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Is Your BFCM Strategy Set? Don’t Expect Big Sales Without This Tactic

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approach, retailers need to be prepared with a strong, detailed strategy that goes beyond just offering discounts.

Alice Cresswell

Loyalty & Marketing Expert

 

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approach, retailers need to be prepared with a strong, detailed strategy that goes beyond just offering discounts. 

For omnichannel retailers—those with both an online store and physical locations—BFCM presents a massive opportunity.

But to truly capitalize on this, you need more than just discounts; you need a well-thought-out strategy that gets customers excited both online and in-store before the actual day. The answer? Pre-selling and warming up your audience across all channels.

 


 

Why you need pre-sell and warm-up campaigns

Pre-selling is the key to generating excitement and ensuring your customers are primed and ready to shop when Black Friday and Cyber Monday arrive. Instead of waiting for the sale days, you start engaging customers early, getting them interested in your products, and ready to buy.

Cross-Channel Brand Awareness

Pre-selling isn’t just about online ads. It’s about making sure your in-store customers are aware of your upcoming sales and promotions, as well. Think of your online and in-store experiences as one fluid funnel where each touchpoint reinforces the other.

Demand Creation

When customers start thinking about your products before the sale begins, they become more likely to make a purchase during BFCM. You’re building anticipation and creating a sense of urgency both online and in your stores.

Bypassing Ad Limitations

Did you know Meta can cap the amount of conversion-objective ads shown in a day? By running pre-sale hype and awareness ads (like we’ll show you), you have already built an audience who are engaged with your BFCM campaign. So by the time BFCM arrives, your audience has already interacted with your brand and seen your products in action—meaning you’re less reliant on last-minute online ads that might be restricted by platform caps (and… you can save A LOT on advertising costs).



 

Step 1: Build awareness across your channels with pre-sell campaigns

Pre-selling: To precondition your audience for subsequent purchase or create advance demand for your forthcoming products, offers etc.

Here are four ways you can pre-sell your BFCM sale items and bundles.

1. UGC Campaigns Online and In-Store

User-Generated Content (UGC) isn’t just for social media. You can integrate it into your physical stores too.

Online Strategy

Run a UGC campaign where customers post photos or videos of themselves using your products, tagging your brand, and using a BFCM-specific hashtag. Incentivize participation with a chance to win an exclusive product or a BFCM gift card.

In-Store Strategy

Create an interactive display in your physical stores where customers can take photos with your products. Set up a backdrop with a large “Coming Soon: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale” sign, and encourage customers to share their photos on social media with your BFCM hashtag. In exchange, give them a small discount or early access to deals.

2. Video tutorials and content

Videos that educate and entertain are powerful tools, and they should be used both online and in-store.

Online Strategy

Create a series of short videos that highlight how to use your products. For example, if you sell tech gadgets, show tutorials on how to set them up or highlight special features that customers might not know about. Promote these videos via email and social media, driving traffic to your site in anticipation of BFCM.

Sephora example of a UGC tutorial video⬆️ Sephora is the queen of UGC tutorials ⬆️

In-Store Strategy

Use digital screens in your store to play these same videos on a loop. This allows your in-store customers to engage with your brand beyond just browsing the shelves. It also creates a consistent experience between your online and offline channels.

3. Email and SMS campaigns

Your email and SMS campaigns should reflect the omnichannel nature of your brand, driving traffic both online and in-store.

Email Strategy

Begin sending pre-sale emails in early October that build excitement for your BFCM deals. Segment your audience based on their purchasing habits—send tailored content to your online shoppers and in-store customers. For instance, highlight the convenience of shopping online to in-store customers, while reminding your online shoppers of exclusive in-store deals.

SMS Strategy

Use SMS to provide exclusive updates for in-store promotions. For example, “Stop by our store today to preview our BFCM deals and receive an additional 10% off your purchase!”

4. Exclusive pre-sale offers across channels

To make the most of your pre-selling efforts, consider offering exclusive early access to your sale for loyal customers—both online and in-store.

