Every
year, we hear a lot about the long lines, the anxious customers camping all
night outside of stores, and the extreme shopping chaos that takes place the
morning after Thanksgiving. Black
Friday, the most anticipated shopping day of the year, draws in millions of
consumers who are on the hunt for irresistible deals during the Christmas
season. If you are currently following any retailers on social media, you will most
likely find them promoting Black Friday deals for this holiday season. Social
media has become an integral part of the marketing mix for stores that offer
Black Friday deals because it is an effective way to lure in eager, deal-hungry
customers.
Dick’s
Sporting Goods, for example, has used social media as a method this year to
promote their Black Friday deals and attract customers. The sporting goods retailer plans to surprise
interested customers with a prize contest through their social media campaign. Dick's
will reveal a #GiftThatMatters sweepstakes that require customers to snap a
photo of an item in a Dick's store, post the picture on Instagram or Twitter
and use the hashtag #GiftThatMatters. The sweepstakes will be live from 6 p.m.
on Thanksgiving Day through 5:15 a.m. on Black Friday. Ten customers will win a
$500 Dick's Sporting Goods gift card.
This social media campaign provides a great incentive for customers to
shop at Dick’s during Black Friday because people are willing to participate if
there is the possibility of a reward in the end.
It
is obvious that social media is an extremely effective marketing tool for
businesses in general, but especially during the holiday season. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. create an avenue
for businesses to communicate with their audiences; it also allows you to stay
in the radars of your customers. Since
many of us are so hooked onto various forms of social media, it is almost
impossible to avoid the colorful Black Friday advertisements and promotions
online with one-of-a-kind deals. Retailers
have witnessed the extraordinary behavior from consumers in pursuit for a bargain
and they are now using social media as a tool to create even more
excitement this holiday season.
Why are you using a blog post to give free advertising to Dick's Sporting Goods?
ReplyDeleteThere are many things, both on social media and not, that are extremely effective marketing. I avoid all of them as much as possible.
I understand what you were aiming for on this blog with comparing social media and business marketing skills. We see this everyday on social networks. It is obvious that social media is a great tool to use for promoting, as you mentioned. In order to have made this blog stronger, I would have hoped to come across more examples and statistics. Perhaps you could have shown a snapshot of a social network screen that has attracted a lot of attention and based off of that image, explain how it is beneficial to the company. Viewing a visual would have been appealing; but overall, I agree with everything you have mentioned. No one can argue too much against this point. Great topic.
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