Though the world may seem large, we’re closer to one another than ever before thanks to social media. While these new innovations might make life more convenient for people who thrive on reaching out and touching someone, they’re incredibly reliable and efficient for marketers and businesspeople looking to improve their sales.
Billions of people use social media around the globe, and as a low-cost way to market, it’s hard to beat social media to boost your company’s profits. Listed below are four solid tips and methods that you can instantly begin using to sell products with the help of social media websites, and ultimately increase sales with social media.
Tips for Increasing Your Bottom Line
1. Focus on Relationships
Your inclination as a businessperson may be to push your product at every turn. But a social media message that says “Buy me!” isn’t nearly as effective as a message that plays into the social context of any particular site. For instance, if you’re using Twitter or Facebook for posts and status updates, save your selling and instead give your niche something interesting. A funny meme, quality pictures or videos, an informative infographic – these things will draw far more attention to your posts. From your social media material, you can easily backlink people to the required destination. A “Buy me” message may get a few views, whereas something of social value may take off and trend. Increasing your sales doesn’t necessarily mean selling harder. It’s about selling smarter.
2. Use Trends and Tools to Your Advantage
When it comes to increasing your sales, social media can help in many ways. Use the various tools and trends of social media sites to your advantage. For instance, make sure that you use relevant hashtags on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Using the right tags will make your brand more visible to a much larger audience. You can also show brand consistency in using hashtags to promote different contests, new products, etc. On a site like Facebook, also make sure that you take advantage of your targeting options. When you target the right audience, you’re going to get far more hits. Everyone knows that not every visitor is a customer, but building a thorough base definitely gives you more opportunities to sell.
3. Become a Problem Solver
No matter what you’re selling, you’re probably surrounded by a lot of competition. What’s going to set you apart from your competition is your ability to cater to exactly what your niche is after. This is where posting great information comes in handy. Using social media as a platform to inform potential customers rather than a way to simply show them your products is how you eventually develop more customers. So, your potential customers have a problem that your product can solve? Relay this message using social media. Post real product and user reviews. Post videos with examples of how your product works and why people should buy it. If price is a problem, show your customers with social media how you’re offering an affordable solution.
4. Recognize Your Opportunities
One of the best ways to increase your sales with social media is to recognize your opportunities. This is a combination of watching the market for shifts in trends, and in paying attention to your particular base. The cliched phrase “strike while the iron is hot” fits well here, as it’s important to market directly to a viable, interested crowd and not simply putting ads out into the ether hoping they stick. Use elements on Facebook like Graph Search to follow conversations and trends. Find the people interested in what you’re brand is offering and target them. Use the same type analysis on Twitter to recognize when something is trending so that you can act in a hurry. Social media gives you a great platform to act as an opportunist.
When it comes down to it, you increase your sales with social media by working on becoming an engaging brand with social media. The idea here isn’t to list your products as if it’s a sales page with a shopping cart on it. Instead, you want to foster relationships, develop interest, and get more and more people into your sales funnel. You want to create a solid brand image, build a fan following, and give your niche a real reason to stick with your brand. If you can do these things, you can increase your sales.
Do you have any other tips we may have missed? Let us know in the comments below!
This is a guest blog post written by Simon Campbell, who is a writer from a Facebook ad campaign tool – Qwaya. He loves to write different topics about social media and participates in some communities and forums.
