I have tasted the joy of receiving transaction alert for marketing products on the Social Media; both for myself and for several clients (in and out of Nigeria) whose Social Media presence I manage.
See ehn; the joy is unspeakable. But selling on Social Media is NOT automatic; it's not by luck. It is an intentional process. You need to understand how it works or you might end up shooting yourself in the foot.
If you have never made any sale via the social media, the following may be the underlining reasons:
- You don't know your ideal customer.
No matter how fantastic your product is, everyone can never be your customer.
- You are pissing people off by selling all the time.
People hate to be sold to. They prefer to buy. Instead of posting "buy this... buy that" all the time, start offering solutions to embarrassing problems of your target customers.
- You are using the wrong platform.
If you sell a B2B product or service and you spend all your time on snapchat, you will end up wasting your time. Decision makers at that level are mostly found on Linkedin and Twitter.
- No emotional connection with your market
People make buying decisions emotionally and justify them logically. All your posts must be crafted to win the heart of your customers. When you get their heart, they will open their wallets.
You don't show up regularly
If you post today and disappear; and resurface from the moon after 3 months, people won't take you seriously. What many people don't know is that those who buy from you don't do so the first time they see you online, they monitor you for a while. You may never get a comment nor a like from them but they are watching you silently on 3-D.You place more value on followership than engagement.
Of what use is it to have 40k followers if they are not engaging your posts? Don't be fooled there are many bought/fake followers and likes on Instagram and Twitter.
- You are missing out on little details such as having a great profile picture and bio.
People form an opinion of you based on these things.
- You are too in a hurry.
There's seedtime and harvest. Except you are using paid adverts to drive your products online, don't expect massive sales too soon. It starts out in trickles and builds up.
It takes about 36 exposure to a particular advert to begin to make impact. Expert advertisers understand this; that's why Coca-cola still advertises on Facebook inspite of its brand value.
- You are unwilling to spend money to make money.
Not everyone is skillful in social selling. You can either learn it or hire a Social Media marketer to do the job for you.
Secondly, you need to should have a budget for paid/sponsored adverts. They pay off!
- You don't have a Social Media Strategy.
Every post should have an underlining purpose. It could be to create awareness, to engage or to retain loyalty. Don't be an "anywhere belle face" somebody.
Where are you found wanting? What struggles are you having in driving sales on Social Media? Have you ever sold a product via the Social media? How did you do it?