How to Use Social Media Marketing to Drive In-Store Purchases

Though we don't like to admit it, we're old enough to remember when social media debuted and brands were (skeptically) hopping on board. Some marketing teams had challenges getting buy-in from executives because the ROI of social media was so difficult to track. Fast forward to 2023 when analytics capabilities have greatly improved and brands are better equipped to track the impact of their social media efforts. However, there is still one blind spot in the market, which is social media's ability to drive in-store traffic, and the attribution tracking that comes with it.

Our agency works with several food and beverage and toy brands that are sold only in major retailers like Target and Walmart and have no e-commerce site available to help us drive (and track!) conversions. Here are a few of the strategies we've deployed to help these clients increase in-store traffic:

Influencers: Creators still have a ton of clout across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok and have worked well in driving in-store traffic for our clients. In the brief, we ask influencers to film a video where they are standing in the brick-and-mortar locations where our client's products are sold. This tactic has worked so well for us that we launch an influencer campaign to help support every new retailer rollout. If possible, we recommend forging relationships with creators who are authentic and truly love your product - this will help to build trust among their communities.

Hyper-Targeted Paid Media Campaigns: We deploy paid social campaigns for clients that are geo-targeted around retail locations that carry the products, and layer in additional behavior and interest targeting to reach our audience. High-quality creative, as well as a high-frequency volume (enough to influence consideration), are also important factors in successful campaigns.

Paid Media Optimized for In-Store Conversion: Speaking of paid media, many platforms now offer in-store conversion tracking to brands. We love Google's store visit conversion tool that allows advertisers to track attribution through the sales funnel (though it does come at a steep cost, as Google requires a minimum spend of $15K over 30 days for advertisers to qualify to use this product).

Partnerships With Tools Like Aisle, Ibotta, and More: Emerging technology is starting to help brands get a better sense of sales that are coming from social media. By posting a link to Ibotta, brands can track redemption on the backend. Aisle also presents a smart way to track attribution and also get brand ambassadors and influencers involved.