How often are we really paying attention to the world around us? Whether it be locally, nationally or internationally, the things that happen around us, affect us all. This includes our customers, as well.
I have been watching our client’s social media accounts for the past six months and what I’m noticing is that YOUR consumers DO interact differently with your websites, social media pages and ultimately your business, when there are holidays, community events, political stories, tragedies or crises happening around them.
Back in November, I was asked by a couple clients to look into why they were experiencing a decrease in their traffic. At first, I didn’t find any real trends or reasons for the dip in traffic on their websites, or why they had lower-levels of engagement on their social profiles, so I had to get creative. I ended-up expanding my scope and noticed a direct impact during times of big political news, holidays (like Christmas and New Years) or tragedy’s such as the Paris attacks.
For example, during times of trouble or negativity, consumers seemed to interact with only positive or distracting posts and images. During the holidays and following the Paris attacks, there was a sense that people wanted to spend more quality time with their families, so there was a decrease in traffic and interaction on social media overall. Not every market reacted the same way, but there was enough evidence for me to come-up with a sociological theory here: world events change the way consumers interact with retail sales.
If we go back through history and take a look at how consumers behaved during financial crises, natural disasters and poor political environments, there is plenty of data that illustrates different industries getting impacted at different times, based on the general “feeling” of the time.
I’m not attempting to provide this information as scientific evidence of my theory, however I am hoping to expand your thinking just a bit. The more we are aware of HOW consumers are interacting with our profiles and websites, the better we can prepare our marketing in advance, communicate with our customers, draw more traffic and close sales.
This is just another step on how to treat business assets in a more “human-way,” so we can be more effective in reaching our goals of selling more and better….or as a friend says, “more better”.
Here are some suggestions to help your digital presence have an edge:
- Open your eyes and be cognizant of the world around you (especially the local events).
- Keep historical DATA of your website and digital performance through analytics and insights.
- COMPARE YOY and start to look for trends and patterns in advance.
- TEST messaging and get CREATIVE.
- Record everything to make the next month and next year better.
Car dealers are businesses but we’re all part of the same world. Existing in a bubble is appropriate in certain situations, but we should always consider what’s happening around us as we interact.
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