Simple tips to help boost sales through social media.

by Mahrukh 9min read
Social selling is a smart method for sellers to connect and build relationships with potential clients or businesses through social networks.

It's a social world that we live in today; everything we do is directly influenced by and relies upon social media. Social media is undoubtedly the root of connectivity and is also growing to be the core of the business. The effect of social media is that 91% of B2B buyers are active and involved in social media and 84% of executives use social media to support their buying decisions.

What is social selling?(IMG)

Social selling is using the tool of social media to sell online either directly or creating easy to do it indirectly by focusing on the networking and social connection part of social networks. This strengthens the process of building genuine relationships with potential customers or getting in the loop with people who influence them.

In other words, Social selling is the practice of leveraging and growing your social media network by providing items and solutions and forming genuine relationships, with the main goal of converting your social leads into lasting customers.

You may have heard myths about social selling, painting it to be aggressive or involving unnecessary spam messages, advertisements etc. But these are common misconceptions. Genuinely effective social media selling takes time and happens organically after establishing trust.

What is social commerce?

Social commerce uses social media to sell directly by facilitating some (or all) parts of the online shopping process, from browsing products to buying them.

How to sell on social media

Getting started with social media selling is the tricky bit, but once you are comfortable with social media platforms, you will begin seeing the great impact they can have on your revenue generation.  

There are various social media selling tips and tricks you can rely on to help you see results. The following are three simple social platforms that are easy to use and will change your sales game once used. 

Social selling strategies for Meta (Facebook)Social updates(IMG)

The manta for social selling is simple; talk about it! It has one critical practice to follow, got a sale? Talk about it online on your social media platforms. Have new products? Feature a post displaying it. Stock updates? Keep your customers updated through Facebook stories. Posts are crucial to a Facebook marketing strategy for business. They provide constant content for your followers and keep them up to date with your company.
Social media updates do wonders for any business; whether you're a clothing brand or run a gym, updates are a great way to keep your customers up to speed with your company. These social media selling updates not only talk about products or upcoming sales but also help your community brand image and awareness and entertain your audience, letting fans know about a new product, events and much more. 
The best thing about having a functioning and interactive social media account is that when you update your followers, they know you are active on your account and encourage them to invest in you as you will be available for them no matter what. 

Facebook Live Events(IMG)

One of the best ways of selling on Facebook is to have a Facebook Live occasion where you discuss a special deal, item or service. Facebook Live streams create 10x more commitment than standard videos or posts. It is known to be a fantastic method for associating with possible clients and instructing them about how you can assist them or deal with or provide an excellent service.

Unlike public pages with to-the-point products, service-based products aren't like that; they require room to educate, discuss and talk to the audience to gain their trust. This is why most service-based product pages regularly host live tutorials in which they use the products, explain how they work, answer questions, and earn trust. An excellent way to gain customer trust while simultaneously providing them with educational value.

Facebook Shops(IMG)

Another exciting way to sell on Facebook, which is indeed promising, is through Facebook Shops. This unique new pathway is getting bigger and better and rolling out the latest feature to enhance user experience.

Facebook Shops is a unique online platform through Facebook that lets brands/businesses advertise products and sell them to an already existing audience, which of course, are their social media followers. Promoting products is also straightforward since Facebook will automatically pull information from your Shop when you use its built-in ads management system. 

Facebook Shops has created an unconventional shopping space ideal for people who want to create a stable digital presence leveraging their already present page audience. Here brands show items and elevate them to an all-around existing crowd: their social media followers. With Facebook shops, social media advertising and running an online business through social media has become much easier as Facebook will take information from your Facebook Shop when you use its built-in ads management system. 

Social selling strategies for LinkedIn

LinkedIn groups(IMG)

Linkedin is the perfect platform for a professional social network; its users benefit from professional connections, exposure and opportunities. It not only lets its users make the most of social connections but also links them to ample opportunities to find, connect, and build relationships with potential prospects on the network. LinkedIn groups are an exceptionally compelling way to generate quality leads. You can begin a LinkedIn group for any reason, from systems administration gatherings to localised searches, shared interests, job groups, or discussions. Linkedin groups are the best to showcase your services/ business and maximise engagement. Linkedin groups work in a theme, so it's best to stick with a specific purpose or goal of the group and prioritise genuine connection instead of only promoting content. 

