It isn’t a secret that social media is the most important marketing tool for small businesses. The reason being is because most, if not all, of your existing and even prospective customers are all on social media.
When you break down the statistics, you’ll see that there are over 3.8 billion internet users and more than 2.4 billion of them are active on social media. That’s correct. That’s a billion with a B. It’s no wondering you want to know how to get more sales using social media!
With these figures that are increasing every single day, promoting your business on social media is known to significantly increase your outreach! Besides using your social media platforms to generate customer awareness and leads, you can also use it to create customer loyalty and build your brand’s reputation- which means creating sales!
Don’t even know where or how to start? Don’t worry! You’re not alone. A lot of small business owners are in the same position as you, which is why we’re here to help. With that said, let’s get into it!
How to Get More Sales Using Social Media
Using Paid Ads to Attract More Attention
It’s worth noting that the best way to leverage social media is through paid ads. This will help you reach a larger audience and appear more on people’s feeds.
You have heard that recently, organic reach has been continuously dropping due to the new social media algorithms. By paying to increase the likelihood of people seeing your content, you may see more sales and brand awareness in return.
While you can certainly pay for social media on all platforms, Facebook has the most extensive tools- and it’s super easy to use.
Facebook allows you to boost your posts to increase one of the following objectives:
- Reach
- Engagement
- Impressions
- Click-throughs
Within these ads you will be able to customize the location reached, how much you want to spend, the target demographic, and even the areas of interest of the audience.
While you’re browsing on your own social media newsfeed, you’ve likely come across these paid ads from other businesses. Whether it be through photos, videos or even stories, paid ads are proven to be effective!
Social Media Influencers
Even though it is important to build your own social following, many businesses are also making use of social “influencers” to also help increase their sales.
You’ve probably heard of them by now, but social media influencers are people who have a large number of engaging followers. Did you know that in this day and age, people trust influencers more than their own family and friends. Crazy, right?
In fact, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, and will purchase the product only after seeing it on their social media.
This means that there is a huge opportunity for businesses to reach new audiences and influence big spenders such as the millennials and Generation Z crowd!
So to take advantage of this, find influencers that match your specific industry and have followers who would be interested in your brand or business. Try asking them to promote your brand by posting about your product/service and giving honest reviews in exchange for special discount codes or even free samples.
In the end, this will help boost your brand awareness to their massive following, and is proven to drive up sales.
Turn Customers Into Brand Ambassadors
Aside from the handy dandy influencers, you can also use real people to promote your own products. The thing is, in order to have a successful social media presence, people need to be talking and sharing about you.
You should use your most passionate customers to review their experiences and promote your products. In exchange, they will get freebies or discounts. This generates word of mouth by marketing to their friends and families.
Another idea is to use a referral brand ambassador program, where you give your loyal customers special referral codes. You can reward them with discounts whenever someone uses their referral code to purchase an item.
Feature User-Generated Content
If you aren’t using user-generated content (UGC) you are missing out, my friend. This is a great trick. UGC is organic content created by your customers and followers on their social platforms. This could include photos taken by them that features your product/service or content created by them for contests and giveaways.
By re-posting this type of content, it shows the authenticity of your brand.
According to Business Insider, customers that see user-generated content are actually 97% more likely to convert and purchase something as opposed to those who don’t.
People prefer user-generated content because they can easily relate to a customer like them, compared to a professional photo taken by the company.
It is a proven way to drive up sales.
Use Interactive Posts to Educate and Entice
Remember to create valuable content that doesn’t always hard sell your product, but instead educates and engages customers. Unlike typical marketing efforts you see all the time, social media marketing is actually totally different. Your followers need to see new entertaining content- and they need to see it regularly.
When you think about it, people are mostly on social media during their free time, so they want to see posts that are entertaining instead of posts that are pushy.
If the posts are too “advertise-y”, people will scroll past them quickly. So you need to find a good balance between promoting your products and making content engaging.
Here are just a few ways to do this:
- Create interactive and engaging content, such as contests or giveaways, causing people to comment.
- Animated photo/videos/GIFs.
- Post photos or videos inspired by actual real-life situations.
- Don’t be afraid to be funny! Add in jokes/puns while creating content.
- Post content that includes recipes and/or tips for using your products.
- Share photos of customers or UGC using or engaging with your products.
Allow People to Buy Straight from Posts
Nowadays, people like for their online transactions to be as quick and easy as possible- even when it comes to social media. You may have not known that on most social media platforms, there are now features where customers are now able to purchase and check out straight from just a single post. Whaaaaaaat?
Yes! There are now shoppable posts which allow users to make quick and secure purchases just while browsing their feeds. This reduces the effort from a multi-step process to only a single click. Good news for you is that it also reduces time for customers to reconsider their purchase entire decision.
Know Your Platforms
In order to effectively use social media, you should absolutely understand your brand and which platform your target audience is on. It’s only then can you choose the best platform to use and create unique content that is relevant for it.
For example, fashion brands should focus more on Instagram rather than Facebook, whereas professional services might prioritise Facebook or Twitter.
By investing in the right platform to reach the right audience, the likelihood of your sales increasing is higher, and you will reach the right people.
Keep Up and Make Use of The Latest Trends
As much as it’s a good idea, creating content and promotions around seasonal events, such as Valentines or Christmas, are not enough to keep content exciting and relevant anymore.
Now more than ever, there are random trends popping up and becoming popular every few months. You should craft creative posts related to these trends as wellto draw more attention to your brand.
For example, bubble tea is currently a huge trend across the world. Businesses are exploiting this trend by creating bubble tea related posts or featuring it somewhere in their content pieces.
When creating trendy posts, you should do it as soon as the trend arises, or even before if you can forecast it beforehand. Be mindful that trends come and go really quickly- so you should get your relevant content out there before the hype disappears and it’s too late.
Post Often and Consistently
People are constantly looking for new information on a daily basis- including your audience! To get the most out of your social media marketing, you should be posting regularly in order to keep your page active.
This is especially relevant as most social media platforms have changed their algorithm yet again. In order for your posts to be seen, your page needs to be both active and engaging.
Not to mention, people get tired of looking at the same advertisements or pieces of content, so change it up every now and then for them! Try surprising your customers with unique and creative content, and remember to keep it attractive so it draws people to your page.
By posting the right content consistently, people will surely have more confidence in your brand and sales will increase as a result. The power of social media is might – and it’s all in your hands!
As you’ve probably figured out by now, social media is a great tool to leverage in order to promote your brand and increase sales. By taking advantage of the different components to the social media platforms, you can boost sales even without spending tons of money!
We would love to work with you for all of your social media needs. Visit www.dalexdesigngroup.com or www.dalexsocials.com to learn more.
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