Rubber Monkey's 3 Waves Of BFCM sales

⬆️ Rubber Monkey’s BFCM hype campaign ⬆️

Online Strategy

Invite your VIP customers to shop your BFCM sale a few days early. Send them a private link to your site where they can access exclusive discounts before anyone else. This creates urgency and makes your customers feel valued.

In-Store Strategy

Offer early access to in-store customers through a “secret sale” event. Only those who have signed up for your email or SMS list can access this exclusive event, where they can shop deals before the general public.

 


 

Step 2. Warm-up campaigns to build an engaged audience

Starting in October, your warm-up campaigns should be designed to create a buzz both online and in-store. These campaigns help build momentum and get your audience ready for BFCM.

1. Brand awareness across channels

Brand awareness campaigns should not only be focused on your online presence but should also extend into your physical stores.

Online Strategy

Run brand awareness ads on social media that show off your products in action. Focus on “Objective = Video view” ads that capture your products’ best features and benefits, as they are typically cheaper to run and have a greater impact.

It’s crucial to understand how Meta (Facebook and Instagram) ads work—Meta caps the number of conversion ads shown in a day. This means you need a creative approach to reach your audience without solely relying on those limited ads.

Two examples of Sephora ads that build hype - videos with 'coming soon' & '4x points' promotion
⬆️
Some of Sephora’s 2023 hype-building video ads for Cyber Week ⬆️

The key is to run brand awareness ads that introduce people to your brand on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.

But here’s the twist: when users start looking up your brand after seeing those awareness ads, the first content they encounter should be highly targeted to drive conversions. Think about posts highlighting your BFCM sale, exclusive discounts, or even getting them to RSVP for your VIP email list.

This is a very cheap and effective method to maximize the visibility of your campaign, products, and sales—without being restricted by your ad platform’s limitations.

In-Store Strategy

Ensure that your physical store reflects your BFCM messaging. Use large banners and posters that promote your upcoming sale and drive customers to sign up for your email list to receive early access or exclusive offers. Make sure the in-store atmosphere is as exciting and anticipatory as your online campaigns.

2. Lead generation campaigns for omnichannel success

Lead generation should happen both online and in-store to maximize the number of customers ready to shop when BFCM arrives.

Online Strategy

Create gated content on your website that provides valuable insights or tips related to your product category. For example, “7 Ways To Style Our Winter Collection: With [Influencer Name]” Collect email addresses through this process, and follow up with segmented email campaigns based on customer preferences.

You can use “Objective = Conversion” ads here. Set the conversion event to “Lead” and use Meta’s inbuilt lead form tool.

Crocs ad that gives a 15% discount when you sign up to their marketing emails

⬆️ Crocs are running lead gen ads to build their marketable database ⬆️

In-Store Strategy

Use in-store lead generation methods like offering QR codes on receipts or at checkout, encouraging customers to sign up for your BFCM email or SMS list. Offer an instant incentive for signing up in-store, like 10% off their next purchase or a bonus $10 voucher to kickstart their BFCM haul.


 

Step 3. Bring your physical locations into the BFCM strategy

For omnichannel retailers, your physical stores play a crucial role in driving excitement and anticipation for BFCM. Here are some specific tactics to enhance your in-store strategy.

Signage and Flyers

Signage in-store should not just promote the upcoming sale but also encourage customers to engage with your brand online.

  • Example: Use large, eye-catching banners that say “BFCM is Coming—Sign Up Now for Exclusive Offers!” Place QR codes on these banners that customers can scan to join your email list or receive a sneak peek of upcoming deals.

black friday signage example from Sephora - $10 off for Black Friday weekend

⬆️ Sephora’s Black Friday promotional signage ⬆️
Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images.

Interactive Displays

Creating excitement in-store can be as simple as setting up interactive displays that build anticipation for your BFCM deals.

  • Example: Design a “BFCM Preview” display that showcases a few key products that will be heavily discounted during the sale. Use signage that says “Limited Stock Available” or “Preview Our Black Friday Exclusives Now” to create urgency.

In-Store Events and Experiences

Consider hosting special events in-store that tie into your BFCM sale. These events not only create excitement but also give customers a reason to visit your physical locations.

