Use the Weather to Your Advantage

7 Social media tips to turn strange weather into more sales.

 

Weather is one of the most influential drivers of consumer behavior. And in New Orleans, where we can experience all four seasons in one week, there are many opportunities to turn these crazy weather events into impactful marketing tactics for your business, especially when posting on social media.

Use powerful imagery and incorporate the weather. Remember, social media platforms are highly-visual and you want to use an image that is scroll-stopping. Using a site like Canva, you can add some snowflakes or rain to your image for added impact.

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Offer weather-related coupons. This is a great way to drive traffic to your store or your website. Depending on the weather, you could offer a 15 percent off online code to “STAYWARM” and shop online. This is an effective way to increase revenue when people might otherwise avoid going out and are spending more down time on their phones. Even if you don’t want to offer a coupon, you could serve hot chocolate in your store to keep customers warm.

Monitor hashtags across platforms. People will often come up with creative hashtags for any type of event. A few years ago, when we had some snow, the hashtag #sneauxmageddon was trending. Adding hashtags to your posts is an easy way to get more exposure for your content. This is a good tip for all of your social media content, but especially when you want to take advantage of a hot topic. Check each platform to see if there are different trends.

Promote your posts to your target audience. Typically, when promoting a post, you want to identify which of your posts is already getting engagement organically. However, to capitalize on a short-term event like the weather, you’ll want to promote your post to correspond when the weather conditions are changing. You likely don’t need to spend a lot, especially if you’ve followed the other tips above as your content will already be engaging. Start with $25 – $50 and don’t forget to set an end date for when the weather is returning back to normal.

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If you’d like to incorporate weather as a component in your ongoing advertising strategy, there are a few things you should do.

Decide which weather triggers make sense for your business. Will cold weather keep people away? Will rainy weather increase sales? Determine what temperatures and conditions need to be met and capitalize on those situations.

Create a content strategy that corresponds to these weather triggers. Instead of waiting for these weather events to happen, brainstorm with your team the messaging and images that will resonate with your target audience.

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Utilize tools to help you automate your weather-based strategies. Services like WeatherAds for Facebook or scripts for Google Ads can use your weather triggers to automatically turn on and off your specific weather-related campaigns. Now sit back and enjoy increased conversion rate and revenue.

Weather-related advertising works for many types of businesses across industries, not just the most obvious ones. These tips are inexpensive and don’t take a lot of time, so get creative!

 

 


 

Jeanne Lobman has been working with Search Influence since 2011. A native of New Orleans, Lobman came to Search Influence with marketing and advertising degrees from the University of Georgia. Starting out on the account management team, Lobman quickly became a resource for the best strategies for digital advertising, with a focus on Paid Search. In 2013, she began leading the Online Advertising Department to manage all paid advertising campaigns, local and national. Her team is responsible for developing strategies and optimizing campaigns to deliver results that meet clients’ marketing objectives.

 

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