6 Content Ideas For Hardware Stores on Facebook

Learn from others. Crank up your marketing efforts on Facebook.  More people are connecting to Facebook on mobile devices and the new Facebook Graph search is going to be huge to local businesses.

So you got a Facebook page. Now what?  The hardest part is knowing what to post.  No one is in your store so you take a few minutes in the office and go on Facebook.  You sit with your fingers on your keyboard thinking about what to post.  Soon the store starts to fill up again so you go to help your customers and no Facebook post.

 

Set a posting Schedule

This will keep you from wasting time and allow you to measure results.  Create a document with a date and what you intend to post.  Start with a brainstorming session.  Write down as many ideas as you can think of.  Look at what other hardware stores are posting.  Ask employees in your store their ideas.

Here are a few ideas you can start with:

Offers.

The top reason people like a brand page on Facebook is a special offer or discount.

The built in offers feature on Facebook allows businesses to share a special promotion on their page. Each time someone claims the offer it is shared on that user’s Timeline so that all their friends can see it. This is a premium Facebook feature but these offers have a great reach and can generate interest in your store beyond the usual reach of your page. Customers who claim the offer are sent an email by Facebook that can be printed or shown to a retailer on a mobile device. This is a fantastic way to directly measure return on investment. The offers are bringing people directly in your door.

Sharing your specials as status updates on your Timeline can be effective. If you have a weekly offer, customers will begin to expect it to pop up on that day and watch out for it. This can encourage interaction. Some customers will ask you to hold an offer for them until they can get in to the store while others will ask for more info or will share the deal with their friends.

If you know your DIY traffic flow you can make offers at specific times.  Snow tomorrow means Ice melt post tonight. Saturday morning Gardening tip... It's time for crabgrass preventer.

Secrete word Wednesday.  Come in today and say ‘Jack Links’ for a free Jack Links beef stick with your purchase.

Questions

It can be as direct as asking what type of product they would like you to stock. Or more general like what time of day they do their shopping.
Sit down and take some time to construct a list of questions that you would really like to have answered.  Post a picture of some obscure hardware item and ask them what is this used for?  We just got a shipment of seeds in.  What do you plan to plant in your garden this year?  You should try and leave an open ended question at the end of every post. Asking quick questions on your Facebook page will really encourage interaction and give you an insight into what your customers want.

Embed Yourself In The Community

Local businesses have traditionally been the heart of the community and Facebook gives us the opportunity to remain there even when our customers are at work in front of their computers or out of town.
Sharing community news or something that will resonate with local people encourages more interaction. It also places you at the center of the online local community.  I recently saw a wonderful post that Burt’s Lumber did supporting a fundraising event for a your girl with cancer.  He truly supports his community and his customers know it.

Showcase Your Staff

Every business has something that they are exceptional at. With any luck, you have an exceptional staff and your customer service is spot on.
If this is the case, showcasing your staff on your Facebook page is a great way to develop this online. Use photos and video to showcase their friendly faces and their expertise.
If you are feeling a little more adventurous, you could design a contest amongst the staff but showcased on Facebook. Customers could get involved by voting for their favorite.

 

Showcase Your Product

What do you sell? What is special about your product? You have the opportunity to make your Facebook page your shop window. Show off your latest stock and entice your customers in with photographs.Is there a story you can tell about your product?  Can you tell the tale of how the products are made?
By telling stories, you are giving your customers something to share and talk to others about.

Create a How-to Event.

How-to events are great ways to teach your customers how to be DIYers.  Create a buzz about the upcoming event.  Ask your customers what projects they want to tackle?  List 5 project classes you were planning to have at your store.  Ask them to pick the one they would like to see.  Then post the event and sell all the supplies then need for the project.  Ask them by name how their projects are coming along. If they post a question, post the answer for all to see your knowledge of the task at hand. Ask them to post completed pictures online.  For some reason everyone who has ever laid tile loves to post a picture of their new floor online.
Get Started today create a Facebook plan with a set schedule then work that plan.  

Good Selling.

A LONG PARTNERSHIP WITH HOUSE HASSON WHOLESALE HARDWARE

Downtown Hardware Knows It Can Rely on House Hasson Wholesale Hardware

Ann Clary Bratton and Roger Clary view House Hasson Wholesale Hardware as a trusted partner in their business. 

Sometimes luck and good fortune can be combined with hard work and determination, and can lead to astonishing moments of success. That was the recent experience of Roger Clary and Ann Clary Bratton, a brother-sister team who own Downtown Hardware in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

            When the second-generation owners of the 57-year-old business learned this past spring that a new Ace Hardware store was opening up less than three miles away, they were a little nervous. They already faced a Home Depot store three miles the other direction and they were still waiting for business to rebound from the sluggish economy. 