  • Example: Host a BFCM preview night for loyal customers, where they can come in after hours for a special shopping event. Provide refreshments and offer exclusive discounts to those who attend. This is a great way to build relationships with your in-store customers while reinforcing your online messaging.

 


 

Further considerations for BFCM in 2024

Here are additional tricks and tips to help you handle the high-stakes season confidently.

  • Advanced marketing tools. If you have the resources, consider investing in these tools to streamline your efforts and improve your campaign performance:
    • AI-driven analytics for better customer demand forecasts
    • Automated email marketing to deliver personalized messages on autopilot
    • Chatbots for real-time customer support
  • Well-optimized tech stack. From your CMS to your payment gateways, double-check that everything functions seamlessly. Regularly update your software and conduct routine system checks to avoid technical glitches during peak times.
  • Omnichannel experience. Offer a consistent, integrated experience across all your sales channels. It includes real-time inventory synchronization, consistent messaging, and smooth device transitions.

Short on time? If you’re reading this on the fly, here are some last-minute BFCM campaign hacks to get you going.


 

Conclusion

For omnichannel retailers, preparing for BFCM means leveraging both your online presence and physical stores to build anticipation and excitement well before the sales begin.

By pre-selling, running targeted warm-up campaigns, and integrating your online and in-store experiences, you can create a seamless shopping journey that drives conversions across all channels. With the right strategy, your customers will be ready, eager, and waiting to shop when BFCM finally arrives.

Start planning now and turn this peak shopping season into your most successful one yet! Talk to a retail expert today.


 

Need help? Get advice from an expert.

Speak to an expert

 


 

Read more: 7 Steps To Building A Profitable Loyalty & Rewards Program

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    5 Tips for Tracking Social Media Sales

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    In this post, we’ll shed light on the key steps and best practices you must take to effectively track and measure sales you’ve generated via social media.

    Fact: social media is a major part of the lives of today’s consumers. No matter what type of business you run or who your target market is, chances are you have customers using various social apps and platforms.

    Social networks are so embedded in our daily lives that people are increasingly using apps like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to discover — and ultimately purchase — products. This is particularly true among younger consumers. Industry data shows that 55% of social media users ages 18 to 24 have purchased something through a social channel. 

    Social media is clearly a solid vehicle for sales, and if you’re active on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, then you’re likely attracting customers and sales through these channels.

    The question is, how many of your sales are actually coming from social media?

    If you find yourself shrugging your shoulders to that question, keep reading. In this post, we’ll shed light on the key steps and best practices you must take to effectively track and measure sales you’ve generated via social media

    By the end of this post, you’ll have a better understanding of the different ways to track sales on social, and you’ll walk away with tips and tools to do it right. 

    Let’s dive in.

     


     


    Quick Links:



     


    Why should you implement sales tracking on social media?


    As the saying goes, you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Actively implementing sales tracking on social media enables you to improve in the following ways.

    You can allocate resources more effectively


    Running social media accounts can take a significant amount of resources. Even if you aren’t actively spending money on ads, you and your team likely devote quite a bit of time and energy planning your posts, creating content, and publishing said content on social platforms. 

    Tracking your sales enables you to hone in on activities that are driving a positive ROI, so you can focus on doing more of what works. 

    That way, you can ensure you’re spending more time (and money) on sales-generating activities.

    It helps you refine your strategy


    In addition to enabling you budget resources more effectively, tracking your sales on social media helps improve your overall marketing strategy. 

    Let’s say you post a mix of Reels, Stories, and static photos on Instagram and notice that certain types of posts are better than others at generating sales. You can use that insight to create more content that resonates with your audience. 

    Measuring your social media sales can also tell you which channels are effective at generating revenue. If you find that you’re getting better results on Instagram versus TikTok, for example, then you can start prioritizing Instagram in your sales campaigns.

    You’ll grow your social media presence


    All of the above benefits lead to a stronger social media presence overall. When you’re able to focus your efforts on the platforms and tactics that matter, you’ll naturally connect better with your audience and gain more fans and followers.

     

    5 tips for tracking sales on social media


    Now that we’ve covered the why behind social media sales tracking, let’s look at how you can go about it. Here are a handful of tips to ensure your sales tracking efforts are successful.

    1. Start with a plan


    It can be tempting to just start posting straight away and seeing if any sales come through, but a haphazard approach to social media tracking could lead to missed opportunities, inaccurate data, and wasted time. 

    If you want to get the most out of your efforts, you need to lay the groundwork and plan accordingly. 

    Here are some of the details you need to iron out before launching your social media campaigns. 

    Time period. Map out the dates and times you’ll be running your campaign. This will make it easier to attribute sales that come through via social media. 

    Products and assets involved in the sale. What items will you be promoting? Do you have photos and videos of those products? Make sure you have the necessary assets ready beforehand so you can launch you campaign without a hitch. 

    Type of activities. Identify the specific activities or campaigns you’ll be running. Will you be working with influencers? Are you running an exclusive sale? Is it a “new arrival” type of campaign? The right method for tracking your sales will depend on the type of initiative that you’re running. 

    Social networks involved. Get clear on the social network (or networks) that you’ll be using. If you’re leveraging multiple platforms, you’ll need to tailor your efforts accordingly. 

    Resources spent. It also helps to track the time and money you’ve spent on your campaigns. Doing so will enable you to measure your social media ROI and determine whether or not the campaign is worth the effort and resources spent.

    All your marketing, in one place.
    Manage all your marketing campaigns in Marsello. Drive repeat sales with loyalty, send email & SMS campaigns, schedule social posts, set up automations, and more. Then track the impact of your marketing on sales.

    Start free trial

     

    2.Track social media sales using a special promo code


    A good way to measure social media sales is to use a dedicated promo code. This tactic is best used when you’re running a sale or partnering with an influencer to promote your products. 

    To implement this tactic, come up with a promo code that’s unique to a particular campaign or influencer and make sure the code isn’t used on other channels. These codes should be fairly easy to generate and track if you have the right ecommerce platform or marketing solution. 

    Once you launch your campaign, start looking out for transactions that contain the promo codes you created and use that data to track your sales. 

    We can see this in action in Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener, a company that makes sugar-free sweets. Lakanto teams up with influencers like Nicole Cogan (@nobread on Instagram) to promote its products. 

    To attribute sales generated through this partnership, a specific promo code (i.e., “NOBREAD”) is used, and Nicole’s followers will get a discount when they enter the code at checkout. Meanwhile, Lakanto can track sales that resulted from the campaign by taking note of how many people entered the promo code on its website.

    no bread instagram post


    Promo codes are simple and easy to use (both for customers and the merchant). Just bear in mind that these codes also have some shortcomings. 

    For starters, promo codes may not always paint an accurate picture of sales. 

    If someone sees your product on social media but doesn’t use the code at checkout, then your system won’t be able to properly attribute that transaction. 

    In addition, if one of your brand partners decides to share their promo code outside of social media (e.g., their blog or during an in-person interaction) then this may distort the data around social media attribution. 

    Also, you can only use promo codes as a tracking tool if you’re running a sales or promotion. Customers typically expect discounts when entering a code at checkout, so if you aren’t running a sale, then you can’t really use promo codes as a tracking tool.

    💡 Pro-tip: Add promo codes to your social media posts in Marsello as one way to track sales and measure the dollar impact of your posts.

     

    3.Use special links and UTMs


    If you’re using Google Analytics to measure your web traffic, then UTMs (Urchin Traffic Monitor) can help you see which sources or campaigns are driving traffic to your site. 

    UTMs make use of parameters like website source, medium, and campaign to pinpoint where your visitors are coming from. These UTMs come in the form of special tracking codes that you attach at the end of a URL.

    They look something like this:

    https://www.example.com?utm_source=social-media&utm_medium=instagram&utm_campaign=holiday-products

    In the example above, the source of traffic is social media, the medium is Instagram, and the campaign is holiday products. 

    When you log into Google Analytics, you’ll be able to drill down on how many visitors are attributed to these parameters. 

