#WildHeartedStrategy: Tell a good story on social — and then sell it.
There are so many innovations in tech that happen extremely quickly — how can you possibly keep up?
Honestly, you can’t.
What you CAN do is see what’s trending and be at the forefront of what’s going to work for YOUR specific business.
I love the fact that businesses are becoming more transparent in their approach to what they share internally and externally… and that social proof has become such a powerful way to “sell” in that straightforward opinions from everyday consumers carry so much weight when it comes to purchasing decisions.
So, how do you make the most of social media to translate into revenue?
According to Pete Boyle, chief copywriter for jumper.ai, it’s time you start thinking about social commerce and have powerful conversations with your audience, where you’re turning engagement into impact.
Here’s a summary of his top social commerce tactics:
1. Improve Facebook Messenger engagement.
Tools like ManyChat can help you accomplish this by turn engagements on Facebook into automated chatbots through Messenger.
It’s a great way to drive Messenger engagement, however, if you want to integrate with platforms other than Facebook you’ll have to set up Zapier integrations.
STORY TIP: In order to be sure that your messenger bot actually gets any engagement, rather than immediate unsubscribes thanks to how annoying it is, you’ve got to connect with your audience emotionally from the get-go. This requires a deep understanding of the mindset of your consumer, and the hero’s journey they want to take with you/your brand/your business.
2. Create automated bot checkouts.
Jumper.ai is a new tool which comes with a pre-built automated checkout chatbot.
You can get an automated checkout bot up and running within minutes and, thanks to their numerous native integrations, you can use it across almost all social platforms.
See how it works on Instagram.
3. Low-cost products sell better.
Why do people browse social media?
It’s not often to find the product they’re looking for, right?
They’re there to look at some awesome, engaging content.
To check on their friends, favorite celebs, or simply look at visual representations of their favorite hobby.
They’re there to waste time in an enjoyable way.
Which makes it difficult to sell high-ticket products that need to be considered.
Social media shoppers are there to enjoy themselves, not consider expensive products.
You’re more likely to make the sale if you focus on low-cost products and impulse buys as it’s more in keeping with their state of mind.
There’s no hard and fast rule, but I’d recommend keeping your social commerce campaigns to $100 and below.
5. Always collect an email address.
You don’t have to stop selling those higher priced products, you simply need to adjust the sales funnel a little.
You’ve got to nurture the relationship and build trust before you can ask for the big sale.
And, as much as I love social commerce, it’s not exactly the best for it.
So here’s what you do.
You first get people to buy something from your store.
You focus on that small ~$50 purchase to bring people from your purchase journey into a customer journey.
Once you’ve made that sale, in the immediate follow up you grab their email address to utilize in an email marketing strategy.
Once the user opts-in to the email, you can start nurturing them over the coming weeks and months.
Before long, that $50 initial purchase is followed up with a $250 purchase. Then a $1000 purchase before, finally, you’ve built enough trust and desire to sell them that $5000 bike.
It’s a longer path to that main purchase, but the LTV of that customer is also much higher than it would be if you’d just tried to sell them on the bike.
STORY TIP: Do you know how to create a powerful funnel? It requires finesse and a build-up of anticipation and excitement, especially because most people get so many emails every day that they’re left unread and simply pile up. Come up with enticing subject lines to encourage opens, then be sure you’re delivering valuable information – and an interesting read! – once they click through.
6. Focus on Engagement Over Sales
I’ll be the first person to say that focusing on things like traffic, shares, likes and their ilk is a fool’s errand.
You’re running a business, right?
And so you’ve got to be focused on the actions that increase your bottom line.
Vanity metrics aren’t going to help anyone… or are they?
The thing with social commerce is that it’s dependent on the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.
You’ve got to make sales, but the father of sales on social is engagement.
Without it, your sales focused update isn’t going to make any money.
So before you think about turning your entire social media account into something that is only focused on driving sales, look first to engagement.
Look at the other brands in your space and deconstruct what it is they’re doing to get the best engagement.
Use that as a template for your own updates and then place your product at the heat of that template.
If like me, you’ve spent your career focusing on sales and revenue this can feel a little odd.
Instead of thinking about it in terms of “growing likes”, think of it as getting enough traffic to run an effective A/B test.
Without the traffic, you can’t depend on your results.
Without engagement, you can’t judge the effectiveness of your social commerce campaigns.
STORY TIP: In order to generate real engagement, you’ve got to KNOW what your customers want to hear from you. If you’re a service-based business, they’re going to want to know you can move from them from their pain island to their pleasure island. Show them you GET them by using the actual words they’re saying to themselves and thinking; once you’re able to that, you can reveal the promised land of where they’d like to be, and how you’re the conduit who can help empower them to get there. This is where the trust-building and relationship starts to grow.
If you’re looking for help on how to craft the right conversation starters to kick up engagement, be sure to schedule a free call with me, so we can get you clarity on the story your brand needs to be telling the world.
