1. The Playbook
Promote and Sell Products
Using Social Media
July 2012

2. Whitepaper
The Playbook
Promote and Sell Products Using Social Media
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Challenge: The Purchase Gap
3. The Solution: Promoting and Selling Products in Social Media
4. How To: Building and Executing Your Strategy
1. Define Goals + Segments
2. Choose Products
3. Choose Experiences
4. Build Experiences
5. Promote Experiences
6. Learn + Optimize
5. Conclusion

3. Whitepaper
The Playbook
Promote and Sell Products Using Social Media
Introduction
Everyone needs to deliver social ROI, but there’s a
gap between discovery and purchase
It was only late September 2006 that Facebook first allowed
the general public to create profiles. Twitter didn’t hit critical
mass until SXSW in Spring 2007. Pinterest and Instagram,
while skyrocketing, are even younger. Social media, as we
know it, has just started elementary school.
But, we’ve learned a ton in a very short time and have
changed our organizations in the process. As social has
grown in popularity and become a Marketing tool to reach
and engage customers, we’ve quickly applied our digital
marketing skills and creativity. In this early phase we’ve
primarily focused on growing fan counts and engaging them
using a mix of “content and conversation”, and it’s been
really fun.
However, while content and conversation are great for
building loyalty and mind share, they are not great for
increasing revenue and market share.
Many of us have invested in dedicated resources and tools to
help us manage our social efforts. But as investments have
grown, inevitable questions about returns have arisen, and
for many, quantifying value has been elusive.
As sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are enabling
and a number of innovative brands have shown, promoting
and selling products using social media can activate loyal
fans, drive acquisition of new customers, generate and
amplify brand momentum and refer purchase-ready social
customers to retail -- online and off.
To generate business returns brands must better
integrate products into their social efforts
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4. The Challenge: The Purchase Gap
Moving social customers from
The Purchase Gap
discovery to consideration is a
significant challenge requiring Path to Purchase Content & Conversation Product Promotion
tools and expertise Brand Posts Product Posts
Awareness
There are 3 major challenges that
digital marketing departments face
when considering a strategic approach Discovery
to promoting and selling products
using social media.
The Purchase Gap Participation Engagement Apps
Social Product
We’re doing a great job at the top of Experiences
the “funnel” where awareness and
Consideration
brand engagement are the objectives.
Content and conversation posts work
very well up there. When we use more
advanced tactics like engagement apps Decision Detail
Cart
we’re going a bit further down the
Checkout
path to purchase but because we’re
not integrating products we’re unable Purchase Retail
to drive discovery or progress further
towards consideration and purchase.
It’s not that we don’t think brand
work isn’t important, far from it, we’re
suggesting only that there’s an essential piece missing to most social media marketing strategies today.
In traditional digital marketing we used ad banners, search and email to drive customers to our eCommerce
stores. Over time we realized that context mattered and so we began to focus on landing pages and
optimization. We learned that customers need a “transitional experience” between an ad and a purchase
and that driving directly to standard detail pages, for example, wasn’t as effective. Working with some of the
world’s largest retailers and brands we’ve discovered this framework is even more important in social.
When we implement a strategy focused on our products we see a different set of steps than we’re used to.
Starting with rich posts across social networks meant to drive sharing/discovery we drive traffic to branded
product experiences that drive participation, amplification and ultimately consideration and enable social
customers to easily move to points within the eCommerce purchase flow or to retail.
Social Media Management
The job of Social Media Manager has now become widespread and for some brands we’re starting to see
dedicated social teams and even some social executives, this is really exciting.
But, with new roles comes uncertainty and as many of us have found, it’s difficult to fit-in and grow
within changing organizations. For many, the job includes a wide spectrum of responsibilities ranging
from customer support, community moderation and social media monitoring to social marketing and
optimization. On top of all that, we’re expected to integrate complex marketing programs “into” social,
post to every social network on the planet, create content and gather and report results. Today, the people
responsible for promoting and selling products using social media are spread very thin. The integration of
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5. products into our social strategies will require a more disciplined and focused set of resources and tools.
Tools and Expertise
Lastly, as content and conversation became our primary focus, an ecosystem of tools and expertise emerged.
These solutions have grown-up incredibly fast and there are now great options for page, messaging and
campaign management and measurement. This too is exciting as it illustrates how important social has
become for business. As our efforts expand, a similar toolset and expertise that are purpose-built around
promoting and selling products is required. This is our mission at ShopIgniter.
