Social media are not the future, they are the present, and the businesses that use these tools in their favor sell more. This is why these tools are essential in your brand’s strategy. With the right investment and the right action, you can increase your sales, reinforce visibility and be closer to your client.
Why selling via social media?
Taking into consideration last events that took place in 2020, it is urgent to rethink an online selling strategy. Thus, what would be the best channel to create a relation between your brand and your audience? Social media. Platforms which purpose is basically that: to establish relations.
Due to the pandemic, the tendency is to more and more consumers choose to use e-commerce to buy in the physical store. For some, it may not even be a question of preference, but the only (and most convenient) way to keep shopping.
In this way, online shopping means, to companies, the possibility of keeping in touch with their clients and guaranteeing their financial sustainability. Among other advantages, there is the saving in space rent (physical store) and a better qualitative and quantitative perception of consumer’s behavior.
E-commerce on social media
Surely, you had buying opportunities on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It is estimated that an average of 63,2% of Portuguese post, at least, once a day. And, in this line of thought, “40% of youngsters spend more than two hours per day on social media”. I.e., the probability of being faced or influenced by a product on social media is high.
Therefore, it is extremely important for those who have a business to realize the relevance of use social media to convert. It is necessary to use social media incorporation on e-commerce platforms to convert followers into clients and likes to sales.
Influence in e-commerce
Direct sales through social media represent a strong marketing presence and strategy on digital. Besides back-end tools that allow clients to share products and recent purchases with friends and followers, just a click away.
The number of people buying online is increasing every year. Regarding the new buy and sell models, promoted by the pandemic, it is safe to claim that e-commerce is exponentially growing.
Social media have already impacted consumers’ perceptions. They have directly affected the online market and the way we consume and purchase. Thanks to social media and other marketing, promotion and selling tools, it was possible for companies to identify clients, to interact with them, to build trust, get selling opportunities and to quickly help them.
E-commerce and sales via social media in practice?
To turn followers into clients who purchase your product, it is important to have your social media on your online store. Firstly, in order for your company to be effective when choosing social media, you need to understand how each platform works. This lesson is very important to produce the right content for the right audience.
Facebook
Aside from the constant updates, Facebook is one of the most used platforms in the world. There are mechanisms to enhance its usage, like Facebook Ads. This is useful to intensify your commercials, which is great to advertise products and campaigns.
Talk to your public through written content that describes an asset of your product. Because, on this social media, the text comes before the image.
Because it is a more dynamic social media, Instagram enables its public to have almost an instant access to your content.
On the contrary of Facebook, on Instagram the text comes after the image. So, it is vital to take into consideration the feeling you want to transmit to your possible client. Here, the public is seized upon what it sees, only then by what it reads. Moreover, a picture is worth a thousand words, isn’t it true?
Apart from the differences, Instagram also provides an option of paid ads. This kind of action makes the post appear to a bigger number of people than an organic post.
YouTube
On YouTube, there is content for everything and everyone. It is the ideal social media for companies that aim to achieve authority in the market. Because videos are an easy content and because it is one of the biggest search engines, this social media platform has more than one billion users. Another way to advertise your business on this platform is to collaborate with content creators. In this way, you will be able to reach your audience through an authority that aligns with your brand’s values and purposes.
The collaboration between brands and content creators ends up being another way of communicating your brand by storytelling, creating then a relation between consumer and brand.
After all, how to sell on social media?
Social media enables companies to explore their platforms in exchange of visibility, audience and interaction. All of them provide the business segment to facilitate the companies’ actions. Taking this into consideration, there are five crucial topics that you should think about when selling on social media.
1. Create a strategy for your perfect client
The first step is to adapt your business to the features of the social media you pretend. Then, you should adapt to your audience. Remember that your content must be balanced between your product and relevant content to your public. More important than to show your consumer what he/ she should buy, is to show him/ her why should he/ she purchase in your business.
2. Statistics don’t lie
It is important that your digital strategy is consistent and coherent. The right content has the power of talking to your public in a much more efficient and organic way. When planning paid campaigns on social media, bet on content that goes towards more interactive posts that have more reach. In doing so, it is crucial to evaluate your brand’s performance on digital. Statistics do not lie, besides, they can answer to a lot of your doubts!
3. Know your audience
The biggest advantage of the digital world is the perception of who is really buying your product, so why not use that (with consent) in your favor? According to the data that is given to you, through a landing page, or even social media, it is possible to build more segmented databases to better communicate with your audience.
4. Have all the informations
In this frantic pace of today, to save time and to facilitate the experience of the customer is decisive to increase the selling flux. On social media, by selling a product in a post, be sure that the price is there (and if possible, already redirected for the purchase act). Be sure that all the necessary information is there and be clear on how the client can contact you. Always try to answer questions like “what are your post-selling policies?” or “in the case of a sale, or contact, for how long should the client wait?”. When selling online, it is important to redouble the care and be sure of the credibility of your business model.
5. Sell with originality and authenticity
Social media demand campaigns to be engaging and original. Remember that you are not alone in the market, so if your potential client interprets that your company is only doing the same business model as other brands, it can be difficult to rebuild the credibility and gain your trust. Take advantage of the opportunity to highlight your brand’s DNA, as well as the purpose and values.
Nowadays, social media are a part of the daily life of most people. They are crucial for the final decision of the consumer. Through a click it is possible to compare prices between businesses, check products and services’ reviews, get access to an article that was written in the opposite side of the world, or even get in touch with a brand more easily. As you can see, thinking about how we sell online, mainly on social media, is an essential exercise to keep your company alive in people’s minds. And the easier, the more interactive and accessible, the better.
Carmen Alcobio, Digital Marketeer in Media em Movimento
Fontes: