By Marc Barnes, Special to Furniture Today
HIGH POINT — Sometime when you are out and about, say at a coffee shop, take a quick look at the people around you. Chances are, they are all looking at their smartphones. Maybe it’s a good time for those in the furniture industry to see to it that they have something on that smartphone for those potential customers to see.
Brad Lebow, president of Horich Hector Lebow Advertising, says that within the social media space, thinking strategically is paramount.
“We start every campaign by looking at the objectives and the audience we’re trying to reach,” he said. “Based on that, we choose the channels and sites that make the most sense.”
Social media needs to be distributed fairly frequently with such subjects as trends, design, local events and community involvement. That practice effectively generates ongoing engagement that tends to be favorable to social platform algorithms.
Separate content — which would center on the specific, such as promotional events — should be placed within paid advertising to ensure they generate strong reach and engagement in a short time period, he said.
“Gone are the days of consumers going from store to store to browse and then going back and making a decision,” said Lebow. “Now, consumers recognize a need — a new mattress or sofa cushions are looking old — and start with a search. They will often browse through website and move down the path to conversion while seeing ads on social media, TV and banner ads on the websites, searching for additional information along the way.”
As far as the best platform for furniture sales, it depends more on the platform. Older shoppers, including Generation X and even Millennials, are tending toward Facebook and Instagram; Tik Tok and Snapchat are attracting a younger audience.
Overall, he said, it’s important to embrace digital advertising and social media marketing because that’s the way shoppers shop right now. “Even as they are standing in our store, they may be searching for additional products or doing price comparisons,” said Lebow.
“If you don’t have a well-constructed digital storefront that invites shoppers in to take a look around, allows them to ask questions and find help, and more and more frequently purchase, you’ll be ceding sales to your competition.
“And the best way to ensure your customers find that storefront is to ensure that website is supported by a digital campaign.”
Interactive marketing
Ted Gular, managing partner of Renaissance Advertising, says that social media platforms differ from other advertising platforms in that people are bystanders with such things as billboards, direct mail or display ads in magazines.
With social media, potential customers are participants. “It knows more about you than you know about it,” said Gular.
To begin, devices keep up with what a person’s interests are, based on his or her searches. Additionally, devices such as smartphones, laptops and smart TVs gather data on each person, on likes and dislikes, which can then be used to target that person for advertising messages, he said.
The platforms keep up with how people interact when they are in the presence of those particular devices, or as in the case of geofencing, cameras can video people as they look at products in a store, for example, and then cause an advertisement to be sent to someone for a particular product.
Gular said that the frequency of distributing messages to potential customers depends on what a retailer’s goal is, whether it’s trying to promote a sale or to build brand awareness. He said a good rule of thumb is to send out messages at least three times a week, but not daily because it would then become noise. And do keep in mind that all customers matter.
“There is no limitation to age because everyone is on social media,” said Gular. “You use a marketing approach: What are you trying to sell and who are you trying to sell it to?”
Along those lines, Gular said that retailers should consider Instagram for younger audiences, say 18 to 35, and Facebook for those older than that.
The advantage to social media is that it improves competition by effectively thinning the herd.
“It is aging out dealers who do not want to embrace technology,” said Gular. “You change it from ‘I don’t know how to do this’ to ‘I am going out of business.’ These guys who hate change are going to hate extinction because it is coming.”
‘Be human’
At Octillion Media, CEO Gabe Greenberg says social media works best when the content is carefully planned.
“Your editorial calendar and planned events should be done by a team member, agency or partner who understands the nuance of each platform to ensure your message lands and delivers results,” said Greenberg. “Don’t try to chase or ‘create’ viral events. The most viral events start with something meaningful and authentic.”
It depends on the store and its message, but all stores should have a standard editorial calendar, within reason.
“This should be fluid to include new messages, as needed. For example, if your community has a big event, disaster, news, etc., that the store can contribute to outside of typical brand and promotional messages, you should take advantage of this,” said Greenberg.
“Social media is more personal and therefore owners should think about how they, their teams, families or friends consume social media.
“What moves or motivates you? More than likely, you are not that dissimilar to your customer. You need to think like a customer, not just the owner or marketer. Add humor, add touching messages. Be human.”
The beauty of investing in digital marketing is that it can be more effectively targeted.
“Digital not only provides the depth of scale, targeting and personalization that much of traditional marketing has long lacked, but it also ensures you can better optimize your investment to what’s working,” said Greenberg.
He said that a good guideline is to invest in TikTok and Facebook for social paid investment, while earned media investment should focus on Instagram, Pinterest, Meta and TikTok.
“Technology in all forms is changing the industry, from consumer research to in-store experiences,” he said. “As it relates to media and marketing though, technology allows buyers to test and learn at a pace once thought impossible. You can now spend $1, measure it, optimize it, and get more out of your next $1.”
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