The Solution: Promote and Sell Products Using Social Media
Social product experiences are
required elements of your social The Social Product Ecosystem
strategy, they should also replace Networks
your traditional product microsites
Tw Pi Fb In Yt
There are 3 elements to product Twitter Pinterest Facebook Instagram YouTube
strategies – rich posts, product
experiences and seamless integration to
purchase.
! Experiences
“Social product experiences” are the
heart of your strategy as they are what Fb
draw people through your rich posts,
engages them and ideally puts them Web Facebook Mobile
on a path to purchase. Social product
experiences can live as microsites,
Timeline apps within facebook or as $$ Retail
mobile websites.
Social product experiences must fuse
eCommerce Store
the best of microsites, eCommerce and
social and sit directly behind rich posts
on your chosen social sites.
Microsites
Rich and immersive product imagery
integrated with compelling content and storytelling
eCommerce
Descriptive product info, reviews and convenient and trusted purchase options
Social Media
Enable easy sharing and conversation, integrate view into customer’s social graph and provide exclusive
access to product and offers
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6. When your product experiences become this rich essential. +40% of users on Facebook and Twitter are
and integrated you gain benefits in all phases of the on mobile devices and this trend is increasing. All of
Marketing cycle. your social experiences need be optimized for mobile
or you risk losing a prospective customer or worse,
Earned Impressions + New Customer Acquisition eroding existing loyalty. When designs are responsive
These experiences generate earned impressions and experiences context-aware, engagement and
from customer’s liking, commenting and sharing. sharing rates increase.
Not only earned but personal referral impressions
from friend to friend which are far more valuable. To maximize returns you must minimize
These impressions often bring new customers to the investments
brand. Purchased media is supplemental and used to
accelerate momentum and sharing. If you’re active in social you’re probably paying
for management tools and campaign apps. You’re
Engagement + Conversion probably also paying for social media strategists
When done right, many customers will engage with to create custom microsites or apps and to buy
your products and content by exploring, commenting media to drive traffic and awareness. This model
and sharing. Also, due to the mechanics of Facebook, isn’t sustainable or cost effective when promoting
some features require opt-in that allow you to products.
capture demographic information and enable you to
connect Facebook and Twitter fans to your customer You need solutions that allow you to create and
databases and into ongoing retention efforts. Since manage remarkable social product experiences
engagement drives amplification, loyalty and across your brand and seasonal calendars and
purchase, these returns cannot be understated. easily promote those experiences across all your
social networks – in a repeatable way and without
Path To Purchase prohibitive costs. You also need a partner who is
We recommend driving purchase-ready customers solely focused on tools for product promotion.
to your existing eCom store to start as the integration Expertise matters.
is easiest and the experience good enough. Over
time or depending on technical integration options,
extending your existing shopping cart to your social
product experiences is worth consideration. We see
consistently higher referral rates from social product
experiences than directly from posts, tweet and pins.
When commerce is enabled we see higher add-to-cart
rates (+15%), cart conversion rates (+50%) and visitor
conversion rates (+5%) than traditional eCommerce.
Actionable Insights
When you drive a social customer directly to your
eCom store and they don’t buy (likely 97% of them),
you learned very little. When you drive them through
a social product experience you capture behavioral
and demographic insights and often the coveted
opt-in to future communications. By integrating
posting, experiences and purchase, you’re able to
close the loop on social-driven commerce and better
understand your most influential fans.
Additionally, managing the customer experience
across social and mobile platforms is difficult but
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7. How To: Building and Executing Your Strategy
Now that we’ve established that
you must integrate a product Product Promotion Workflow
strategy into your social efforts,
let’s roll-up our sleeves and go 1. Define Goals + Segments
through the development and What’s most important, amplification,
engagement or conversion? What do
execution of a typical program.
you know about your “real” fans?
5. Learn + Optimize
Roll-out new products
Define Goals + Segments and features, monitor and
When setting goals, it’s essential test ideas, iterate and
that you simplify and focus. How increase returns
you rank these goals will define
what experiences you create and 2. Choose Products
how you promote them. What’s the best product
or collection for social
amplification?
Discovery
Are you focused on getting your
most exciting products in front of
new potential customers?
4. Build + Promote
Participation + Amplification Experiences should be
well-branded and repeatable. 3. Choose Experiences
Are you focused on getting people Then promote across all your Are you promoting one or many
to learn about, talk about and social networks with rich products? Do you need to build
ultimately consider your products? product posts buzz or does the product already
have a lot? What additional
Consideration + Purchase content is available?
