Digital connections

Reaching consumers via social media

By Natasha Parrant

Social media is everywhere and keeps advancing and growing each day.

What’s interesting to know is seeing how some Aotearoa businesses use social media to reach consumers, and see how that’s changed their way of reaching a bigger audience in a positive or challenging way? Riverside Market social media manager, Stacey Tite, says the social media platforms Riverside Market uses are Instagram and Facebook. On Instagram, Riverside Market focuses on creating content that showcases their trader’s delicious food and drinks, high-quality products, and inside the huge building. On Facebook, the company shares similar content but also focuses on the community aspect. “Cantabrians have loved to be a part of the Riverside Market journey and we continue to share our growth and celebrations with them. A win for us is a win for Christchurch and this is very much felt on our Facebook page.” Stacey mentions Riverside Market always used Instagram and Facebook to connect to their consumers to show the behind-the-scenes content of its building construction, including teaser content for its traders. Initially, the team focused on getting the imagery perfect so to speak to gain a lot of attention and build trust with consumers. “We did do some professional videography; however, we mainly used static images.” Using Facebook and Instagram has immensely helped Riverside Market reach a bigger audience, Stacey says. Riverside Market has 15.6 thousand followers on Instagram and 20 thousand likes on Facebook. 10 | www.canterburytoday.co.nz “Taking the people of Christchurch on the journey with us was key in a very quick follower growth for both of our accounts. “We were very intentional with our content too to ensure we were showcasing the best that we had to offer, our values, our mission, and our people. We had a hugely successful opening because of that.” Currently, the team focuses on videoing things that are happening in the area so it’s more “natural”. As a result, Riverside Market has reached more views, which eventually led to some Facebook videos getting thousands and thousands of views. Stacey posted a short video of her lunch, which caught a lot of attention and caused an instant increase in sales for that specific trader. “We believe this is because our community like to feel like they are a part of the Riverside Market family and love to see content that is relatable and authentic.” Fortunately, there aren’t negatives to using social media for Riverside Market. Social media is their main source of advertisement as it reaches many people within seconds. The main pros of using these platforms are having an increase in sales, helping promote events that are happening at Riverside Market, and helping with market research, as sometimes the team uses polls on Instagram stories to discover what the community wants in terms of promotions and events. “The feedback we receive from that helps to shape our future campaigns,” Stacey says. The Coffee Club director and marketing manager Andy Lucas says their company uses Facebook and Instagram, but is also on Tik Tok. He has noticed more growth and a bigger following via Instagram recently. The Coffee Club currently has 10.4 thousand followers on Instagram and 29 thousand likes on Facebook. “We use social media to engage with our followers and communicate on new products, promotions, limited time only menu items, and other special events such as new store openings, store birthdays, and competitions. “We also use advertising on social media to reach customers and promote our meals and special products to them at different times.” The Coffee Club used Facebook first to connect with consumers a decade ago when it was still new and then used Instagram, as it became more popular and continued to see growth. Social media helps the company reach more people and easily communicate its products to a larger audience. However, it’s still hard to determine if the number of followers translates to the paying customers in the store, Andy says. Social media has mostly impacted the business positively. A few positives Andy lists include reaching more people without a huge expense, communicating with followers quickly, reaching different demographic groups, and targeting many people with paid advertising. The negatives of using social media are it’s easier for consumers to give unjustifiable negative feedback without proof, which can be viewed by other consumers. There’s a lot of advertising on social media lately, which means the company’s advertisements can get lost. Although the cost to advertise may seem reasonable, the costs are reflected in the return of investment (ROI), Andy says. CT

The Coffee Culture in Auckland’s Ormiston store