Market your Thrift Store to Success.
- Claudia Miller
- Sep 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Hey and welcome to my last ever blog post! I’m going to end with a bang and provide you with the best tips and tricks on how to successfully use social media marketing tactics to promote a thrift store! I was inspired to write this blog post as a friend of mine is opening up her own thrift store and came to me for marketing advice. So, I thought, why not share it for everyone to see!
1. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.
The first and most important step, is to create a social media strategy. Having a strategy in place will help you to define the main objective for your social media presence and, determine where, how and what will be delivered. This should consist of your SMART goals and objectives, target audience and competitor analysis, and solutions for overcoming any objectives or challenges that may (and will) arise (Gurd, 2018).
2. NETWORK CORRECTLY
There are thousands of different social media networks out there but, they all have one thing in common - connecting and bringing together like minded people. Research has also shown that social media platforms such as Pinterest, has seen a whopping 93% of users use the platform to plan for or to actually commit to a purchase (Hutchinson, 2018). So it’s important to choose advertisement your business on platforms where it will thrive. Therefore, your next step is choosing the correct online networks, enabling you to successfully reach your target market (Digital Marketing Institute, 2020).
Some of the most popular include Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat. Although, as we are advertising a thrift store I would use a combination of Facebook market place, Instagram, Pinterest and Depop - an app where users can sell and purchase second hand clothing and accessories. (Depop,2020). Each of these platforms have a high presence of users who generate and are interested in fashion content, making them the ideal place to advertise for a thrift store!
3. CREATE AN ONLINE PRESENCE
You can create your social media accounts and post your content but, it is so incredibly important to continue to engage with your audience in order to build your online presence. This includes posting regularly, leaving likes and comments and re-sharing. A great way to create online presence for a thrift store is by hosting a giveaway once you reach a certain number of followers. This is a great way to give back to your customers whilst also exposing your brand further to potential new customers.
Below I’ve attached an example of a giveaway hosted by Lost Vintage, a vintage thrift store in Canberra. The steps to enter involved the user following, tagging a friend in the comments and sharing the post on their story, a great way to increase exposure and online brand presence.
Source: @lost__vintage Instagram
4. MEASURE PERFORMANCE
Measuring your engagement and performance online is one the most crucial social media tactics as it allows you to know what content is loved by your audience and what isn’t (Kim, 2019). One of the many great things about marketing on social media is how easily accessible and cost effective your analytics and insights are. Another reason why I suggested Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Depop to advertise a thrift store is because they provided free analytics to business accounts.
5. BUILD ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS
Last but certainly not least, build relationships with your customers online! This can be done by responding to all questions, providing solutions to any problems, listening to and acknowledging both good and bad feedback and, doing so efficiently. This is crucial as it builds your brand reputation and personality, builds trust and makes the customer feel cared for which will ultimately lead to their repeat purchases and customer loyalty.
After implementation of the above into your social media marketing strategy, you will be able to successfully market your thrift store (or any other business) to consumers online and create firsthand excitement, for secondhand items.
Thanks so much for tuning in each week, I hope you've found the content informative and easy to read!
Claudia x
REFERENCES:
Digital Marketing Institute Blog (2020) ‘10 ways small businesses can improve their social media presence’, Digital Marketing Institute. Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/10-ways-small-businesses-can-improve-their-social-media-presence (Accessed September 3rd 2020).
Gurd, J (2018) ‘Social Media Strategy and Planning Essentials- Strategy and Tactics’ Smart Insights. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/social-media-strategy-planning-essentials-strategy-tactics/ (Accessed 3rd September, 2020).
Hutchinson, A (2018) ‘Pinterest Releases New Data on How the Platform Influences Purchase Behavior [Infographic]’. Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/pinterest-releases-new-data-on-how-the-platform-influences-purchase-behavio/518828/ (Accessed September 3rd 2020).
Kim, L (2019) ‘ 10 social media tactics every marketer should employ in 2020’, Quintly. Available at: https://www.quintly.com/blog/social-media-tactics-2020 (Accessed September 3rd 2020).
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