Event summary: Social Media in Retail
As you can see from the video below, our second event, ‘Social Media in Retail’, took place last night. The event was hosted by @JustinFlitter of FlitterMedia who gave a great overview of why retailers should do more than simply use Social Media to promote the latest in-store offers. As Justin said, “Social Media is not just a heat and eat meal, it takes lots of ingredients.” We all agreed with this notion. Justin went on to emphasise the need to add value, rather than simply replicate standard marketing via Social Media, what Justin called “spam announcements.”
Justin then introduced Gianpaolo Grazioli, owner of Queen Street gelato shop and café, ‘Giapo’. Gianpaolo talked about “being relevant to the world around you” and offering something that your customers can be fans of. He also talked at length about how brands need to think socially, referring to how your product or service needs to be easy to talk about. We now operate in a pretty open society, a trend that is exagerrated further by Social Media. Gianpaolo highlighted this by saying that we need to be open about our brand communications and, ultimately, listen more (or perhaps better?) to consumers.
Many retailers have a relatively large workforce and setting out a Social Media plan that makes sense and is easy to implement is often a tricky process. Ultimately, as both speakers alluded to, it’s about empowering the staff who are most passionate about their job. That passion will always translate to more positive customer experiences, which will in turn drive revenue, which is the ultimate goal at the end of the day.
