Engaging and enlisting your retailers to take advantage of your marketing programs can be a challenge, but there are some fresh approaches that can work to get your retail base excited about your brand and your messages and programs. In Part 1 we covered how to use email digests to get retailers engaged in marketing programs.
In Part 2, let’s discuss how to use your brand’s Facebook Timeline to feature retailers. Facebook’s Timeline feature is fairly new and many businesses are uncertain how to use these new features. It can be a terrifically visual and active way to both engage retailers and to get them excited about your brand.
1. The Cover Image: This is a large image that runs across the top of the Facebook Timeline page. You’re restricted from using this as a promotional space and your logo will show up separately (lower left). Consider using this space for images of ideal retail displays, top retailers, or your products in action. Use this image space well and updated it frequently!
2. Activity Log: Use this feature to edit things out of your timeline. Some Facebook activities and postings might not further your goals of engaging with retailers. Remove them from your timeline here. See the little gray circle to the right side of each entry? Hover over it and select “Hidden from Timeline” to remove it.
3. Friends: This space will feature a few of your friends. Since this is your brand’s page, this will be a selection of your retailers (hopefully). If you prefer not to have these displayed you can modify it so they can’t be seen (or seen only by other “friends”).
The bulk of your timeline is made of activities. You can also edit these separately to decide what to display or hide. This is the core of your timeline. Fill it with features of retailers, brand activities, and news.
How will you find these activities? Visit your retailers’ timelines and look for items that you can share. These items will show up on your timeline. Retailers can be encouraged when they see that you’ve focused on them and their activities.
You can also feature retailers directly. Pick out individual retailers, display photos of their retail locations, logos, and staff. Welcome new retailers in this way or feature retailers who take advantage of programs or that have notable success with your programs.
Ideally, when you scroll down your timeline you’ll see story after story, image after image, of successful, happy retailers—because that’s what you want your retailers to see. And encourage other retailers to send you images and items you can use. You can also encourage them to share the items that you post, too. All of this will help you engage more closely, more personally and individually with your retailers and encourage them to do more with your brand marketing.
How do you feature your retailers on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below or @Promoboxx!
