Social media isn’t just about Brand Awareness. When done right, it drives sales for your business.
However, not every social media platform has the same audience. With so many platforms out there it’s important to invest in the right channels so you’re not spinning your wheels.
Follow these guidelines to get revenue from social media.
1. Use the Channel that your followers use
The first step to driving sales using social media in 2021 is to figure out where your target customers are spending their time online, and use the same social channels that they use.
A best practice for making the most of your time is to concentrate on a few key platforms, rather than using up precious resources building multiple accounts.
This is how you go about it:
For one, conduct a thorough analysis of your target demographic. You can dig into the profile of your current customers, or try to find common characteristics of a target audience that you haven’t gotten in front of yet.
For example, you may be going through a rebrand and trying to sell to moms for the first time, or you could be currently marketing to students and trying to boost your online presence where they spend time.
Once you know who buys your products/services (or who you want to become a buyer), you should also know which platforms they use.
Though you can decide to be present on each social channel, remember that spreading your resources far too broadly and far too thin is time-consuming. In fact, such an action might do more harm than good.
A couple tips to keep in mind:
- Facebook is used by the most people, especially in Cyprus.
- Your target audience’s age does not necessarily tell you about their buying trends. Make sure that whatever audience you’ve picked, they are exhibiting buying behavior in the channels that they favor.
- Segment your target audience, especially if your target audience is broad. Try to create several segments that do not overlap.
Bottom line: Being present in social platforms where your target audience is gives you a great opportunity to attain your goals.
If you can reach this audience in their native habitat while they are in the mindset to buy, then you increase your chances to drive sales.
2. Create great content but don’t make it sound salesy or pushy
While prioritizing on quality over quantity sounds obvious, most digital marketers still get it wrong. Social media users are very savvy. If you create mediocre content, you will not get the engagement you’re looking for.
Rather than dispatch a series of run-of-the-mill posts, spend the time creating a smaller amount of high-quality content. That way you’ll also be sharing your content at a pace that both you and your prospects can handle.
As you create content, do not make it sound too pushy or salesy. You must consider that social channels are not solely meant for buying and selling. The majority of people are still there to socialize virtually.
Social media users are looking for useful content for them, and that is what they expect from you. That should be your number one priority when generating content.
Your best bet for getting people to buy is to give them engaging and valuable content for them, that makes them want to become your follower, customer and share your content (thus giving your content virality).
Here are a few suggestions for posts that achieve a good balance between salesy and helpful:
- Create images inspired by real-life situations
- Post pictures and videos that include recipes/tips/guides relevant to your products
- Create honest content with advice relating to your industry, even if it means that it may damage your sales.
- Recommend products and services which will truly beneficial to your user.
3. Make it easy for people to Buy
By now you are probably thinking, “We are here to sell not entertain”, and you are right. We are not saying that you shouldn’t post products and offers, you should. Social media users are more likely to buy a product if
- They trust the page
- A friend recommended it (or liked it)
- It’s a unique product of it offers a unique proposition
To make it easy to your social fan to purchase your products, each post should be accompanied with a like to your e-shop (to the specific product page). Ideally you should provide a special time based offer to your fans or some other reward to get them to buy.
4. Using Instagram & influencers to promote your products
Having an engaged Instagram audience is great, but converting them into leads is important!
Influencers are a vital part of your branding and sales activities on Instagram. Focus on micro or even nana influencers with large numbers of followers (make sure they are active).
Usually sending them some free product will get them to engage and post your gifts with a mention or a tag.
This process is a lengthy one and may be expensive depending on the value of products you sell.
Creating attractive content in your feed posts is a great way to generate leads, too. To achieve lots of reach for a CTA feed post, encourage your active followers to share to their Instagram stories.
5. Use LinkedIn For Brand Awareness
With LinkedIn, your business can establish strategic partnerships, generate leads and build awareness.
Linkedin is all about networking. To expand your network, it is not enough to just send invitations to connect. You need to be active and produce content which will promote you and your brand as the guru in the industry.
6. Paid Ads
Posting frequently to social media and replying to comments alone is not enough to drive sales. The most suitable strategy for making the most of your social accounts combine it with paid ads.
While organic reach on social channels is usually more beneficial, paid media helps you reach and boost your audiences quickly.
Every social media channel has advertising abilities. Facebook, for instance, features extensive targeting tools. This makes it really easy for businesses to develop successful campaigns.
Most importantly, the Facebook ads application lets businesses amplify posts to achieve any of these 4 objectives:
- Click-throughs
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement
Thus, your results can be customized depending on your goals.
How can we help you and your business
We have covered some of the most effective strategies for driving sales using different social media channels.
These methods involve having an active presence where your prospects are, and creating educational, optimized content without focusing solely on sales.
The strategies involve simplifying the buying process, generate leads and using paid ads and LinkedIn for brand awareness.
All these social media strategies assume that you can produce amazing content. We at com2go specialize in developing an effective strategy and supporting is with proven amazing looking content and methodology that delivers results.
We offer a free, no strings attached initial consultation to analyse your needs and the best approach to achieve your goals.
Our vast experience and expertise, will not only get you measurable results quickly, through our competitive rates our service is also cost effective.