The new facility revolves around a “Get Offer” button that
is placed on the QVM facebook feed which, when clicked, results in customers
receiving a special email offer from an individual trader. It is the first time that Facebook have
created such an easy customer connection and its “special offer” invitation has
achieved significant results. One of our traders had more than 50 customers
claim the special offer email in the first week it appeared. There is a great
feature that allows you to track how many customers are claiming your offer. ....cont'd - click on post heading for the rest of this article.
But the process can fail if traders don’t focus on the
customer connection. Recently your editor acted as a customer, received the
special offer email, and then excitedly visited the first two traders who
appeared on the QVM facebook page. The first of those was a shop on Victoria
St. and before I reached the shop I knew I was going to be disappointed. The “special
offer” I had received by email was in fact being widely promoted on the shop’s
external advertising as being available to all comers. It wasn’t so special
after all. Now, it is OK to promote a generic special in any way you wish
including online through Facebook. But,
when customers receive an email direct to their inbox with a special offer, they
are entitled to expect some special priveleges. It is a question of whether you
are simply using Facebook as part of your normal marketing promotion or generating
new sales through an exciting online medium that adds a personal dimension to
marketing. If it is the latter, the exclusivity component is very important. It should also be noted that the shop staff
had no idea that their special was being offered on the QVM Facebook page.
The second offer was from a General Merchandise Trader in D
shed and once again the staff had no idea their offer was on Facebook. Their
offer was also broadly advertised to all comers at the stall. Again I was disappointed. A few days later I
approached a trader whose “special offer” had been posted the day before on
Facebook. He wasn’t aware that his offer had been posted although on this
occasion at least it was going to be a “special” online offer because it wasn’t
already widely advertised on his stall.
In fairness to these traders, their offers have been posted
on the QVM Facebook page as part of the Shop The Sheds promotion and they had
probably submitted their specials many weeks ago. But that is still no excuse for not keeping
up to date on what is being offered on the QVM Facebook page. As part of the
promotion process, Andrew Cyples informs
all participating traders of how their specials will be promoted and makes the
point that they should be exclusive to the promotion.
The days of Facebook purely being a social contact medium
are over. Facebook is now also a serious avenue for getting extra business and
traders need to be part of it. The QVM is a major Facebook entity and features
in the top world sites for Facebook activity.
How do you avoid disappointing
your customers?
1. Log on to Facebook and “Like” the Queen
Victoria Market (there are a couple of imposters – pick the one that has 11,000
likes). That way you will automatically receive regular updates on the offers
being made to QVM customers through your Facebook feed. It should be part of your normal online
business activity.
2.
When
you respond to Andrew Cyples request for Shop The Sheds specials make your
offer unique and exclusive. There is money to be made from this process if we
get it right. It is important that we do not disappoint customers.
3.
Keep
in touch with marketing staff on how you are being promoted.