    You can generate a UTM by heading to Google’s Campaign URL Builder. Just fill out the required fields and the tool will generate the link for you. You can then use that special URL in your corresponding campaigns and then start tracking.

     

    utms for sales tracking in social media


    If you aren’t using Google Analytics, you can opt for personalized social links instead. 

    Marsello enables you to create a custom “link in bio” page that you can include in your social media profiles. You can then track the number of people who clicked on the link to determine how many followers visited your site.

    link in bio marsello

    Links and UTMs allow you to measure page visits without the use of a promo code, so they can be helpful tracking tools when you’re not running a promotion. 

    However, one limitation of UTMs and links is they only track page visits, not sales or conversions. They can tell you how many people landed on a page and where they came from, but they won’t show you how many users completed a purchase — unless you’re using a tool like Marsello to track the entire buying journey.

     

    4. Ask your customers


    You can glean social media sales intel simply by asking your customers. At the checkout page, add a form field asking shoppers where they heard about you, and then have them select from a range of options. 

    From there, tally up the number of people who selected social media (or a specific social network — i.e., Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc.) and use that information to track your sales.

    This tactic is easy to implement, but it also has some downsides. For one thing, having an extra form field on the checkout page adds friction to the buying experience and may turn off some customers. 

    Additionally, some shoppers may opt to skip the question, so won’t be able to capture all the data you need.

    All your marketing, in one place.
    Manage all your marketing campaigns in Marsello. Drive repeat sales with loyalty, send email & SMS campaigns, schedule social posts, set up automations, and more. Then track the impact of your marketing on sales.

    Start free trial

     

    5. Use sales tracking tools


    While you can certainly track sales manually — i.e., by counting promo codes or tallying survey results by hand — these processes are cumbersome and can lead to human error and inaccurate data. 

    You’re far better off measuring social media sales with tools that can automate the process. Marsello, for example, streamlines social media sales tracking by connecting your POS and ecommerce sales data with your social media accounts. 

    From there, Marsello attributes a percentage of your revenue to a social media post containing a tagged product, UTM, or promo code.

    sales tracking marsello

    Here’s how it works:

    • Connect your social media accounts to your POS or ecommerce platform.
    • Create posts across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok then tag your products.
    • Use Marsello track and measure sales for a given time period.

     

    💡 Pro-tip: Measure revenue, orders, and average spend in Marsello to give you a clear picture of what social activities are actually contributing to your bottom line. This, in turn, helps you make smarter decisions that lead to more sales, profit, and followers.

     

    Bringing it all together


    You and your team likely spend a great deal of time and energy on social media, so you must ensure your efforts are put to good use. The best way to do that is to actively track your social media sales, so you can refine your efforts accordingly. 

    Need help doing just that? Marsello Social provides you with tools to easily publish social media content and track sales.

     

                

    Marsello: All your marketing, in one place.

    • Send email and SMS campaigns to customers
    • Create set-and-forget marketing automations
    • Schedule social posts 
    • Track the impact of your marketing on revenue
    • Build a customer database

    Start free trial

                                                                                                                                     

    How To Turn Social Media Engagement Into Sales

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    Here are three strategies you can use to take that engagement and convert followers into paying customers.

    Does your engagement convert? Learn how to find out 👇

    Social media engagement is a great metric for measuring the buzz around your brand. The average Instagram engagement rate across all businesses is around 1-2% per post (depending on where you look).

    So, if you’ve got 5,000 followers, the average business could expect around 50-100 likes on any given post. Video content generally sees a much higher engagement rate—that same business could be seeing around 300 likes on a video post. Carousels also receive higher engagement, as Instagram’s algorithm will show the same post more than once to the same follower.

    But engagement is not revenue, and it doesn’t necessarily even convert to revenue in the long run. If your posts don’t drive action, generate exclusivity, or create urgency, your audience may engage with you without ever making a purchase.

    So your next question should be: how do I turn engagement into dollars and cents?

     


     


    Quick Links:



     


    How do I turn engagement into revenue?


