We all know that social media has transformed the ways businesses interact with customers. In fact, it’s a global phenomenon that no business can do without.
In today’s competitive market, if you want your competitors to outperform your business, then stop all your business social media activities. The popularity of social media has contributed immensely to how businesses reach customers nowadays.
It’s not only a platform through which people make connections and socialize, it’s also a place to market your business. Businesses are now using social media platforms for business marketing and promotion.
Today, there is more to social media for business than marketing; it is a platform through which businesses now get new customers with ease.
But not only that, but you can also use the platform to interact with existing customers, and build a relationship with potential customers.
Also, business reputation is important in today’s competitive market and the good thing is that social media can easily be used for this purpose.
Having realized how important social media is in managing the business today, is your business also getting new customers through the platform?
As a platform through which businesses now connect and interact, it’s important to ensure that your business is not being left out.
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Most people think that social media is only good for marketing and ‘engaging’ customers, rather than making direct sales. But as we explain below, you will be surprised at how the platform can also help a business to increase the chances of selling.
#1]. Monitor, listen and respond on time
Most people that follow your business on social media have an interest in your business. When people mention your brand or product on social media, let them know you noticed the mentions. You can use tools like Brand24 to monitor social media mentions, listen, and engage people promptly.
However, please don’t dive straight in with a hard sell, ask whether they need help. Responding and gently offering help is a far better approach than pushing for people to buy from you immediately.
#2]. Encourage sharing of your products
It’s important to encourage your website visitors to share your content on social media. Nudging your website visitors to share your products on social media is a great way to promote interest without any ongoing time or effort.
If you haven’t already done it, add share buttons to your product pages. Do the same for your emails, any blog posts about products, and make sure they are visible to your website visitors.
#3]. Do press release, involve bloggers
Brands are using bloggers to get their products to potential customers. Involve bloggers in the testing of your product, it can open new windows of opportunity.
Look around, you might be able to notice that your competitors are already using bloggers to promote their products. You can do less expensive things like asking bloggers to try your products and blog about it. Also, you can use press release platforms to get the message out to the public.
The ‘new product launch’ is the best occasion for lots of people to buy the same product at the same time. Create a simple social media plan around new product launches, it can help drive sales. Also, informing your customers about new products will get them prepared.
Begin mentioning products before they arrive, and you can often judge demand from the number of responses you get on social media. Another thing is that if you are able to take pre-orders, this is even better.
#5]. Do competitions and contests
Offer simple competitions, draws, and contests, it’s another good way to encourage sales via social media. You can run a Twitter competition by asking followers to tweet their favourite product on your site.
Offer a prize to one of the tweeters, or a donation to charity for every mention. You can also offer a prize draw whenever anyone purchases from you and mentions it on a social network and lets you know. Please seek legal advice before you run any prize promotion as the law in this area can be complicated.
#6]. Run limited-time offers campaigns
Nothing is wrong with notifying your followers about new products and products of the day or products of the week. But you have to be careful about it so that you won’t become a nuisance to your followers.
You can do your social media mentioning when you have had a big order for a product or when the stock is low on a popular line. You can also get new customers by offering limited-time offers and social media only offers exclusively to your followers.
#7]. Turn followers into subscribers
As well as selling direct via social media, it’s also useful to turn followers into subscribers. This is why you should be encouraging your followers and fans alike to sign up for your email newsletter if you send one.
You can also ask your customers to recommend you via social media, which is perhaps the best way to encourage sales on your website. This is particularly good for word of mouth marketing, one of the cheapest means of business marketing.
