TREND WATCH

TRENDS

SOCIAL MEDIA

We know how important social media is! Over half of social media users research and view products on social media. It is a vital component now to add to your retail marketing strategy! Adapt so you can present your unique,

lovely and inspiring representation of you, your store, what you sell, and what you choose for your customer. It is THE way to communicate! And it’s easy! I have listed three relevant and growing trends you need to know.

1. CREATIVE

2. MEMORABLE

3. IMPACTFUL

4. ENTERTAINING

5. UNIQUE

6. INTERACTIVE

My trend watch for 2021 5 TOP 5 TRENDS TO FOLD INTO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA 1. Live streams

Recently, due to the COVID-19 health crisis, businesses, artists and institutions have had to pivot and dramatically reach their customers or audiences via social media, blogs and websites. Live-stream became alive and increased dramatically. All of a sudden retail stores were popping up with shop owners sharing their recent collections and products, live!

The number of views on Instagram and Facebook Live doubled in just weeks.

While the situation continues to evolve in 2021, your customers have become used to being able to interact with brands live without ever leaving their homes. Live streaming continues to gain popularity and should definitely be a part of your social media marketing strategy.

QUICK & EASY TIPS:

1. Simple lighting on you and your collections, a camera phone and you’re set. Don’t be shy, when you get a new collection in, share it and your enthusiasm. Doesn’t have to be a long feed, just make it quick and easy. 2. Be consistent in your schedule, so your customers will catch you live! They can always watch it after you have posted it, but they love sending you hearts and little love thumbs up while you are live. 3. Maintain a similar format for your videos. Same place same time, open boxes and share your treats.

According to a recent Sprout Social Index, 40% of consumers want to see more live video from brands.

2. Stories

More than 500 million users interact with Instagram Stories every day. So although Instagram Stories were already dominant content format in the previous year, they’re not going away any time soon.

Take a more organized approach and plan for Stories as a content format for your publishing calendars. I love to share my customers’ images of their quilts or garments. More importantly, the use of video as Stories will increase since they appear to outperform photos.

A Social Insider study found that images in Stories have a 6% higher tap-forward rate than videos.

This means the number of people who saw your ‘Image’ Story moved on to the next one quickly. The same analysis also found that photos in Stories had more drop-offs than videos, showing that people tend to spend more time viewing videos.

No wonder 51% of brands are already using videos in Stories, and the number will likely increase in 2021.

QUICK & EASY TIPS:

1. Using your camera, daylight video across a new collection closeup! That’s it! Upload to STORIES in Instagram.

2. A quick moving video of your customer and their happy quilt! Big smiles!

3. Social commerce

Social Media is always adding new features and tools supporting quick and easy ways for easy access shopping. Both Instagram and Facebook allow you to tag products and enable easy checkout right there without leaving the platform. Set up your shop in Social Media by adding your product catalog to the platforms so then your customers can browse and make a purchase.

Remember this, 6% of social media users research products using social media. And social media referrals can influence the purchase decisions of 71% of users.

Add social commerce to the equation, and you have something that simplifies and shortens your customer journey. When your customer sees a product they like on social media, they no longer have to go to your website and search for it. They can buy it straight from the platform, which is likely to reduce abandoned transactions.

Just by having a BUY button increases the likelihood of purchase!

4. Purpose-driven

campaigns The global pandemic has created a focus on driven engagement with causes . We all want to help more than ever, and our customers expect us to join in!

In fact, 74% of respondents in a Twitter survey want brands to showcase acts of kindness. And 77% feel more positively about brands that try to support society during this crisis.

So even for 2021, we’re likely to see brands helping out however they can through purpose-driven social media campaigns. 86% of respondents in the survey want brands to support vulnerable members of the community. And 82% of respondents expect more support for front-line health staff.

The importance of authenticity and backing up your marketing actions. Knowing when to engage and when to back off from a sensitive issue that may not be perceived as relevant to your brand is essential. Audiences expect brands to show leadership and meaningful action on social issues, rather than exploit them for marketing opportunities.

QUICK & EASY TIPS:

1. You know what local issues are important to your customers. Just chat with them you’ll find out. 2. Address any issues that pop up in your customer community! Listen, they want to be heard!

5. Inclusivity

We all need to make meaningful strides for inclusion in any business operations and withing your marketing voice. Audiences are more aware than ever that they have plenty of options, leading them to put their money behind companies that show investment in the communities and issues they are passionate about.

An Accenture study found that 29% of all shoppers would switch to a brand that’s committed to inclusivity and diversity.

If your brand’s social presence doesn’t reflect your customers’ views on identity and diversity, you’ll end up missing a crucial opportunity to connect with them.

QUICK & EASY TIPS: Make sure your content on inclusivity is well-informed and make sure your brand is ready to act. These important social issues can’t just be treated like another trending topic.

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10 TIPS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

1. Constant and consistent posting on your social media accounts. You can do this daily, or schedule posts out directly on Facebook. Or you could use an easy software service like HootSuite where your accounts are all in one place, and post imagery for each day. Takes that daily burden out of your busy schedule. 2. Use Hashtags! Social media users follow hashtags so #newfabriccollection #quiltingcotton #quilt #yourlocalquiltingguild, #artistname etc. 3. Take photos all the time! Little closeups of your favorite products or items you want to move. Images of what’s new is always exciting, and what’s coming.

Create a bank of usable photos and little videos. 4. Shooting little videos is easy! Make sure your lighting is good! You do not even have to be in the frame... tell a quick story! 5. Your enthusiasm will create sales! 6. Live streaming! Go live people, your customers want to see what’s going on! Create a teaser post about the upcoming live stream. Go live! Content could be opening new boxes of products, other items you love in the shop, new patterns, industry news, feature a customer and their quilt. 7. Stories are those little absurd add-on posts that can get you in front of your customer quickly, maybe even more than your usual posts. Again, an image always good, a sale announcement, or a little video!

See #2 STORIES AS CONTENT... more folks tend to click on a video! 8. Add your product category onto social media, or perhaps just a few products. Maybe a new collection just in. 9. Follow local quilting and sewing groups, national ones too - post a little comment every now and then. It increases your visibility and growth of followers. 10. Update your website front gallery every month or bi-weekly. Make it a unique experience every time a customer visits your e-commerce store.