    When I talk to merchants, there's one thing I hear a lot: "My posts get lots of comments, good reach, and heaps of likes, but I just don't know if I'm seeing sales from them." It's a common concern—you're putting all this time and effort into creating content, but it's really hard to make that content sell.

    Here are three strategies you can use to take that engagement and convert followers into paying customers.

    1. Use Product Tagging to drive social sales


    To convert followers into customers, you want to take away every possible barrier to purchase. Don’t make your followers Google your website, then manually type a product into the search bar. Every time there’s an extra step, a percentage of followers will drop off the buying journey.

    Product Tagging is perfect for this. It doesn’t have to be on a “product launch” type post either, you can tag products on lifestyle imagery, competition posts, and more. You can even use “product” stickers to tag products in your Instagram stories too.

    Take advantage of every opportunity to tag a product.

    marsello-social-launch-tiles

     

    💡 Pro-tip: Using Product Tagging means you can measure the direct impact of your social posts on sales. To see it in action, connect your social accounts, POS and/or eCommerce platforms to Marsello and instantly see how your last 100 posts have contributed to sales.

    Learn more

     

    2. Create a custom link in bio landing page


    When you only get one link, make it count. Drive followers to your store with a branded link and customizable landing page for Instagram and TikTok.

    Having a centralized landing page means you can drive all your traffic to one page with multiple products, promotions and calls-to-action. There are lots of tools out there, from free, basic products to tools with advanced features and customization. The most sophisticated tools have the ability for merchants to add forms, buttons, media and more to a fully branded page.

    link in bio marsello

    Premium link in bio features.
    Marsello’s very own link in bio feature brings all the advanced customization you’re looking for to keep brand experience seamless.

    Learn more

     

    3. Plan campaigns and posts ahead of time


    Sometimes, even the best post with the most amazing offer and relevant call-to-action just won’t work. 

    Imagine this. You’re a retailer selling mountain bikes. You’ve also got a workshop and you sell replacement parts and accessories. It’s the middle of winter and things are quiet, but you know come spring all your customers will be wanting to replace their knackered bearings to hit the trails as soon as possible.

    You make a post offering half price bearings in-store hoping to see some service bookings off the back of it (thinking that you’ll be able to upsell when people are in the right frame of mind). But you don’t see any uptake so you assume you were wrong, and that the idea was a flop.

    Here’s how you could do it differently:

    You want to target existing customers, but also other riders in your local community. You know the large portion of your social followers are local mountain bike riders. So plan and schedule a series of posts each with different creative, and do a candid video post on your stories too. 

    You could build the hype by sending out an email or two as well to your local database. 

    Create a discount code people need to use in-store so you can track the impact of the campaign (I’ll get to that shortly). It might even make sense to send an SMS out as well, driving people to one of your social media posts for more info.

    social-email-announcement-tile-graphics


    All this planning can be on the back of an envelope:

    • Insight: There’s always a spring rush for parts and servicing because people leave it til the last minute, and the workshop is really busy
    • Objective: Sell bearings, drive foot traffic, and get people thinking about booking in a service early
    • Offer: 50% off all bearings (put a time limit on this for urgency-for example, “This month only”)
    • Target audience: Customers and other local riders
    • Channels: Social media, email and SMS
    • Success measure(s): In-store bearing sales, foot traffic increase, service bookings

    Once you’ve got your basic campaign plan, spend a couple of hours getting everything set up.

    • Create a discount code and/or UTM to track bookings from your campaign.
    • Use a social media scheduling tool to schedule campaign posts over your campaign time period.
    • Schedule an email blast to customers, and maybe a reminder email or two.
    • Schedule an SMS to reach people directly to their mobile (around 98% of SMS messages are opened, so it’s a great channel for a short, snappy and time-sensitive campaign).

    Taking a step back to plan means you can get your channels working together to increase the impact of your social media posts, and drive more sales.

    How do I know what posts generate sales?


    To understand how your engagement converts, you need a way to track sales that come from your social posts. This can be a bit tricky, so I've pulled together a handy list of ways to measure your results.

