'Retweeting' is rewriting retail marketing

Anyone who has not heard of social media must have spent the last couple of years stranded on a desert island, limited to throwing out a message in a bottle and hoping that someone might find it some day.

Such one-way, shot-in-the-dark communication is a far cry from the instant, global reach of texting and online posting that has been revolutionizing the way people interact—and do business.

Social media—blogs, message boards, social networks like Facebook and Linked In and platforms like Twitter, also known as consumer-generated media (CGM)—continues to grow. Traffic to Facebook is up almost 200% in the last year, while Twitter has seen an increase of almost 1,500%.

Social media is no longer just for "techies" or the younger generation—it has become a mainstream phenomenon. Though in September 2009, 73% of teens were using a social networking Web site, according to one study, and so were 47% of online adults—and the fastest-growing Facebook demographic was women aged 55 and above.

Compared to a year ago, not only are more people visiting these sites, but they are also spending more time there—time spent per person is up 67% over 2009.

"Social media is not the next big thing—it is the big thing," said Gunnar Simonsen, former general manager of the Christian Supply Centers in the Pacific Northwest and now a social media consultant. "From a business perspective, if people are going in a different direction than you, you are going to miss out on an opportunity."

Simonsen has helped CBA take an active role in educating retailers on social media. Along with the association's business development director, Eric Grimm, he hosted two Webinars on the topic in May.

The hour-long "Social Media for Today's Business Webinar" featured topics including "How to Make Money Using the Technology," "Communicating Through Social Media Tools," "Why Use Social Media?" and "How to Gauge its Success."

CBA is also turning attention to social media at its International Christian Retail Show in St. Louis, June 27-30. "New Marketing: Using Social Media to Market Your Store" is one of the workshops, with a second targeted to church-based operations, "Using Social Media to Market Your Church Store."

"Relationships you build with customers in your store have an impact outside the store, and social media can help develop a '5:01 p.m. strategy' for how you are going to be sustainable to them when they leave your store or event," Simonsen said.

CONSUMER CONNECTION

Just as consumers now expect businesses to have a Web site, "the ability to provide customers with an outlet for their passions, their need for information and transformation, the need to feel connected in an increasingly alienated world also will become more important," Grimm said. "It will mean that what happens in the store will be more important, as relationship and experience will add value that online transactions can't."

More than 1.5 million local businesses have Facebook fan pages that allow them to interact with customers—and some Christian retailers are reporting success with their attempts.

When Kira Brant, owner of Kira's Cottage Christian Store in Franklin, Ind., was planning a move to a new location and deciding how to use the available space, she posted a question on Facebook asking what customers would like to see more of in her store.

"I got great response," Brant said. "The main request was a larger kids' area, so we dedicated more space to the department, added a play area and a mural."

While Brant maintains a Web site, blog and Twitter account, she said it's her daily Facebook posts that have drawn the most customers in-store.

"The key to Facebook is getting as many fans as you can," she said. "People are more likely to recommend you to "friend" something if they know they can win." So for every 100 new fans, Brant holds a drawing for $20 in merchandise. A member of the Munce Group, she also networks with stores on Facebook by friending them and sharing information on what has been successful and what has not.

A Virginia store has found another way to use Facebook. Through postings on the site, Capstone Christian Store in Mechanicsville offers a bonus for people who can prove that they've been to church—bring a bulletin into the store and get 20% off of a purchase.

Facebook posts from His Place Christian Bookstore in Wellsburg, W.Va., come from Buster—the store's American mastiff mascot who greets customers daily in the store. The furry friend of store owner Cinda Rogerson is named as the customer service/complaint department associate who posts a daily saying, such as "Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort."

Rogerson, who was tired of paying a company 15% of her profits to host a Web site that she had difficulty accessing, has replaced it with Facebook. "This is a free alternative and something I can do myself," she said. "The draw for us is that is makes it personal. I recently had to close the store for a day to accompany my daughter for a surgery. I was able to request prayer knowing that a core group would be willing to pray."

Some 80% of companies use social media for recruitment. His Place is also among some 80% of businesses that use social media for recruitment. The store recently posted a part-time opening on Facebook, while the C28 apparel chain regularly posts staff needs on Twitter.

UNPLANNED OPPPORTUNITIES

Success with social media can come unexpectedly, as with the viral YouTube sensation known as "David After Dentist," which exploded not as the result of some grand marketing scheme, but due to a fluke.

David DeVore filmed his son David's humorous, medication-induced trip home from the dentist following a tooth extraction for mom Tessie, who missed the appointment because of a meeting at Strang Communications, where she is book group vice president.

In January 2009, three days after the video was posted on YouTube for other family members to see, the video had gained more than 3 million views—with nearly 60 million to date, making it the second most-watched YouTube video of last year and a 2010 nomination for a Webby Award in the viral category.

Despite suffering criticism from some who claimed exploitation of young David, Tessie DeVore said it had been "worth it a million times over. All viral news is good news." She added: "Anytime anything controversial takes place, we notice a spike in attention."

