How To Use Social Media To Generate Sales
By
Jessica Oaks
Social media is a go to platform for any business trying to make a sale. There are multiple ways marketers are utilizing it to directly reach their consumers, and the various approaches and tactics are directly driving up sales and contributing to brand success.
Brand Awareness
In its most simple form, social media works to build brand awareness. A brand can create its image by sharing its beliefs, tone, voice, style and personality all on social media. Once marketers have established a brand presence via social, they begin to establish awareness of their product and promote what it can offer. Instagram, for instance, is a highly visual social channel that can help consumers envision how a product fits into their life, thus bringing them closer to the actual sale.
Targeted Consumers
All the user data captured within social media is just waiting to be capitalized upon. Professionals in the direct sales business can leverage this data to strategically target their ideal consumers and personalize their messaging and approach based on customer information. For example, at Amway, a company whose business model thrives off direct selling, employed individuals can sell Amway skincare products through Facebook ads or promoted posts directed toward users who may follow beauty related pages. On top of targeted posts, these Amyway professionals can craft their posts based on a better understanding of their audience further explaining the benefits of products through purposeful words, visuals or a combination of both. The targeting that social allows makes it possible to create relevant content for potential customers of a product.
Viral Impact
Social media is word-of-mouth advertising of the 21st century and the viral impact it can have is invaluable for direct marketers. Whether it’s to get people excited about a product launch with a trending hashtag, or sharing a commercial via social, eyeballs are always on the medium which means its ability to spread information is exponential. It has the ability to get consumers talking and eventually grow investment to generate purchases.
Realtime Communication
Thanks to social platforms, customer service and interactions are able to be executed efficiently which results in greater customer satisfaction. Mediums like Twitter are especially useful for marketers to directly talk to their audience in realtime. Someone interested in buying a product can engage with the brand by tweeting or direct messaging and the reply can steer them in favor of a positive purchase decision. Social provides a direct channel for a brand to interact with customers adding to the brand’s reputation and validity as a business.
Instant Purchase
More and more, social will include the ability to purchase a product instantly via the same platform the user is on which is extremely beneficial for direct sales professionals. Pinterest and Instagram buy buttons have been integrated to allow for instant purchases to be executed. Pinterest’s version of the button simply says “Buy it” next to the “Pin it” button creating a more direct path to purchase. Instagram’s Like2Buy functionality utilized by retailers including Nordstrom takes users to a product’s page when they like an image, another direct line of access to purchasing a product. Facebook over the past few years has also incorporated similar call-to-action buttons such as “Shop Now,” “Sign Up” and “Book Now,” enabling ease of investment for interested parties.
Social media mediums have paved a wide path for those in the direct sales business to explore and leverage. With its unique ability to create a brand through visuals and conversations, along with its viral impact, social media has revolutionized the a customer’s journey to a purchase event, and optimized the process for more direct sales to take place.
Jessica Oaks is a freelance journalist who loves to cover technology news and the ways that technology makes life easier. She also blogs at FreshlyTechy.com. Check her out on Twitter @TechyJessy.
