Effective use of social media platforms in business promotion is crucial. With the number of social media platforms available today, a good strategy is still needed to obtain the best results.
While planning a marketing strategy for shopping malls, we have realized that many businesses do not clearly define the objective of using social media as their primary channel. This can make strategic planning even more difficult as it is difficult to create a successful plan without a clear goal. To avoid such chaos and develop a marketing plan that will bring shoppers into your mall, consider the following factors:
Define Your Objective Clearly
When choosing a social-media platform to promote your business, it is important to be clear about your expectations from it. Write down what results you hope to achieve through this strategy, and sort them according to short-term and long-term goals. Short-term objectives might include: increasing the number of fans or followers on your company’s social media accounts; informing and educating existing fans about the offerings at your mall; reaching out to existing fans and solving any queries they might have. Long-term objectives might include creating and nurturing a community of active followers of your brand; increasing walk-ins (or visits) to your mall. Formulating such objectives will help you formulate a plan of action in an organized manner.
Choose Right Social Media Platforms
It’s important to know what each social media platform is trying to communicate with its target group. Each platform has its own voice, so you have to choose which one will serve your purpose best. You can consider the following factors when choosing which platform to use: Is my audience present on that platform? What type of communication do they like most? How will they interact with my brand? How can I encourage them to visit the mall physically through that particular platform? Once these pointers are considered, they form a next step of planning that will pull in the audience and make them understand what we stand for!
Post content that delivers value
When you integrate social media into your marketing strategy, make sure that you have a clear understanding of what you plan to post on these platforms. Understand the style of communication that works best on each platform and formulate content themes accordingly. Posting random content won’t help much. See what type of content your target group is consuming. Keep an eye on your competitors’ pages and analyze which types of content are working best for them. Check out your competitors’ pages, and analyze the types of content that are working for them. Every post you make should ideally deliver something to your fans/followers. It can be educational, informative, or entertaining (humorous or fun elements), but at the end it should be interesting enough to encourage users to take action on it. Some possible topics for your “Mall” on social media: (1) Talk about the mall’s unique selling points (USPs)—why should people visit it?(2) Showcase exciting offers or discounts stores are offering.(3) Show shoppers enjoying shopping, events and activities at the mall.(4) Include human element—photo of shoppers enjoying themselves at your mall.
Listen and Respond to audience:
Social media can be a very effective customer service tool if used correctly. People can interact with your business through personal messages, social actions (e.g., likes, comments and shares) and reviews. Make sure you are providing enough attention to them. Appreciate and thank them when you receive positive feedback. In case of complaint of any other negative form of mention (e.g., complaint or negative review), try to resolve it by addressing the customer personally or taking it offline through your customer care team. A proactive approach from the mall can help in increasing overall positive sentiment about the mall, which can have a direct impact on walk-ins (i.e., more customers coming in).
Evaluate your performance and work on improvements
Once you have established a comprehensive social media plan and executed it with success, the most crucial part is to monitor progress. Analyze data from Google Analytics & Social media insights to see what worked for you and try to improve on activities that did not drive desired results. Important metrics to focus on for analysis are: – Type of post that received the highest engagement – Number of mentions received from social media – Type of ad that fulfilled its objective – Tracking walk-ins and segregating the data into offline and online separately to understand impact of social media efforts.
When you formulate a social media strategy for your shopping mall business, try to incorporate all of the points discussed in this article. A well-planned and thoughtful approach will definitely help you reap long-term benefits from your social media marketing efforts.