            Their luck was about to change. They learned that their store was going to be the subject of Oak Ridge’s first cash mob in March. They had already been talking to House Hasson Wholesale Hardware about doing a store reset, but this bit of good fortune created a more immediate need.

            “We had been planning to do a truckload sale and Allen Winn made arrangements for us to get the truck in early. Kim Gibbs helped us with fliers and a banner sign,” says Roger. “They really worked with us to make sure we had plenty of merchandise, and everyone at House Hasson Wholesale Hardware bent over backwards to help us.”           

            Four generations of family members were on hand to help customers on the day of the cash mob, which received TV coverage from all three networks. They handed out free soda, water and cookies to a crowd that was standing room only for two hours. “It was the biggest sales day in our store’s history,” says Ann, with triple the usual traffic and sales quadrupled. “The news went out Thursday night, so we were mobbed some on Friday and some more on Monday.”

            “We had the big House Hasson Wholesale Hardware truck parked out front for a couple of weeks, which created a sense of excitement with our customers,” says Roger. “The cash mob happened a month before the new Ace store opened, so we were able to gain some important publicity.”

            Although the store has a lot of long-time customers, the cash mob—which was sponsored by the Young Professionals of Oak Ridge—helped introduce the business to some younger customers. “We’ve seen some of those customers return and heard a lot of comments like ‘We didn’t know you were here.’ We want to support other small businesses, so we help promote the other cash mobs they hold here,” Ann says.

            The cash mob was a nice burst of excitement, but Roger and Ann knew they needed to do something to create a more lasting boost to the business. They continued talking with David Helfenberger and their House Hasson Wholesale Hardware sales rep, Ed Grady, to plan a store reset that would position their business for success in the face of the new competition.

            “They knew how Ace merchandises their stores, so they were able to tailor our merchandise accordingly,” says Ann. “Rick Parker came and shopped our store and gave us a four-page checklist of improvements to make. Roger prioritized the list and we started doing those improvements.”

            They took Rick’s suggestion and agreed to have store merchandisers spend two weeks fine-tuning their assortments and cleaning up their merchandise displays. No part of the store was untouched, and the improvements have been dramatic.

A Tradition of Loyalty

Ann and Roger’s father, Tom Clary, along with Ed Wayman, opened Downtown Hardware in 1955 in what was a new shopping center in Oak Ridge. The store stayed in that original location for 37 years. One of the employees from that first year, Parlee Mitchell, just recently retired at the age of 93 after working nearly 57 years for the store.

            Although they had been buying a little from House Hasson Wholesale Hardware, they mainly bought from Belknap Hardware until that wholesaler went out of business in 1986. They followed their  salesman over to House Hasson Wholesale Hardware and have developed a deep sense of mutual trust since then.

            Downtown Hardware’s current location used to be the lawn and garden section of an old Kmart. “House Hasson Wholesale Hardware helped us so that we closed the old location one day and opened here the next day. We didn’t lose any sales. They helped us move and made it affordable for us,” says Roger. “We couldn’t have done it without their help.”

“When House Hasson Wholesale Hardware did the first store set, we had looked around and considered who might be able to help us. This time we didn’t consider anyone else,” says Ann. “We know we can depend on them for whatever we need. You build that trust and you find it throughout the company. They hold the same values we do. We don’t want to be a number and they know their customers.”

            Roger gives an example of a simple thing House Hasson did that made a dramatic difference in their business. “Rick Parker came to the store and saw that we hadn’t changed the outdoor lawn and garden area much. He suggested we go up and put in pallet racking. We looked into that and it was expensive, but Don Phillips (vice president-operations) had access to some pallet racking at a fair price. We were able to triple the amount of merchandise we had on display and we’ve greatly boosted our sales per square foot in lawn and garden,” he says.  

            The store reset better positions Downtown Hardware to have what customers want, when they want it. “As a retailer we have to take advantage of what we do good. You have to work at it every day, but we know we’ve got House Hasson Wholesale Hardware on our side,” says Ann. “In the age of computers it’s nice to have a salesman here regularly. Ed will get answers for us or find products we need from other customers.”

            Roger looks forward to attending the markets. “It’s an opportunity to see other dealers, get ideas and learn hands-on about the new items.” More importantly, he likes that there are no mandatory programs to participate in or add-ons to cut into his profits. “Being Trustworthy and Priced Right Everyday!^® lets us retain our independence while still providing a brand identity. We like the freedom of choosing what will work in Oak Ridge,” he adds.