Customers are smarter, they have more leverage, and they have greater power now than marketers who won't change, can't change, or will never change will ever realize, which is why Mealey's Furniture are shuttering their doors.

Adapt or fail. Pick one.

Good day to you.