Online shopping is largely driven by users who have already created their customer experience by surrounding themselves with certain people, brands and services. Particularly for startups with limited marketing budgets, implementing a social media selling strategy is a relatively inexpensive way to effectively engage a large target audience that is open to dialogue and willing to purchase potential, thereby increasing return on investment. If you are looking for opportunities to increase brand sales on social media, check out our recommendations.
Choose the right platform to attract your target audience
There are many social media platforms, each with its own distinctive features and appeal to a specific audience. So, Snapchat and Instagram are popular with young users, LinkedIn is indispensable for business contacts, Twitter for exchanging opinions. Determine who your target audience is and start selling online on the appropriate social network.
Free online analytics tools provide data disaggregated by the demographics of social media users. This information will help you make the right choice and build your marketing strategy. For example, the Facebook Audience Insights tool will offer information on user groups by age, gender, interests, marital status and profession. In addition, you will receive valuable analytics on the behaviour of the target audience: what time of day users are most active on the network and how much time they spend on average on Facebook. Once you have this information, you can determine the best time to post content to attract users at the peak of activity.
Another advantage of social networks is their global reach. Even if you’re a self-employed entrepreneur working from home in Sydney, your social media presence will allow you to reach clients all over the world.
Understand how a social media funnel works
Trust is the foundation of successful social media sales. It certainly takes time for brands to build relationships with potential customers. The most effective strategy will be to use non-intrusive sales methods – you need to gradually increase the number of subscribers, gaining their trust and loyalty to the brand. In the long run, this will lead to repeat purchases.
Don’t let your subscribers get bored
Post interesting and original content to engage your audience. Build long-term engagement from your subscribers. The longer a user has been following your profile, the higher the likelihood of making a purchase.
If you are a small business and, for example, create something for clients to order, Instagram is an excellent advertising platform for you.
Instagram has unlimited possibilities for posting colourful, mesmerizing photos of your creations. Beautiful frames encourage users to scroll through the feed, and if they like the content, the likelihood increases that they will follow the suggested link to your site and make a purchase. High-quality content published on the right platform also motivates users to share their favourite posts with friends on social media, which allows you to attract even more customers.
Communicate with your audience
Read comments and actively communicate with subscribers. Answer their questions, react to their wishes, build relationships with new and regular customers. All of this will help build the trust of the audience and ultimately influence purchasing decisions.
There are many tools out there for managing online shopper relationships. With its help, you can communicate with users of any social network in real-time. By developing relationships with customers, you can achieve successful sales.
Collaborate with influencers
One of the most effective ways to expand your social media presence is to collaborate with influencers, i.e. bloggers who publish posts on a specific topic and have a loyal subscriber base. Because of the popularity of influencers, their statements in support of a particular brand or product can be much more effective than paid advertising, since such recommendations appear sincere to users.
Formulate your call to action correctly
Once you’ve been able to engage a user with your content on social media, it’s a pivotal transition from interest to purchase. The simple step of adding a Buy button below your Instagram product photo can help turn leads into sales. Don’t miss this opportunity!
If your posts are not about a specific product, but about the industry in which you work, take the opportunity to create a series of related Instagram posts to attract customers. The chances of forcing an expensive purchase on a prospect on the first contact are as minimal as getting an offer to get married on the first date. Calls to action – like “Next” or “Learn More” – can help you gently nudge users through all the stages of the sales funnel.
If you don’t know anything about presenting your product, calling to action and so on, make sure to seek advice from Sydney web design professionals.
Encourage customers to leave feedback
The vast majority of online users (92%, according to a global survey) read customer reviews before deciding to buy a new product. We trust other people’s feedback more than brand promises. Take advantage of this opportunity – let satisfied customers share their feedback on your products. At the same time, remember that feedback can be negative, and dissatisfied customers can leave their comments. Be alert and always promptly respond to customer claims.
Conclusion
Facebook has 1.8 billion users, about 800 million people log in to Instagram every month, and over 150 million use Snapchat every day. These are just a few numbers that showcase the impressive reach of the audience on social media. Unsurprisingly, they’ve become great trading platforms. Don’t let it waste, use them wisely!