Are you focused on selling or
liquidating (moving dead stock)
products?
Many brands have now amassed
millions of fans. If you haven’t, don’t worry, what’s most important is getting your most engaged and rabid
fans to participate and share.
We’ve found that your efforts should be focused on the subset of your fan communities that are “real” fans,
those that love your products. You may see less total engagement with product-specific posts and experiences
than you do with more general polls and quizzes, for example, but this isn’t a problem. When customers
engage with your products it’s more powerful to them and to their friends and is more likely to lead to real
business outcomes.
As you develop and promote your experiences, always think about activating your most rabid fans.
Choose Products
Many of us have a mix of pre-planned seasonal and brand calendars and ongoing promotions we run in
social. This is great; the more integrated your messaging, experiences and offers are with the rest of your
marketing mix, the better. That being said, we find that some products and collections perform better than
others. Here are a few tips on how to choose.
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8. Product Launches videos and Tweets about your product. You’re able to
Product launches are made for social. When you have curate the content and customers are able to explore,
a new product and the goal is to generate buzz and participate, share and click through to purchase.
momentum at retail, social product experiences and
offers are essential. “Showcase” Experiences
Best for a collection of products tied to a seasonal or
Social Products brand campaign, these are rich product experiences
Some products are inherently social. Jawbone’s that fuse imagery, copy and video and are designed
Jambox, any Apple product, Nike’s Air Jordan’s…if for participation and amplification. You choose
you’re lucky enough to have a “high-passion” product products and guide look and feel and customers
that makes fans rabid you’d be insane not to get explore, participate, share and click through to
smart about using social to amplify awareness and purchase.
excitement.
Social/Mobile Storefronts
Curated Collections Best for a collection of exclusive products, storefronts
Groups of products picked by celebrities, designers or must be optimized for social engagement and work
experts are great. These work well because they are great on mobile. When they are time-limited they
special, limited and appeal to both your fans and the work even better. These experiences can contain
fans of the celebrity/designer/expert. additional rich content like video and reviews but
tend to be more focused on commerce.
Event-Specific Collections
Tying a set of products to a specific event gives it Offers + Incentives
an exclusive/time-limited feel. From the Olympics While it’s best to keep it simple, sometimes you need
to Fashion Week to Haley’s Comet, make your to integrate enhanced features into your product
collections time-limited. experiences. Here’s a short list we recommend,
Building social experiences around your standard • Membership, Rewards + Badging
seasonal collections, Valentine’s Day for example,
doesn’t seem to work very well. Making a few special • Voting
items in addition to your standard set is a better • Limited Time Offers
approach.
• Group Unlocks
A product or collection that appeals to a segment of
your audience is OK too. A special Yankees or Red Sox • Social “Verbs” (want, own, covet…)
collection, for example. Rich Posting
As streams across social networks get richer, you need
Choose Experiences to be able to distribute rich posts to drive traffic to
Once you have goals, audience segments and product your social product experiences. With the right tools,
ideas it’s time to decide what types of experiences are you can even sell products directly in a Facebook post
best. You need solutions that are flexible enough to or Tweet. Lastly, you also need the ability to measure
customize but are quick to deploy and manage. Here’s post effectiveness and attribution.
how to think about social product experiences.
Custom
“Spotlight” Landing Pages Our customers have seen great success with our
Best for one product or a single brand, these “landing core offerings and we continue to improve and grow
page” experiences amplify existing social momentum our toolkit, but sometimes you need a fully custom
and give prospective customers a rich view into solution. We have done big projects for Target, Levi’s
the excitement your product is generating. It brings and Nike, for example, and are able to do them for
together your best imagery and content with a select you.
set of Instagram and Pinterest photos, YouTube
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9. Build Experiences
There are two key areas where social product
promotions fit into your marketing mix.
Product Campaigns
When Marketing runs big product campaigns that
include media, PR, microsites, eCom and offline
tactics, social is usually seen as an additional digital
channel for generating conversation and impressions.
It’s usually left to Social Media Marketers to build and
execute a plan with a set of pre-determined objectives,
ad creative and experiences.
These type of projects are fun because they are big
and often rich, but social requires more than a simple
extension of provided assets.
Executing a product campaign without an
integrated social product strategy is foolish
We must take control and accountability for the entire
social strategy and must have the tools and partners to
deliver both the brand experience and business results
required.
Ongoing Social Media Marketing
Most of our time is consumed with the day-to-day
management and growth of our communities…and
posting, tweeting and pinning.
