Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is coming up this year on November 26th. American Express started Small Business Saturday back in 2010. In 2011 the US Senate officially recognized the day. By 2014 an estimated $14.5 billion was spent by consumers at small independent businesses. 2015 saw 95 million people shopping at small businesses.

The Small Business Saturday American Express site has several resources and articles to help you get ready. But let’s take a closer look at the digital marketing side of things, including your website and social media plan for the event.

Website Landing Pages

You want people to know exactly what your business is doing on Small Business Saturday. A website landing page can be an important piece of this. Directing customers to your main home page is an option, but you have more flexibility if you design a landing page just for this event.

A landing page can be tailored to immediately highlight any discounts you are offering on Small Business Saturday. Or it can offer details of a contest you are running. Or it can highlight any special events you might have at your business that day. You can even offer a coupon good on Small Business Saturday only available to newsletter subscribers to help build your email list.

People’s attention span is short. A landing page takes visitors straight to your message. Your normal home page for your site is apt to be distracting when you are trying to drive traffic to your store.

Social Media Posts

Social Media posts are a perfect way to help build up excitement for shopping at your place of business. Trickle out posts on your preferred platforms leading up to Small Business Saturday.

You can start with just reminding people about the day. Get your customers thinking about supporting small business. Be sure to mention your store’s participation.

As the day draws closer start directing them to your landing page setup for the day. Highlight any events you have going on or deals of the day. Start to build excitement about the deals your store is running.

Social Media Video

Video content on social media platforms is a sure way to drive post engagement. Take advantage of this for Small Business Saturday. Whether your social media platform of choice is Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or something else – take time to post some videos in support of your event.

Leading up to it you could do a tour of your store or highlight displays of product. Or even interview some employees who will be working that day. Let your customers get to know your business and the people working there.

Build anticipation on the morning of. Show off the store front or the interior of the store just before opening. Again, show employees getting prepped for the big day or highlight a special display.

And if time permits, post some action video during the day. Getting live video in front of potential customers while they are out for the day engages them and can remind them to visit your place of business.

Social Media Scheduling

You are likely to be busy on Small Business Saturday. This might make it difficult to push social media posts as much as you would want on Saturday. Make sure to utilize scheduled posts to get your business into social media feeds while people are out shopping. They’ll stop to eat or take a break, check their Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram and see your post and be reminded of the events going on at your store.

If you find time to post candid shots to your social platforms, do so. Those posts are genuine and can go far to help. But, if you have posts scheduled you can be sure your social platforms are still working for you even if you are too busy to get some candid shots posted.

Social Media Contests

Want to build awareness on Small Business Saturday? Have a contest involving social media! Get people to take selfies in your store, or maybe next to a prop you have setup just for the contest. Make sure you have them share those photos and tag your business page or relevant social media account.

Make sure the reward you offer is something worthwhile and you’ll get a large number of shares. These shares will help get your brand in front of a lot of people. While it might not draw in a lot of people the day of, it gets your business exposure that can lead to more customers in the future.

Social Media Advertising

Social Media advertising is an option worth considering leading up to Small Business Saturday.

For example, on Facebook – your posts aren’t seen by everyone that likes your page. To help counter that, you can pay for a Facebook ad to make sure you get in front of people in your area. Even people that don’t currently like your page, further growing your potential customer base.

With the targeting options on Facebook you can tailor your ad audience to people that are in your local area and meet other criteria. For example, if you are a small craft store, you can target people in your local area that are interested in crafts. Make sure to use a website landing page to increase those conversions that result in foot traffic in your store.

Another option to consider is utilizing geofilters with Snapchat. Pair this with a contest as mentioned above and you can once again get your brand out in front of a lot of potential customers that drive sales in the long term, not just Small Business Saturday.

Wrap Up

Small Business Saturday is a great opportunity for businesses. Make sure to give your business a digital edge. A little planning will make sure your customers drop by your store for their holiday shopping.

If you need some help making sure your website and social media strategy work for you – contact Windora Design and we will be happy to help give you a digital edge over your competition.