    Get a social media analytics tool to track sales


    The easiest and most effective way to track sales made from organic social media is to use analytics software that connects your POS, eCommerce, and social media data (you can do this all in Marsello).

    This doesn’t just track when someone clicks on a tagged product, it also tracks if someone likes, comments on or shares a post with a product tagged in it, and buys it later. This is called organic social media sales tracking.


    sales tracking marsello

    Using a tool like this, you can see:

    • What posts have generated the most revenue
    • Which creative type (images, videos, etc) leads to more sales
    • How many orders you get from social media over a certain period of time
    • Which social media platform works best for your business
    • What percentage of revenue comes from organic social media

    By tracking sales and revenue, and seeing what kinds of social posts and which channels work best, you can improve the performance of your accounts over time.

    Convert social followers into customers.
    Schedule, tag, post, sell. Start a free trial today and see it in action—Marsello automatically syncs your last 100 posts. Simply tag products in your posts, and see how many sales came directly from social.

    Learn more



    Include discount codes in social posts


    Discount codes are one of the simplest ways to see where traffic and sales are coming from. These have become popular for tracking sales from organic social media posts and campaigns, as merchants struggled to see the impact of their efforts in Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc.

    Simply create a unique discount or offer code for each channel, and you’ll be able to track how many sales you generated from those posts.

     

    Use UTMs to track links back to your online store

     

    What is a UTM? UTMs (Urchin Tracking Modules) are short bits of code you can use to track how effective a campaign is. UTMs can track up to five parameters (aspects): campaign, source, medium, content and term.

    That might sound complex, but UTMs are actually incredibly easy to use. And unless you’re drilling into deep testing and measuring, you really only the first three parameters.

    The easiest way to show you how to build a UTM is by using an example.

    Say we are running a campaign that goes to http://marsello.com. We are using Facebook ads, and the campaign is to get sign ups for our social media scheduler.

    Let’s put that in simple terms:

    Campaign: Social Media
    Source: Facebook
    Medium: Paid Ads

    When you build your link, make sure you don’t use spaces. Instead, replace your space with a dash symbol (-). Aside from that, use only plain text for labeling (avoid hashtags, ampersands, percentage symbols or anything else that could break the link).

    Campaign: Social-Media-Sign-Ups
    Source: Facebook
    Medium: Paid-Ads

    Now, we want to add these to the link in UTM format.

    1. First, add a question mark (?). This indicates that the body of the link is complete, and Google Analytics, or your tracking tool, should read the following part as tracking information.
    2. Add “utm_campaign=” then your campaign name.
    3. Add an ampersand symbol (&). This tells your tracking tool that your campaign name is complete.
    4. Add “utm_source=” then your source. 
    5. Add another ampersand symbol (&).
    6. Finally, add “utm_medium=” then your medium. 

    It’s that easy! Here’s how ours would look:

    http://marsello.com?utm_campaign=Social-Media-Sign-Ups&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Paid-Ads 

    For each different source or medium you want to differentiate, change the UTM parameters. For example, you might differentiate visitors coming from a Facebook source by medium. You could state “utm_medium=organic-post” or “utm_medium=story-video” to separate traffic coming from different parts of the platform.

    The more specific you go, the more you know what particular channel, content and post type works best. But it’s always good to have broader parameters too, for example, you will still want to be able to compare all Facebook traffic from all Instagram traffic.

    Final words


    If you're putting a lot of resource into social media, but aren't sure if all the likes and comments are actually growing your business, you're not alone.

    Start making your social media work harder by taking away barriers to purchase (product tagging, using a link in bio, etc) and track the results directly using UTMs, promo codes and sales tracking.

    It's also important to have a clear plan, while leaving some wiggle room in your calendar for jumping on trends as they come up.

    Looking for an all-in-one social planning, scheduling and sales tracking tool? Marsello provides you with tools to easily create, schedule and publish social media content.

     

                      

    Marsello: All your marketing, in one place.

    • Send email and SMS campaigns to customers
    • Create set-and-forget marketing automations
    • Schedule social posts and track the impact on sales
    • Track the direct impact of all your marketing on revenue
    • Build a customer database

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