The Black Friday/Cyber Monday phenomenon started off innocently enough — for 1 day only, shoppers get to enjoy unlimited savings with discounts up to 90% off select products and/or services.

Due to overwhelming response over the years, it paved the way for a Cyber Weekend, an all-new Cyber Monday and even an extended Cyber Tuesday sale!

In the US and U.K., in what is fast becoming the nations’ biggest retail weekend, this trend is now in Asia. Consumers can expect similar, if not bargain-worthy savings for most genre of goods at their favorite e-tailors locally and in neighboring countries like Singapore.

In an effort to avoid the brick-and-mortar ‘chaos’, a significant group of savvy shoppers are already planning to take their bargain-hunt online, searching for inspiration, comparing prices and ultimately making a purchase.

With such competitions and opportunities, retailers and advertisers simply can’t afford to overlook the opportunity to connect with customers via mobile and social channels. But how can businesses make the most of social media this Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

First, a few basic but nonetheless important rules. Consumers on social media have shorter attention spans, so keep content snappy. Also, a lot of them are very loyal to the brands they love, so CRM data is key for targeting and personalising content, further improving campaign performance.

1. Play the Creative Card

Highly visual content is powerful and plays to the strengths of social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, while carousels work well for showcasing product variety. Don’t be afraid to run experiments. A/B test ad types against one another to see what works best for your brand, making changes in real-time.

2. Clear & Concise Messages

Be sure to use various social media platforms to reach users when they’re most receptive to your brand message. Start with driving awareness, create engagement and the all important emotional connection. Then move consumers further down the funnel using consideration and conversion-led content with strong calls to action to prompt them to act on their purchase intent.

3. Targeting, Done Right

Utilise social platforms’ sophisticated targeting capabilities, your own CRM data and data providers’ audience segments. For Facebook, there’s a ton of targeting options at your disposal — from demographic, geo-location, to interest, behavior and a number of other factors to further narrow and segment the target audience(s).

4. Ad Formats

Storytelling represent one of the strongest, if not well received ad experience on social media. Savvy consumers balk at any attempts, especially so on social channels to encroach into their ‘space’.

Ad formats that showcase multiple products and enable storytelling, like carousel ads on Facebook and Instagram and multi-product tweets on Twitter, are very effective. Richer, more immersive in-ad experiences such as Facebook’s canvas ads and Snapchat’s snap ad web view unit enable users to click into a mobile experience that can be completely customised to showcase gift ideas or sale items.

Dynamic ads, which can be used across Facebook and Instagram by retail and travel brands, are the most powerful way to retarget audiences who have previously visited your site.

Leverage website behaviour to determine the most relevant ads to serve to retarget, upsell and cross-sell. Facebook recently added the capability to synch in-store product catalogues so products that have sold out are updated and not served to others.

5. Bid Aggresively

Competition will clearly be tough around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. While this period might command a higher premium, you’re also reaching users while they are most receptive to offers – and purchase intent is at its peak. Focus on mobile to drive audience engagement at any time throughout the day, ensuring there is a seamless experience for users shopping on your mobile site as this will have a massive impact on conversion.

6. Seamless Retail Experience 

Although most users access social media through mobile, keep in mind that when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, using desktop for ad placement is just as important. Many people will be at work during sales and as such will convert on their computers.

Social media platforms encompass more than just sharing updates with friends and family; they’re also home to visual search, video publishing, real-time events, augmented reality and commerce.

And as consumers are actively seeking out products and services on these channels, advertisers should embrace them as a prime opportunity to build awareness and momentum for their brands.