Free and Easy Ways Retailers Can Increase Exposure Online

Sort Out Your Socials

Instagram Hacks

Jemimah Ashleigh, Founder of The Visibility Lab: “You need to be on Facebook and then one other platform. For retailers, Instagram is usually the winner. Get your hashtags right. Create a group of like-minded people for a like/follow hub. It’s a great engagement strategy. Get a social media calendar. Don’t forget to post two to three times per day, on each channel.”

Tracy Brinkmann, Business and Success Coach: “There is a recipe to this – you cannot just be throwing random content out there and expect people to react. I mean it is social media, after all, so you have to be social, so put up some R&R content (i.e. jokes, funny stuff, throwbacks). Then some enlightening content (i.e. tips, trivia, etc). From there, toss in something to strike up a Conversation (i.e. polls, surveys, ask advice etc), as well as some Invigorating and Inspirational content (i.e. quotes, client success stories). Now hit them with a Promo (eg. show customer reviews, give a discount, invite them to a webinar). Finally, show off your Endeavour (i.e. show behind the scenes, let them see behind the curtain). Your spending time being social before you hit them with a ‘Buy My Stuff’ message.”

Don’t Forget About Facebook

Tracy Brinkmann, Business and Success Coach: “The Facebook profile funnel hack, and the Facebook banner that so many do not use effectively. It is about half of the screen with you go to a Facebook profile or page, and it often never shows or incites a call to action – fix that! Then it’s clickable so put a ‘Click Here’ CTA on it, then in the message area that pops up, add a call to action to that message area. That way, as you’re going out to groups and engaging with the community and someone clicks on your profile, they check you out, they click on your profile banner and bam, free traffic. Now all you have to do is convert it!”

Content is Key

Ambassadors and Influencers

David Toby, Director at Pathfinder Alliance: “When you give potential customers a freebie, you are essentially paying them to become ambassadors for your brand. Giving away your product for free buys attention. You can think of it as an advertising cost. This is your chance to show potential customers why your product is the best of the best and convince them to keep coming back to you for more. Once they are convinced, they will spread the word like wildfire. Have you ever tried a new brand and then told all of your friends and family about it encouraging them to try it too? Oftentimes people are brand ambassadors and don’t even know it!”

Blogs with Informative Content

Joy Corkery, Content Marketing Lead at Latana: “Guest blogging is (in most cases) free to do and brings great exposure to a brand. For one, it brings an increase in traffic to your website – just be sure to ask for a link to your website in exchange for your article! Also, be sure to guest blog for publications where your target audience in so you drive quality traffic to your website. In a lot of cases, this traffic can turn into leads and then clients for your business, which is what happened for Latana in more cases than one.”

Carley Johnson, Fashion Consultant: “Free online exposure doesn’t happen overnight, so the sooner retailers start organically growing their traffic the better. I highly recommend fashion brands that I work with in Australia to start a blog. A blog is a fantastic way to increase exposure, especially if your titles are on-trend and eye-catching. I have also seen an increase in guest blogs too, which gives brands/retailers the opportunity to tap into someone else’s audience.”

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