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5 Things Every Territory Manager Should Know About Social Media Marketing

Dealers trust you for insights on how to move your brand’s products. Brands trust you to energize those dealers and make it happen. You bring great value to the table for both of them. One way you can continuously enhance and support that value is to stay up-to-date on channel marketing tactics. In today’s digital sales and marketing world, social media is too powerful to ignore, yet not every small retailer understands it or uses it to its full potential. This is your chance to be their hero. Learn these five things about social media marketing to help brands and dealers succeed.

Forgoing Social Media Makes Your Business Invisible

1. Forgoing Social Media Makes Your Business Invisible

To put it simply, retailers cannot afford to skip out on social media. Smaller companies, in particular, may hope to bank on word-of-mouth and local awareness, while believing they don’t have time to manage social media accounts. It’s true, your dealers probably balance a wide range of tasks and are short on extra time. However, social media is not the place to cut corners.

Consider these statistics: 

The digital space has grown increasingly important as COVID-19 has driven foot traffic online, where it is likely to stay even after the pandemic. Once people develop new habits, they tend to stick with them.

A retailer may hope they can rely on Google to give them visibility on the internet. However, ranking well on Google for popular products and services requires a dedicated search engine optimization strategy and continuous maintenance of their website content. In addition, many customers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, may skip search engines altogether and search directly in their favorite social platform.

A Business Doesn’t Have to Use Every Social Platform to Succeed

2. A Business Doesn’t Have to Use Every Social Platform to Succeed

One of the offputting aspects of social media marketing is the overwhelming number of social platforms out there, and the rate at which each one rolls out new features. There are social media professionals for whom keeping up with all this technology is a full time job. 

If you encounter a retailer who says they simply can’t manage five or six different platforms, recommend that they do a little research. They can learn platforms their target audience uses most and which one best fits into their overall marketing strategy. There are many studies out there on who uses which social media platforms, but local retailers can get even more granular by surveying their current customers. They need to tailor their content to their own local audience. 

Once they identify their key social media platforms, they can pour their energy into making those channels truly engaging and valuable to users. High-quality, useful content in one channel makes a much greater impact than a few halfhearted posts scheduled haphazardly across many channels. (For added goodwill, share with your dealers these four tips for setting up a company Facebook page.)

Social Media Enables Sales and Customer Retention

3. Social Media Enables Sales and Customer Retention

The bottom line about social media marketing is that, if done right, it works. As with any marketing tactic, you can gauge the success based on ROI. Social media makes ROI easy, since every interaction with customers is carefully tracked and easy to reference. Most social platforms include their own built-in analytics tools, and others are available. 

Social media marketing can provide measurable results for retailers in several areas:

  • Increased brand awareness — this can be measured by number of followers, comments, likes and shares
  • Increased website traffic — analytics on the company website will show how many visitors click through from a social channel
  • Better loyalty and retention — customers will stick around as long as there is continuous, useful content that lets them get the most out of the products they buy, along with responsive customer service
  • More sales — some platforms allow a customer to click to buy directly in the channel, while others persuade the user to click to the website or visit the store to make a purchase

Each retailer will define success for themselves, based on their goals, and adjust their social media strategy accordingly. 

Successful Social Media Doesn’t Have to be Difficult

4. Successful Social Media Doesn’t Have to be Difficult

Technology can save tremendous time and energy when developing and executing a social media marketing strategy. There are apps and programs that help anyone edit photos and create graphics. Other tools can monitor certain hashtags and trending topics to let you know what your audience is talking about. That’s just content creation — the next step is to syndicate the content.

Social media automation simplifies the process tremendously. With social media automation, posts are pre-planned and then distributed on a set schedule or according to when the time is best to reach potential customers. Numerous social media management tools enable content distribution, ranging from free to quite costly, depending on the range of features and number of social media accounts. Unfortunately, social media scheduling platforms come with limitations. One is that, when each retailer is using their own, the brand gets no insight into what’s happening and no control over the consistency. 

Social Media is a Collaborative Enterprise

5. Social Media is a Collaborative Enterprise

To overcome the risks to consistency and transparency mentioned above, brands and retailers should collaborate on social media strategy. Brands can lead the way by creating high-quality visual content — which they likely already do — and making it available to their dealers.

Brands and dealers can elevate each other’s presence by sharing and interacting with each other’s content. The more engagement a given post gets, the more the social media platform’s algorithm will show it in users’ feeds, so visibility spreads exponentially. The brand benefits from having their content seen in local markets, and the retailer benefits by showcasing that they carry the brands customers want. The challenge is making it easy for brands and retailers to collaborate.

ThumbStopper Brings it All Together

ThumbStopper was designed to bridge the content gap between brands and retailers. It takes the high-quality content that brands invest in so heavily, and sends it straight to the feeds of their local dealers. It’s completely hands-free for the dealer once they sign up. They still get to create any posts they want to, about their local area or events, but ThumbStopper takes the brand content off of their lengthy to-do list.

Let dealers know about this “secret weapon” for supplying their social media feeds with professional content with little to no effort. You benefit, the retailer benefits, and the brand benefits!

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Key Points:

 

  • Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
  • Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
  • Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

 

 

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns. 

 

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It's one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible. 

Text

  • Use plain language that’s easy to understand 
  • Avoid text in all caps
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

  • Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
  • Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
  • Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience - with your accessible, branded content - in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business. 

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

 

 

accessibility
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[/et_pb_column]
What Is Social Media Automation?
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
10 Ways to Automate Your Marketing
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
How Effective Is Your Social Media Strategy
[/et_pb_section][/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_row]
[/et_pb_column]

Key Points:

 

  • Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
  • Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
  • Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

 

 

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns. 

 

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It’s one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible. 

Text

  • Use plain language that’s easy to understand 
  • Avoid text in all caps
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

  • Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
  • Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
  • Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience – with your accessible, branded content – in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business. 

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

 

 

accessibility
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
What Is Social Media Automation?
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
10 Ways to Automate Your Marketing
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
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