Using Social Media to Grow Sales
The key thing to remember with social media is that visitors don’t land on your site ready to buy. For the most part your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram visitors will be browsers. They may not even have an explicit need for what it is your business sells. That’s why social media marketing is less about selling, and more about creating journeys for your visitors – which may lead to a sale, brand awareness, or product advocacy.
In our experience, there are 5 potential stages to the journey on social media. They’re slightly different on each platform, and your visitors could potentially drop away at any stage. Here’s how the team at Outsource Your Marketing visualise the experience we offer to visitors on social media.
1. Say Hello
Social media’s always a conversation, so we ensure that whenever a visitor arrives, they feel included and welcomed to the conversation. Which means we try to avoid jargon, or ‘in jokes’ that only existing followers will ‘get’. The focus is always on the product, but not on sales. Case studies, visitor questions, or reviews, show newcomers that the conversation is open to them, and inclusive.
2. We’re Real
Building a community takes an investment of time and energy – and social media is no different. Visitors can tell very quickly whether a site’s ‘inhabited’ by real people, or just ticking over. This comes down to regular, and varied posts which speak directly to followers and report on current activities. And if a business is local, there should be a real sense of location and community engagement.
3. Customer Voices
The days of elusive customer services phone numbers are now receding – thank goodness!! Customers prefer to deal directly with brands via their social media accounts. Whether it’s customer reviews, enquiries, or requests for advice, your social media needs to be a dynamic interface that lets visitors know what it’s like to engage with you as a customer.
4. Add Value
Every social media site should offer content that’s potentially useful to customers. It might be a ‘how to’ video, unusual and creative ways to use your product, or regular tips on achieving the best value from your purchase. This is an opportunity to find out what your visitors would like to know about your product, so that you can give them content that’s useful.
5. A Place You Want to Be
A recent study found that customers who feel emotionally connected to your brand have 306% higher lifetime value. So they’ll be your biggest advocates, and they’ll buy from you again and again. Sites that achieve this offer speedy responses to any customer communications, provide new posts regularly, and run competitions that get visitors involved and offer excellent prizes!
Let OYM Help With Your Social Media
Effective social media campaigns require an investment of dedicated time and creative energy. Many smaller companies simply don’t have the bandwidth for it. The OYM team are skilled and experienced social media marketers who can manage your customised social media campaigns for you. We’ll set up your accounts, generate and post content, run ad campaigns and actively generate followers for your brand.