When the DeVores began to figure out how to monetize online content, David left his real estate job to start a Web site selling merchandise like T-shirts and stickers. Profits from the online merchandise, paired with licensing deals and an ad partnership with YouTube, have already paid for their son's college education as well as benefiting charities along the way.

"In our experience, it is all about partnerships and strategic alliances," said Tessie DeVore. "The name of the game is nonexclusive. You cannot tie yourself to one entity," she noted, adding that it was a grass-roots effort that propelled the video on blogs, Twitter, radio and TV.

Used correctly, she said, social media can help any business monitor trends quickly, engage readers or viewers in an unprecedented way and gauge content reaction a lot quicker. Just a few years ago, only customers with major complaints actually followed through to her company's customer's service department. "Today, with just a quick click of the keyboard, people's basic thoughts are public knowledge," she said.

Social media means rethinking traditional marketing approaches, being more relational and less informational. When Simonsen helped promote the Fire Bible at the Empowered21 event in Tulsa, in April, instead of sending Twitter messages that said, "Come to our booth and buy," he used a softer approach with messages and photos capturing the conference's events and "retweeting" what others were doing.

"We got more play because we were active in community," he said. "It wasn't just about us. The Fire Bible was on people's minds, but they weren't sick and tired of it by the end of the week. The less it is about us, the more it becomes about us."

The end results: They reached 9,100 people in two and a half days of tweeting.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

Mardel began hosting Pictionary Friday events at its Web site in February, using Ustream technology that allowed viewers to chat online with Darrell Darnell, Mardel's e-commerce director, while he draws on a whiteboard.

The 50 or so people who gather weekly in the virtual room are part of Mardel's efforts to socialize and build an online community. As people are logging in, Darnell takes the opportunity to share product that will be given away to the winners.

"My philosophy is that we are a Christian bookstore, and everything that we sell should be something that we believe in or (can) change people's lives," Darnell said. "Our hope is that if they don't win it, they'll see the significance and buy it anyway, either now or in the future."

Vendors like Zondervan and Tyndale House Publishers who have caught the vision give credit to Mardel for the product that is given away and in return have their company name mentioned during the live event.

Mardel's social media has spiked, with Facebook fans doubling to 5,000 since the Pictionary Friday launch and Twitter hitting 1,000 followers. To keep up with the interest, Mardel has one staff member who spends at least part of her day updating the chain's social media.

Apparel maker Kerusso has taken the approach that social media is a tool that helps build its brand and extend its message, as well as offering opportunities to partner with publishers for campaigns and contests.

When the operator of a Crazy Love Facebook fan page announced its second annual "selfless love week" based on teachings from Francis Chan's book, winners received Kerusso's Crazy Love T-shirt and a copy of Chan's new book, Forgotten God from David C. Cook.

Chris Rainey, vice president of marketing for Kerusso, said the business results spoke volumes: "It cost us five T-shirts and 20 minutes of my time to make contact and do the status updates on our Facebook page to gain a few hundred fans, increase traffic and fulfill our mission."

But it is important that businesses don't just see social media as an advertising medium. "That is not what the customers want, and they can unfriend you very easily if you do that," said Brian Hill, owner of Lighthouse Christian Supply in Dublin, Calif. "It is a way for us to build loyalty and let our customers see who we are by focusing on two-way communication."

Following up on the success of previous random holiday promotions, Hill decided to have fun with National Chicken Dance Day on May 14 by giving away an iPad to the best chicken dancer and 25% off one item for anyone who attempted the dance.

Those who came into the store May 14 had their dance videotaped and uploaded to the store's Web site, where people voted for their favorite. The top five were invited back to the store for a dance-off, broadcast live.

"It feels like being thrown in the deep end of the pool to learn to swim," Hill said of social media. "It came so fast, and if you are in it, you have to be in it all the way and learn as you go. I feel like right now I'm keeping my head above water in the social-media pool, but just barely."

MAINTAINING BALANCE

Social media should be seen as a part of the overall marketing mix, not the entire part, Hill warned. "It can't replace catalogs and postcards and print mail because it isn't meant to," he said. "Sure, for a one-day event I may get better results when (the numbers are) broken down than with a catalog, but I can't do a social-media coupon every day. I'd lose fans really quick."

As an example, for actor Chuck Norris' birthday, the store organized a Facebook promotion that gave customers a coupon for use in the store that day, if they submitted a fact about Norris. Ten coupons were redeemed. What the statistics don't reveal is that Hill didn't know it was Norris' birthday until hearing so on the radio on his way to work. With some quick thinking, a Facebook promotion that took five minutes to plan and zero dollars to implement brought 10 people into the store that day.

"Ten people may not sound like many, but considering it was a one-day event and an average day we see 100 people, that's a 10% increase in traffic," Hill said. "If I compare it to a catalog I send out that has a coupon good for one month and I have 200 coupons redeemed, it outperforms the catalog because the catalog brings in about seven or eight people per day."

The kind of agility Hill showed with his Norris promotion is a critical factor in the effective use of social media, he said. "I don't think social media is going away, but the sites may switch, and if people start moving from Facebook to something else, then we need to be on top of it and move with them."

He added: "While there is a learning curve to any new application the key is taking the lessons we learn in social media and applying those to whatever the latest app is."