Peak is coming whether you are ready or not
Social media training for retail marketing teams. Planning around a calendar you do not control, getting store colleagues posting without losing the brand, social commerce that actually converts, and building enough content in September to survive December. Half day £1,200, full day £1,800 for up to six people, excluding VAT.
What makes retail social media difficult?
The calendar owns you. Christmas, Black Friday, sale, back to school and whatever your category adds on top. The work is enormously concentrated, and the teams that cope are the ones who built the content months earlier rather than the ones who are more talented in November.
Then there is the estate. If you have stores, you have colleagues who could be creating far better content than head office ever will, and most retailers either forbid it or leave it entirely unmanaged. Both are a waste.
What does the training cover?
1. Planning around peak
Working backwards from the trading calendar, and the content bank you need finished before the busy period starts.
2. Store colleagues posting
Turning the estate into content without losing control. Rules, supply and recognition. See employee training.
3. Product content that is not a catalogue
Why product shots underperform and what to make instead, mostly involving people using the thing.
4. Social commerce
Shops, tagging and checkout, and an honest view of what converts against what simply looks modern.
5. Customer content
Rights, permission and reposting properly. The cheapest good content most retailers already have.
6. Paid at peak
Bidding into the most expensive weeks of the year without wasting the budget. See paid social training.
7. Service in the comments
Where is my order, at volume, in public. See community management.
8. Measuring against sales
Connecting social to trade honestly, including admitting where the connection cannot be proven.
Should store colleagues be posting?
If you have a physical estate, almost certainly. Colleagues are in the store, with the stock, meeting customers, and head office is not. The content is more current and more convincing than anything produced centrally, and it costs nothing to make.
What it needs is three things retailers routinely skip. A short set of rules people can follow, a steady supply of ideas so the ask is not simply post more, and some recognition so it does not feel like unpaid extra work. Get those right and the estate becomes your most productive channel. Get them wrong and you get silence, or something you have to take down.
Who runs the day?
I am Chris Norton and I run most of these sessions myself. I founded Prohibition, the PR, social and content agency behind this site, I have worked in public relations for more than twenty years, and I have been running training since 2009. I co-authored Share This Too, the social media handbook published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Retail and consumer brands have been a consistent part of the agency’s work, including Watches of Switzerland, Interflora and Barbour. Peak trading is not something we have read about, it is something we have worked through with clients, including the years it did not go to plan.
Retail social media questions
How much does retail social media training cost?
Half day £1,200 and full day £1,800 for up to six people, excluding VAT, priced by the group. Around £200 to £300 a head. Multi site retailers usually want a head office session plus a shorter briefing for store teams.
When should we plan for Christmas?
Earlier than feels comfortable. The teams who cope have their content bank finished before peak trading starts, which in practice means the plan is agreed in summer and the making is done by early autumn.
Does social commerce actually convert?
For some categories, genuinely. For others it is a lot of setup for very little. We look at your category and your basket size rather than telling you it is the future.
Can we use customer photos?
With permission, properly asked for and recorded. Reposting without asking is common and it is a risk that occasionally becomes expensive.
How do we handle where is my order in the comments?
With a routing framework rather than by answering each one individually. At peak the volume will beat any team that improvises, and public service failures at Christmas do disproportionate damage.
Should we be on TikTok?
Retail is one of the categories where it most often works, because there is product to show and people to show it. See TikTok training for brands.
How do we prove social drives sales?
Partly, and we are honest about the limits. Some of it is measurable, some is directional, and claiming clean attribution for social media is not credible to anybody who understands it.
Can you train store managers as well as head office?
Yes, and it is often the higher value session. They are closer to the stock and the customers than anybody in marketing.
Tell us when your peak starts
Half day £1,200, full day £1,800, up to six people, excluding VAT. Delivered UK wide or online.
One of the sectors we train, alongside every social media course. Delivered UK wide or online. Last reviewed August 2026.
