As businesses online, we’re always being told things like social media is vital for “building relationships with our online communities”, but what most of us are interested in is simply how can it have a positive impact on my website, preferably how could it make me more sales. What more of us should also be asking is how can it increase my offline sales too?

In 2014 more companies should be thinking seriously about how united their online and offline marketing campaigns are. These don’t need to be entirely separate elements and when it comes to social media it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation.

Firstly making sure your social profiles reflect the look and feel of your offline business is a must. Simple things like ensuring branding and logos are consistent, as well as maintain a constant tone of voice and message just helps to make it more obvious to potential customers who you are as a brand. It also helps to actively encourage your users to partake in conversation about your offline store, perhaps asking if customers liked your recent renovation or asking their opinion on the layout of your store for example.

Secondly, offer them incentives to cross over. If you want to make your social users visitor your bricks and mortar store you’ve got to give them a good reason to get up and away from the comfort of their own sofa! Offering discount for those who like your page is one quick but often underutilised way to achieve this, as is offering exclusive offers that can only be redeemed in a physical store. On the other side, placing QR codes in store is a great way to get your offline customers to visit your social media sites.

As well as the obvious social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, it might be worth getting involved with some of the newer/ less obvious networks around such as Instagram, Tumblr and Foursquare. Foursquare in particular is ideal for those looking to increase their online and offline custom locally as is Google Plus local. Snapchat is also brilliant for businesses with a particularly young target audience.

These are all basic tips for uniting your marketing efforts but once you’ve got these covered, it becomes easier to encourage your social media users and your physical visitors to combine. It doesn’t just stop with social media either. Everything from your content marketing to paid search ads and video marketing can be adapted to help promote your offline sales and boost business.

 

By Ben Austin, CEO of Absolute Digital Media.

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