Making sales is everything to your business. In the blink of an eye, new competitors emerge, products similar to yours are released, and before you know it, there’s the competition to be cheaper than other companies.
It is obvious that social media is a very powerful tool that every business and entrepreneur should use to their advantage. 2 out of 3 adults use social media on a weekly basis, and a whole lot of them use social media for learning about products and services.
No matter your kind of business, what worked well a few years ago isn’t good enough today. There is no time for trial and error; if you want to sell. Here’s a look at some basic steps you can take to drive sales using social media in 2019.
1. Make Use Of The Social Platform That Your Target Audience Use
The first step to driving sales using social media is to determine where your target customers are spending their time online, and use the same social platform.
For instance, Facebook is used by most people, but it has lost favor with the younger generation (between ages 18 and 29). If you’re tilting toward a millennial audience, you may want to focus your efforts on Instagram and Twitter.
However, the best way to make the most of your time is to concentrate on a few key platforms, rather than spending so much valuable resources and effort on building multiple accounts.
You can do this by conducting a thorough analysis of your target demographic – dig into the profile of your current customers, or try to find common characteristics of a target audience.
Once you know who buys your products/services (or who you want to turn into a buyer), you should also know which platforms they use.
In summary of this point, being present on social platforms where your target audience is, gives you a great opportunity to achieve your business goals.
If you can reach this audience in their favorite social channel while they are thinking/ready to buy, then you increase your chances to drive sales.
2. Create Relevant Content and Don’t Make It Sound Salesy Or Pushy
You should prioritize on producing quality content. Most online marketers still get it wrong. If you have an iota of doubt about the relevance of your content, Don’t post it! because, with mediocre content, comes the loss of engagement.
Rather than churning out a series of ordinary and uninteresting posts, spend the time making a smaller amount of high-quality content.
Also, your content shouldn’t sound pushy or salesy, this is because social channels are not solely designed for buying and selling and majority of users are still there to interact and socialize.
Here are a few tips for posts that achieve a good balance between salesy and helpful:
- Create images motivated by real-life situations.
- Post pictures and videos that include recipes/tips for using your products.
- Share images or testimonials of customers using or engaging with your products.
3. Make It Easy For People To Buy On Your Social Channels
This is another way you can easily drive sales. When customers can purchase your products or get vital information without having to leave the platform, the buying process becomes both intuitive and easy.
You can do this by being readily available to give replies to their questions or inquires and by giving them important, specific features of your product such as the location, availability, benefits, pricing e. t.c. This is a very effective process because it allows for increased conversions instantly.
4. Add Useful CTA
One way to get your customers to take action is to tell them exactly what you want them to do. After creating that great content, to increase your engagement and drive sales include an interesting and attractive call to action.
CTA or call to action plays an important role on your social platforms, posts, and website If you could add a CTA perfectly, your sales would be double without giving much effort.
5. Paid Ads
This is the most suitable strategy for making the most of your social accounts. Posting frequently to social media and replying to comments alone is not enough to drive sales.
When organic reach on social channels drop, paid media helps you reach and boost your audiences quickly. Each social media channel has advertising abilities which makes it easy for businesses to create successful campaigns. For instance, Facebook and Instagram 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.
With these great strategies, you can drive sales using different social media channels like (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc.). These methods involve having an active online presence where your own prospects are, and producing educational, optimized content without having to focus solely on sales. Also, using paid ads to simplify buying procedure.
The future is bright for businesses who want to promote their products and services across different social media platforms.
What are you applying to boost your sales in 2019?