Tips for Integrating Social Gifting into Your Promotions Strategy

Posted by Lisa Manfield

Looking for Christmas Promotion Ideas? We recently published a new post that you should read: Christmas Promotion Ideas – How You and Your Customers Can Win this Holiday Season.

We shop online, wish our friends happy birthday on Facebook, and plan our holiday wishlists with apps and pinboards. And as of last week, we can even send Starbucks coffee to our favourite caffeine lovers with a simple tweet. With social media channels driving sales more than ever before, many companies are now making it possible to turn gift giving into instant gratification by sending presents (when we can’t be present) directly through social media channels.

Known as social gifting, the phenomenon has exploded in popularity in the last several years, with a multitude of apps and platforms that allow retailers to make it easy for their customers to give online. And this is big business; according to Gartner, companies will generate 50% of all web sales from mobile and social channels by 2015.

Giving someone a gift card via social media has become a compelling way for friends to connect and for businesses to find new and innovative ways to build sales, grow their market and establish brand loyalty. And with Americans consuming $100 billion worth of gift cards every year, it’s an equally compelling reason for brands to get in on social gifting. If you’re thinking about adding social gifting to your marketing efforts, consider these tips:

Establish a Mix of Paid and Free Gifts

Ease your customers into the social gifting habit by allowing them to start small—even free. Once they’ve used up their allocation of free gifts, you can reel them in with larger amounts.

Promote Social Giving In-store

Considering how many customers now use bricks and mortar stores for “showrooming” purposes (viewing products in-store before buying online), promoting your social gift offerings in your store can lead to online sales later on.

Think Year-round

Why stop at birthdays and Christmas? Encourage your customers to send their friends gifts year-round. Small-amount gift cards make it easy for customers to purchase something for a friend just because they’re thinking about them.

Track Senders and Receivers

Keep in touch with your senders with incentives, reminders and reasons for them to come back and gift again. Allow receivers to return the favour by gifting their sender or paying it forward.

Give Back

Recognize your loyal gift givers with special rewards and promotions. After all, sometimes it is better to be the gifter than the receiver. Especially when it comes to building brand loyalty.

In the spirit of social giving, we invite you to give the gift of a social promotion with our Strutta Cares program. Purchase one promotion and you can donate another promotion to the charity of your choice. Contact us for further details.