Product promotion needs to play a key role in our
ongoing social efforts as well. This can be in the form
of a series of fan-only exclusives, product participation
programs or a set of offers.
Promote Experiences
Promoting your social product experiences is an
essential part of your strategy. We spend a lot of our
time creating, managing and scheduling posts across
our chosen social networks. While there are some
great tools, none are easily integrated with our product
experiences which makes it difficult to manage posts
and quantify end-to-end results.
Think of wall posts, tweets and pins as a mix between banner ads and collection pages on your eCom
store. When your posts present products a customer’s mindset is in the browse/discovery phase. In the
social context, they may be interested but are not yet in a shopping frame of mind. As we’ve learned with
search and email, the most effective path to purchase from the initial touch is an optimized landing page
or experience. Additionally, when your customer is on a mobile device it’s even more important that posts
are descriptive and compelling and that users can begin the experience in-stream. Upon click, the product
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10. experience and path to purchase must be compelling your products by staff, celebrities or other influencers
and effective in mobile too. with a bit of a story work great.
We recommend that you integrate product promotion Lastly, do your research. Search for pins in your
posts into your existing schedules but that you most popular categories and find who are the key
consider how you will build momentum over the life influencers and what types of pins are getting the
of your program. most engagement, then do your version of what
works.
We see that multiple posts over time on a common
theme can be really effective. Just posting a picture of
your most popular colorway one week and then the Learn + Optimize
new colorway the next isn’t as effective as posting a There is much (digital) ink about social media ROI,
launch video and two product posts the first week analytics, dashboards, etc. This is important because
and a new colorway announcement with an offer the so few marketers are experienced in this realm, but
second week, for example. Now that you have a richer the most important thing to know is – focus on what
experience to drive to, your posts can include richer needs to change.
product assets and be more strategic as well. Marketing objectives are straight-forward but digital
Different social networks require slightly different is complicated. We have a tendency to wallow in the
strategies. Here are some insights for each site. nuances of digital measurement but quickly realize
that we’ve either wasted a bunch of time and/or
Facebook ended-up with more questions than answers. Leave
Facebook knows that the newsfeed is their most the data crunching and reporting to your analysts,
important asset. They are constantly working to make Marketers must focus only on how they’re going to
the stream richer and more relevant. improve their efforts.
Richer posts perform better – use Gallery posts and • What makes for an effective post on each
integrate video, offers and polls for example. network? Can you repeat your success?
Twitter • Are fans entering your experiences? How can the
Like Facebook, Twitter too knows that the stream is landing page be improved to get more people in?
essential and they too are working to make it richer
and more relevant. • Once in, are fans engaging? Are they exploring the
product, commenting, sharing, etc.? How can you
Mix it up, tweet the product launch video and a link increase engagement?
to the experience, give away product to followers and
retweet Instagram photos. Twitter is even more time- • Are you driving fans to retail? How can you drive
sensitive than Facebook so tweeting about real time even more?
events that integrate products is great too. Like all marketing, promoting and selling products
Pinterest using social media needs to be iterative and in order
Pinterest is about discovery, great photography and to quickly improve results you must focus on the
now video. Users tend to browse their own feeds and things that matter most - the things that drive your
search for brands and categories. business.
While posting straight product photography to specific
Boards can be an effective way to solidify your
presence, the pins that get the most engagement,
repins and clicks are the ones that are particularly
stunning, provocative or unexpected. Authenticity is
even more important here so personal photographs of
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11. Conclusion
We are tremendously excited and optimistic about the discipline of promoting and selling product using
social. We feel very strongly that going beyond Like buttons and building purpose-built social product
experiences and posts that are both web and mobile optimized is the most urgent path forward for Social
Media Marketers and their marketing organizations. We think the best way to realize returns across the entire
marketing cycle from discovery to revenue is to become expert at promoting products using social.
We work with innovative brands like Target, Nike, Levi’s, Macy’s and others and are eager to work with you.
Give us a call to discuss how we can help you get started. 503.232.2021
About ShopIgniter
We enable innovative brands and retailers to promote and sell products using social media. We offer an end-
to-end solution including tools and expertise around social product promotion strategy, rich posting across
social networks, remarkable product experiences that live on the web, in Facebook and on mobile and secure
integrations into existing eCommerce systems.
Attribution
Some of the diagram art uses iconography from,
• The Noun Project - http://thenounproject.com/
• Pixeden - http://www.pixeden.com/vector-objects/infographic-vector-elements
Burberry and adidas are not currently customers of ShopIgniter, Kaenon Polarized and Mia Shoes are.
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