In the rise of technological innovations and paperless deliverables, businesses have gone to more innovative and cost-friendly ways to increase revenue. One of these ways is by making sales through social media platforms.
Social media has proven to be one of the best ways to connect with existing and potential customers as this is where most of the western worlds attention is. It gives both client and customers a venue to effectively communicate and thus avoiding lapses in sending out the proper message. Social media gives you a chance to connect with an audience who wish to communicate with your brand before even knowing they needed your services or products.
Generating sales through social media to grow your business can be, often, overwhelming. Cooking up the best and most effective marketing and sales strategy is something that takes a lot of research and understanding so the question really lies as to where one can begin. Using these 3 simple tips can help maximise the benefits of implementing these different strategies.
Tips to Increase Sales Through Social Media
1) Strategise
Before venturing out on social media, you must take a step back and ask yourself why you’re doing it. What are your main goals? Who is your target market? Answering those will help you steer your strategy in the right direction. Apart from that, to increase social mobility and ensure that you get the best results from your efforts, it’s also essential to understand the many trends affecting these platforms. An example of these trends on social media is short, looping videos with various special effects and musical overlays typically found on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
In today’s generation, businesses are expected to truly step out of the box and delve into the uncharted territories if they want to stand out from their competitors. Therefore, having a good strategy will ensure that you’re using these platforms in the best way possible. After all, one wrong word or post can make or break your brand’s image.
Building a “dream team” to drive your social media sales strategy is very important. These people are required to have in-depth knowledge of running digital marketing strategies. They’ll also need to properly plan and execute on how best to get your brand that social media presence and growth.
2) Get to Know the Various Platforms
In digital marketing, social media plays a massive role in driving leads and converting them to sales. There are a lot of platforms you can use, but it’s essential to understand that not all social media platforms are fit for your business. Aside from that, it is wrong to make assumptions about which platform your audience spends the most time on. For example, you focus on Instagram and Snapchat thinking that millennials use those apps over Facebook when, in fact, it’s the complete opposite.
Another thing about these platforms is that they’re built to give users a unique experience, so tailoring a different strategy for each one will help you achieve your overall goals. An example would be using Facebook for your long informative text posts, as it allows for all types of media and almost has no text limit. Pinterest is also a platform with a fast-growing social media sales trend, and its image-centred platform is well suited for those in the retail industry. It’s newly developed ad platform also provides a host of useful tools.
Hootsuite has compiled comprehensive demographic information for major social media platforms. This data can give you an overview as to where certain types of audiences spend most of their time.
Each social channel is catered to a specific reach of audiences. Take the video-based app TikTok as an example. The audiences that are reached by this application are commonly those under Generation Z. Therefore, it makes no sense shifting your focus to that app when your target audience is those in the 40-50 age bracket. Generating sales through social media platforms is more than just having accounts on each one. It’s about having the knowledge to use these platforms because account inactivity can often suggest that you’re not interested. No response is still better than no account, so it’s better to set up an account on platforms that you know you’ll be using long term.
3) Create a Content Pipeline
Social media isn’t only about having social media accounts and having your first set of followers. You have to give your current following a reason to stay and other consumers a reason to follow you. You can’t content yourself with just 100 or so followers because to drive a successful social media sales strategy, you’ll need to have a growing number of followers otherwise, your content will have no traffic.
Posting relevant (and an emphasis should be placed on that) but eye-catching content can grab a person’s attention and keep them wanting more. This will increase your social presence and linking your other social media accounts and websites will further help drive sales. It’s also good to keep in mind that mixing up your social media content can help widen your demographic. For example, while blogs are quite fun for those who enjoy reading, some of those that belong in the younger age group would prefer photos and videos so search for that treasure chest full of engaging content that your audience will value.
Another thing to remember when creating content is that your social media presence can affect your brand’s reputation. Keep your posts inclusive and avoid tackling controversial topics unless you have in-depth knowledge about it. You don’t want to stir social media backlash for unknowingly posting a photo (for example) that offended a particular minority.
There are numerous ways to increase sales through social media. However, you must learn how to properly use these platforms to execute the strategy you’ve set up. Aside from that, delving into the realm of social media means that you are ready to take on change because trends don’t last very long. What may have worked before may no longer be relevant today, and that’s something your business has to be able to adjust to.
