Can You Transform Your Social Media Into a Successful Marketing Channel?

Try to Sell Directly on Social Media

Social media should enhance brand awareness and develop relationships with existing and potential customers through content marketing strategies and direct customer communication.

For many, this seems counterintuitive. If you’re still wondering how to sell products on social media or how to get success in social, then take a look at this brief video on Social Media Marketing for e-commerce by Catapult Revenue. It offers expert advice on brand-building through content creation.

Is It Ever a Bad Idea to Sell Directly on Social Media?

While it’s tempting to sell on social media and depending on your business type you certainly can try, but in our experience, we find it’s better to focus on producing great posts that engage your readers. We never recommend a “hard sell.” And by hard sell, we mean adopting an approach that entails uploading images of your products with captions that say things like, “20% discount.” Most people use social media to connect with others and don’t like intrusions from advertisements. It’s better to deliver content that users can re-share, pulling them further down the buyers funnel.

Maintain Communication with Customers

As its name suggests, social media is about being social. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok promote user engagement. When brands increase their communication with customers, they build loyalty and good relations.

Respond to Messages

According to Social Media Today, 89% of customers began doing business with a competitor after experiencing poor customer service. If a customer interacted with you in real life, you would respond. Social media for brands is no different; therefore, it’s important to respond to customers’ messages. Larger brands even use bots to help manage customer service effectively.

Ask about Their Purchase Experience

When brands invite feedback, it makes their customers feel involved and valued. Social media provides an easy way to get feedback from customers as some platforms like Facebook and search engines like Google already have built-in review functionality. This is especially useful if you’re an e-commerce brand as you’ll learn where to improve your online shopping experience.

Ask for Reviews

Reviews help brands improve their products and services and, when done online through a free Google My Business account, can also boost their search engine optimization (SEO). An e-commerce brand with favorable views is guaranteed to entice more customers.

Go Viral via Your Clients

Smart brands utilize user-generated content to promote their products and services. For example, a user may post an Instagram story of a picture of their product that they can reshare. User-generated content can be any video, image, or text material posted online by users. This content can be shared organically or strategically by influencers.

Commission Unboxing Videos

Some brands send influencers free products in exchange for an unboxing video. Unboxing videos are recordings of influencers opening items for the first time and are extremely popular on YouTube and Instagram. They’re chiefly employed to generate a buzz before a brand launches a new product.

Commission Review Videos

These videos are similar to unboxing videos, except they are longer as the influencer will typically review the product. Reviews tend to offer both the pros and cons, so be prepared to receive both positive and negative feedback.

Transform Your Customers into Influencers

When brands use customers or influencers to advertise their products, they increase their online reach because their user-generated content is shared with followers they might not ordinarily have access to. Influencer marketing increases brand awareness, thereby driving more traffic to a brand’s website. Using high-profile influencers also offers the possibility for branded content to go viral.

Comrade is a digital marketing agency with over 12 years of experience executing digital marketing campaigns and tracking their success. When it comes to social media for brands, we help them select the best channels for their business and create bespoke content to engage with their customers. Contact us today to start your social media marketing journey!