The officially unofficial start to summer is almost upon us! Soon, Americans across the country will take a break for their day-to-day lives to enjoy a much needed long weekend of relaxation. Whether it’s a staycation at the ol’ homestead or a beach vacation, the “extra” day off for Memorial Day means that your brick-and-mortar customers have more time to shop, browse, and buy.
With just a few weeks to go, now’s the time for your retail business to ensure it has the content marketing pieces needed to push your business forward throughout the long holiday weekend. To help you get your content marketing plan in place, we’ve put together a list of our 4 favorite types of traffic driving content perfect for Memorial Day Weekend.
A Quick Note on Memorial Day Content
Before we dive headfirst into the type of content you should create during Memorial Day Weekend, let’s recap the type of content you shouldn’t be creating:
- Content that promotes your brand while you pay tribute to Memorial Day
- Content that confuses Memorial Day with Veteran’s Day
- Content that says “Happy Memorial Day” or something similar
- Content tagged with the “wrong” hashtag.
Remember, Memorial Day is meant to be a solemn holiday. While it’s perfectly okay to promote your business during a long weekend or as the perfect way to kick off summertime, don’t conflate your promotional messages with the actual day of Memorial Day. Not only is it crass, but it can hurt your reputation with your audience, fans, and customers away
Instead, here are four types of content you should be creating:
4 Types of Traffic Driving Content
1) Content That Provides Value
Take stock of your historic customer base during Memorial Day Weekend. Does it change from your average weekend? If you’re in a small beach/mountain town, do you suddenly find yourself with an influx of tourists that know nothing about your business? Or are you expecting to cater to your in-town regulars that are excited to have an extra day in their weekend to take care of their to-do list?
Each audience will have its own informational needs. By creating content that meets those information needs, you in-turn create content that the audience will find valuable. The more valuable that content is, the more likely the audience is to engage with that content and, by extension, your store.
Content for Tourists
Focus on content that shows off:
- Your hours and location
- Your product mix
- Your history or distinct personality
Content for Locals
Create content that shares:
- Any Memorial Day promotion
- New product offerings
- Special events (more on this later)
Always keep in mind that the value of a piece of content marketing is in the eye of the audience. If you want to increase foot traffic during Memorial Day Weekend, you need to create content that compels people to come to your store.
Which is why you should also create:
2) Content That Incentivizes Store Visits
“Show up and save.” That’s the mantra of this content type.
Whether your store is holding a weekend sale or fun promotion, you should create content that builds awareness of the offer.
Sales and BOGO deals aren’t the only incentives your brand can use during the long weekend. Consider incentivizing retail store visits by:
- Running a contest
- Providing free food or drink
- Offering a free gift
- Holding a timed flash sale
Whatever your chosen incentive, be sure to create content pieces that both explain the incentive, provide an overview of any restrictions, and includes information about how to find your store to take advantage.
Just be sure that the content is formatted the “right” way. You need to create…
3) Content Specific To Its Publishing Platform
We’re living in an age of publishing platforms. In a given week, your retail store might use a mix of any of the following to publish your content:
- YouTube
- Blog
- Facebook Stories
- Instagram Stories
- Snapchat
We’ll stop here for brevity’s sake, but you get the picture. There is no shortage of platforms to publish any content marketing pieces your store creates.
To shine during Memorial Day Weekend, the key isn’t to pick the best platforms, the key is to ensure that any content you post is formatted for the platforms you choose to publish on.
As an example, let’s say you take an awesome picture of a new product you just got in store. Now to publish it.
If your goal is to drive engagement, foot traffic, and sales with that content then:
DON’T publish that same picture with the same post to all of your social media channels.
DO format and revise the picture and post as needed for the platform. As an example:
- Use hashtags and relevant emojis in Instagram
- Take out the hashtags if publishing to your Facebook page
- Ise stickers or other engagement elements if it’s a story
Etc., etc, etc. Different audiences prefer different platforms. By formatting your content for the platform, you stand a better chance of engaging with your audience.
Remember, the more you engage with your audience, the more likely they are to visit your store. Which is why sometimes the best type of content to use during the holiday weekend is…
4) Content Built on A Physical Experience
In this digital age often only think of content marketing as only being digital content. Things like blog posts, fun videos, or swanky Insta-pics.
Don’t limit yourself to this digital definition. Content is much more than a new Instagram Story.
Content is information or experience directed towards its intended audience. Sometimes, yes this is digital in format, but often times this can be delivered through a physical means.
In other words, to drive customers to your store during the long weekend, create content that your customers can engage with physically.
Content like:
- Cooking Classes
- Yoga Seminars
- Cocktail Mixing Lessons
- Live Concerts
- Fashion Shows
- Kid-Friendly Activities
Not only is each event a form of content in and of itself, but these events can help support a slew of additional content marketing posts leading up to, during, and after the event.
Getting Your Content Seen
Whether your creating awareness around a new product mix or a new promotion, great content is only effective if it gets seen! To help ensure the greatest return of your content investment, you’ll probably need to promote that content in some shape or fashion. Some of the most successful content promotional means we’ve seen include:
A) Paid Social Posts
Whether it’s on Facebook or Instagram, consider putting some paid media dollars behind sponsoring your Memorial Day Weekend posts. If you do plan on promoting a post, be sure to check your targeting.
Facebook/Instagram allows brands to target by any combination of:
- Location (zip codes for the win here)
- Demographics (age/gender)
- Psychographics (parents with kids as an example)
Use these tools to create an audience that most resembles your average customer.
B) Influencer Marketing
Does your city or town have a local influencer in your vertical? Maybe it’s a mom passionate about children’s toys or a millennial that knows their way around a craft brew?
Take a look at who in your area has amassed a large Instagram or Facebook following, then reach out and see if they would be willing to promote any of your content during Memorial Day Weekend.
C) Tap Into The Sharing Power of Your Everyday Fans
Sure, they might not have tens of thousands of fans, but your average everyday customer is still connected to around 500 to 600 friends and family on social media networks. While this number may seem small on its own, think about the number of regular customers you have.
Is it 20? 50? 100?
Now imagine if all of these customers were sharing your content to their friends and family. It doesn’t take long before your reach eclipses that of even your most “celebritized” local influencer.
To organize these sharing efforts, consider starting an advocacy marketing program through SocialToaster. SocialToaster’s platform makes it easy for your top customers to sign up and join. Once they’ve signed up, they’ll have the opportunity to share your latest content with their networks.
Ready to Drive Foot Traffic? Get Started Today!
Great content requires great planning. Which means now’s the time to get your Memorial Day Weekend content marketing plans in order. If you have any questions or want to learn more about how a SocialToaster program can drive foot traffic and retail sales this Memorial Day Weekend, we can help. Give us a call at 443.393.2600 or send us an email!
