How to Use Social Media to Sell

By Marcus Hutchinson, guest blogger and owner/director of Marketing Fitness

 

For many people, creating content and posting through social media likely takes a considerable amount of time. As a result, it’s more important than ever to understand the best ways to ensure that you’re using your time effectively. Always remember, the end goal is to grow an audience of qualified buyers that can allow you to turn your followers into customers.

While likes and comments can be an indicator of success, it is easy to make these vanity metrics a focus as opposed to the most important metric which is the growth of your own business! In this blog, I’ll explain how to avoid the vanity metrics trap so your social media strategy can catapult your business to success!

Which platform should I be using?

The different social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) are used for a number reasons with users visiting them with different expectations and intentions.

The infographic below gives a brief overview of some of the most popular social media channels:

There is a common belief that businesses should be everywhere and be consistently posting and engaging across a wide range of social media platforms. This is not effective for most small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) and is only relevant for businesses with large brands and many employees.

By focusing on one, and certainly no more than two, social media channels which are most relevant to your end objective, you will be using your time much more effectively.

For the vast majority of the readers of the blog, your business will be business to consumer (B2C) and will be positioned within the fitness and wellbeing industry. This is why, because of its active user base and the expectations of the user on the platform, Facebook is likely to best option for content creation.

For an offer that is business to business (B2B), LinkedIn is likely to be the most effective platform as shown by the infographic below.

#1 Biggest mistake I see businesses make in their marketing

I believe the most important thing that you can learn in communication is being able to see situations from other people’s perspectives. This is similar to marketing.

If you are a consumer, have a problem and would like a solution to that problem then it is likely that you have many solution providers. Which business do you choose?

Right now, you might be rationally thinking of an answer such as the one with “the best value for money” or “the cheapest.” This sounds reasonable, but humans make decisions emotionally and justify the decision with logic.

So which business do you really choose?

You choose the business who you know, built a relationship with you, offered value first, and then asked for something in return.

I see a lot of business owners who get this wrong.

Marketing is all about getting the right offer in front of the right people at the right time. Someone who is not aware of your brand and service is less likely to convert than someone who is.

This sounds like common knowledge, but common knowledge is not always common practice.

Practically speaking, offering something for free like an eBook or a free pass is a good way to introduce them to your first initial offer.

Once they are a customer, then and only then, should you escalate them up your value ladder (see graph above) to your next higher-priced offer.

How to turn followers into paying customers

Facebook and Instagram are pay to play. This means that, on average, 6% of your followers will see the posts that you put out on social media. Try this for yourself, look at the statistics for your social media pages and see how many people are seeing your posts versus how many people “follow” you.

To utilize your entire following, you need to advertise to them. Think about it from the people at Facebook and Instagram’s point of view. They want to encourage people to spend money through their platforms, and they’re going to make it so that more people see the advertisements rather than the free posts.

If you have a product or service that you want to sell, you can put a small test budget behind an ad and purely target people who have engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page within the last 365 days. I typically set the test budget at the total price of the product or service I am selling.

This will allow you to utilize your entire following!

My best piece of advice when writing to persuade

The biggest mistake I see people make when it comes to writing copy is that they try to sell the product or service on Facebook or Instagram.

This is the wrong approach as the platforms are set up to distract you with lots of different messages and notifications. The goal of the ad is not to sell to them, it’s to get the click. Once they click on the ad, they have left the platform and you have them where you want them. Then, and only then, can you persuade them.

When people are scrolling through social media, they are not in a state where they can be convinced to make a purchase. What you can do is peak their curiosity to make them click, and then they are more likely to do what you want once they visit your website.

So, what do you include in the ad?

The goal of the ad is to create massive curiosity around what it is that you are selling by describing the result or the benefit without telling them how it is achieved.

Social media marketing made simple!

Marketing should be simple. People get bogged down in whether they are in a business to consumer or a business-to-business industry. Ultimately, I like to think of everything as human to human. You are solving a problem that someone has by putting the right offer in front of the right person at the right time – it’s as simple as that!

Remember, a social media strategy is very important for any marketing plan. What other tools can help you get your marketing right? WellnessLiving’s all-in-one platform can help you streamline and automate with your marketing to win back clients, remind them of their classes, confirm their purchases, and more. WellnessLiving has all the tools you need to attract, engage, and retain clients for your business.

Want to learn more about WellnessLiving? Book a free, no-commitment demo today!

Book a call with Marcus Hutchinson TODAY!