Turning Social Media Engagement Into Sales
Turning Social Into Sales
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Turning Social Into Sales 〰️
Social media has become a large part of most businesses’ marketing strategy. How many times have you gone to research your city’s newest restaurant or shop and ended up on their Facebook page or Instagram profile? I guarantee you follow a handful of local businesses in your area to stay up to date on sales, events, and products. I know I do.
So how can things like followers, comments, and likes impact your sales and business growth? The same way that traditional forms of marketing like commercials, print and radio can. They can help with brand recognition, brand recall, and ultimately conversions. Let’s dive in!
What is social media engagement?
Engagement can mean many things including likes, comments, direct messages (better known as DMs), shares, and mentions. It’s no longer possible to rely solely on follower count for success. We need our followers to be engaged with our content. Even impressions aren’t anything more than a “vanity” metric. We want to know that our followers are enjoying our content, they’re sending it to their friends, hitting us up or resharing our posts. The more this is happening, the higher likelihood that brand awareness, customer loyalty, and sales are improving.
Connecting with customers on a more personal level.
Social media has allowed small businesses to connect with customers, build their trust and relationships all while the customers are in the comfort of their own homes (or anywhere in the world, really). It allows businesses to meet their customers where they’re at. Consistent engagement can foster brand loyalty and repeat customers. You know that feeling you get when you see what your friends are up to every day just from what they post on social media? You can get that same kind of connection when connecting with your customers. Responding to comments, direct messages and reviews shows customers that they’re valued beyond the sale.
The psychology behind engagement and buying decisions.
“75% of people said they increased their spending with a brand they follow”
OK, time for a bit of self reflection…how many times have you been influenced to buy something because of social media. It’s happened to me more than times than I can even remember. The truth is, people are more likely to buy from a brand they see frequently, or see others interacting with. According to retaildive.com, “75% of people said they increased their spending with a brand they follow”. Mind = blown. That’s not a small amount!
Not to mention you can generate ambassadors for your business with social media. People love sharing and tagging their purchases or services they received from a brand and they love when a brand reshares that content even more.
Engagement is literally every part of the sales funnel.
Think of the sales funnel. You have awareness, interest, desire and action. Now let’s add engagement to each step:
Awareness: Likes and shares introduce your brand to new audiences.
Interest: Comments and questions spark conversations about your product.
Desire: Engaging with user-generated content (UGC) builds desire for your product.
Action: Strong calls to action (CTAs) within engagement drive customers to make a purchase.
Increasing engagement to drive sales.
Now you see how engagement can help you sell more products, book more appointments, or whatever your social media goal may be for your small business, but how do we put all of this into action? Here are a few quick tips:
Posting at optimal times for your audience.
Asking questions in captions or running polls to encourage responses.
Sharing user-generated content to inspire more engagement.
Using engaging visuals or videos.
Running giveaways or contests to incentivize interaction.
Tracking the impact.
Once you start increasing engagement, it’s important to start tracking the impact it has. This isn’t a one size fits all strategy and you’re going to want to document what is working and what isn’t. Some social media platforms have great built in tracking tools like Instagram Insights and Meta Business Suite’s Analytics. It’s important to check in on the stats that map directly to your KPI’s. Here at Flourish Digital, we like to keep an eye on website traffic, lead generation and actual sales as a foundation. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. Social media engagement may not lead to sales right away, but remember you are building long term brand growth and customer loyalty.
Alexa, add social media engagement to my to do list.
Social media engagement isn’t hard per se, but it does require consistent effort. You’ll be thanking your self for committing to it when you start reaping the benefits, like relationships with loyal clients, them being brand ambassadors for you (because they want to be), and ultimately - more sales.
If you could take one thing away from this article it’s this - don’t pour all of your focus into JUST creating content. Make sure you’re actually engaging with your audience. Don’t shy away from the comment section on your posts (and other’s posts!), your DMs, or even Facebook groups. That’s where the magic starts to happen.
If you think this all sounds great, but you’re wondering when you can slot this into your never ending to do list - reach out to us for a no charge discovery call. Flourish Digital prides itself on allowing business owners to work in the business, while we work on the business. We’re here to help take a load off.
Yours truly,
Jordan