Linkedin has helped many business owners, and services have led them to generate significant revenue from LinkedIn groups, including Eric Blumenthal, a tech company owner, who attributes 50 per cent of his company's earnings to the LinkedIn group he owns.

Content retargeting(IMG)

Another feature of Linkedin is that it creates an atmosphere of brotherhood where everyone is ready to connect and support one another. This gives rise to more ways to connect socially and sell on LinkedIn. One of many ways to retarget content, as it is an impressive way to expand your online presence and skyrocket your social media selling results. Content retargeting is recognising individuals who have communicated with a post you've reacted on or responded to, contacting them later to identify you share comparative interests, and welcoming them to your connections or circle.

The reason content retargeting is so practical is that the content you've mutually responded to serves as an icebreaker, giving you a reason to request them to join your network and ultimately increase the likelihood they'll accept.

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Linkedin is a great platform packed with many impressive tools to headhunt, market and connect its users. One of its many tools is the Sales Navigator, LinkedIn’s professional social selling tool, which helps target the right prospects with personalised communications. With all that, it is also advanced enough to automatically understand your performance with in-depth analytics to help you use it for your advantage.

Social selling strategies for Instagram

Story ads(IMG)

Did you know? There is a 50% chance of people visiting a site if Instagram users see it in their stories, and Instagram Story ads receive 78 per cent more clicks than ads shown in the timeline feed. The best tip here is to create ads that convert or feature stories in general to promote your content. 

Another impressive feature of Instagram which can be used to advertise your business on social media, is its powerful targeting capabilities. These features not only allow you to show your ads based on gender but also according to geographic location, language, interests and much more. It's about time you started to invest in creating compelling ad content on an Instagram story, as it's an impressive way to start selling through social media.

Saved replies

No one likes waiting hours and hours for replies. Studies show that 79 per cent of social media users expect a response in the first 24 hours. The best Instagram has for you is to let it Handle it for you and reply to you with set automatic answers within Instagram. You can increase your response rates and maintain connections without allocating time and resources to manual responses. 

Even Though this procedure is not selling through social media, it is fine-tuning the channel, which leads to pawning an item through social media. Quickly replying to Instagram messages and providing your followers with the information they need is an essential part of the sales process.

The convenient way to predict frequently asked questions is to identify your follower's commonly asked questions and save responses to these questions. Either set up an automatic standard procedure to handle a query through Instagram or tap the three dots at the bottom of your screen, select your canned response\tk and hit send. The next time you receive the question. 

This helpful feature is ideal for sales professionals and busy business owners who want to provide the best customer service to their audience and avoid repeating the same conversation repeatedly.

Tips for success in social selling

Social selling in recent times is an unavoidable marketing technique; even if you do not want to do it, your surroundings and competitors will convince you to take part in it. Everything comes with a wrong and proper way to do it. 

Here are a few social selling tips and recommendations that'll help you through. 

Communicate, don't spam. 

Moderation is vital when sending messages to your potential or current clients; you never know what might tick them as too much and instigate them to mark you as spam, leaving you unheard and wasting all your marketing efforts. 

A big ‘ Do not’ in your list of social selling tips will be to be careful with contacting people. Do not message random people. Put in your efforts for a suitable audience who needs your endeavours, as your offer is not for everyone, so don’t waste your time messaging every single account you find. Mindfully look for leads and make sure they would potentially be interested in your offer.

Be honest

Much like in any other business or business using social media, dealing or moral code. Honesty is the best policy. When committing or pitching a product, service, or offer, make sure to keep your word.

Many businesses practise social selling as an attempt to market the half-truth in a deal and often succeed as they do it digitally. 

However, it is advisable to be honest about your policies, rules and contents of business as it will depict a lousy brand image in the near future. 

Know when to drop it.

Often, unnecessary leads could be generated through the social media strategies you are targeting. It's wise to know when to drop it and stop bugging the customer.  As because of this constant spamming, you are tarnishing your brand image. Be aware that if a prospect doesn’t respond to your message or they express, they are not interested, take a leap back, as sending spam messages could tarnish your brand and cause people to report or block your profile

We hope this article helped you understand the tips and tricks you need to know to sell smoothly with the help of social media. Use Webx Ecommerce, a free Website Builder In Pakistan, to bring your store online and sell them on social media with the help of these tricks. 

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