My clients often ask me how they can make sure that whatever time they put into social media is going to result in sales, and to be honest, there isn’t a one size fits all answer to this question.
Often it depends on your product, your relationship strategy, your nurturing process, the way you communicate with your audience and most definitely also how well you know your audience. Of course there are also external factors at play, for example the state of the economy, competitor offers, the marketing landscape etc.
All of the puzzle pieces need to fit in and work together to give you a successful outcome.
There are a few things that you can focus on that will certainly increase your results and outcomes when you are inviting your audience to work with you.
Let’s look at 3 ways to sell to your social media audience that will increase your results.
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Long term nurturing
Social media is a long-term game. Hardly ever has anyone spent 3 days in the game and made a sale, unless your product is something buyers are familiar with and it’s at a ‘no brainer’ price.
Most of us spend months, if not years, nurturing our audience.
With nurturing, we mean that you build a relationship. This isn’t unlike an offline relationship where you often spend many days getting to know each other.
An online relationship works the same. Your audience wants to get to know you and know what you do before they will purchase from you.
Put the time in to get to know them and for them to get to know you.
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Use examples/testimonials
Once you have worked with a few people, ask them for a testimonial to put up on your website but also on your social media channels.
Social proof is extremely valuable and it will help you build trust with your audience.
Share what you have done for and with your clients so that your audience gets a ‘behind the scenes’ to working with you.
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Give before you ask
This comes back to point one. It’s part of building your relationships.
Give to your audience before you ask them to purchase from you.
It doesn’t mean that you need to give your products or services away for free, please don’t do this.
It means that you show your knowledge, show how you can help them. You can do this in a blog, by writing about topics that your audience is interested in.
You can also share tips and tools on your social media channels. Or you can create videos that have actionable steps inside.
Giving means that you are helping your audience before they decide to work with you.
It means that you give them an opportunity to sample your knowledge and help them decide whether or not they will work with you.
I hope this information is helpful to you. If you think it will help someone else too, please feel free to share it.
