ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has teamed up with the social media experts from audience engagement platform Maybe* to launch new tools for retailers looking to make the most out of social media in their business.
Figures from the 2019 Local Shop Report show that Facebook is currently the most popular social platform for retailers with 39% using it in their business, followed by Twitter (27%), Instagram (11%) and WhatsApp (9%).
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Using social media to promote your business and engage with customers can be a really powerful tool, but its also a daunting prospect. It’s been clear from our own research and our work with Government to promote retail productivity that this is a significant untapped area for lots of retailers. We’re delighted to be working with Maybe* to offer these tools on both getting started with social media, and taking your online presence to the next level.”
Polly Barnfield OBE, Maybe* CEO said: “We're delighted to be working with ACS and to show its members how, through Maybe* engagement technology, they can harness social media to drive real, scalable business results in-store. Social media is the single best opportunity these businesses have to engage with their customers and ultimately increase sales, so we looking forward to helping them get started and develop their skills."
With so many things possible on social media, often the hardest thing is knowing where to start. The tools that launch at ACS.org.uk/socialmedia cover setting up an account on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, making sure that your account is as visible as possible, and posting your first content.
For retailers that are already active on social media and seeing some benefit from using it in their business, we are also providing guidance on how to make the most out of social media – whether its reaching more people on Twitter, building a base of recommendations on Facebook or finding new ways to showcase products on Instagram.
The tools are all available at www.acs.org.uk/socialmedia where there is also an interactive help function for retailers to ask questions to the Maybe* team about social media engagement.
