Social media is excellent for branding, but could marketers also optimise it for sales?
At the end of 2018, Netflix had 139.26 million paid subscribers. The video streaming giant revealed that the viral popularity of its original film Bird Box led to record subscriber additions during the last quarter of 2018; 45 million paid accounts watched Bird Box in the first week of its release, and overall 80 million went on to watch it.
Impressive numbers, aren’t they?
While most of this success should be attributed to the fact that Netflix is an amazing brand, credit for the impressive sales numbers needs to be given to the brilliant marketing tactics they’ve used as well. Netflix uses social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and others to inform its target audience about new shows through interesting clips and trailers.
Over 3 billion people are using social media, and the number increases every year. Any business would want to convert all of these into active leads for their sales funnel.
Also Read: 5 Tips for Marketers to Reach Target Audience on Social Media in 2019
For achieving a successful sales funnel, the sales process needs to be integrated, refined, and optimised. However, out of the entire organic traffic from your social media, most visitors do not want to buy from you. Social media provides a lot of cold traffic, i.e. window shoppers. So how do you ensure that you get the most out of it?
A 6-step guide to turning social media traffic into active leads in your sales funnel
1. Start With an Evaluation Process
When you are running a race, you need to get to the start line before you determine the finish line. Similarly, you need to know where you stand, currently, in terms of social media followers, before you start trying to convert them into leads.
Start by conducting a website audit to figure out where your traffic comes from and what are their habits. Tools like Google Analytics or Oribi can help in determining which channels most of your visitors come from so that you can focus on them.
2. Set Up Your KPIs and Goals
Define your goals based on your current numbers. However, first, what are the parameters of your success? Is it the number of website visitors? Alternatively, is it people contacting you through the website? Decide your key performance indicators to set up your goals.
Studies show that first-time visitors to an SMB website rarely convert. The average documented ecommerce shopping cart abandonment rate is 68.63%.
So, before you set goals for your website, look up the averages. What are the average conversion rates in the industry? Compare the averages with your current numbers and set achievable goals. Setting unachievable targets is not a healthy way to progress.
Also Read: Time to Make It Personal: Content Personalisation Tips for Better Marketing
3. Optimise Your Sales Funnel
Converting social media traffic can be tricky. Therefore, it is best to make it as easy for the visitors as possible. 63% of marketers found social media to be useful for building a loyal fan base. There are various ways to optimise your social media funnel. Some of them include:
a. Social Media Listening
Social media listening is a new requirement for brands. Most brands respond to mentions on social media. However, the problem arises when users don’t tag the brand when mentioning the brand. 96% of the people that discuss brands online do not follow those brands’ owned profiles.
This is why social media listening is crucial. Various apps help you listen on social media channels for mentions of your brands, competitors, etc. This keeps you up-to-date with your audience.
b. Provide Social Sign-Up Options
Have you ever wanted to sign up for something but didn’t want to type out the form? That is everyone’s predicament, and you could use it to your benefit. By offering social sign up options, you bypass the need to type out information, and the conversions are bound to go up.
c. Add Sharing Options and Incentivise Them
When you readily offer buttons for sharing, chances of the users sharing it increases. So make your sharing buttons visible and incentivise the users for sharing. For example, you could provide them with gated content like an eBook or an infographic for sharing the non-gated content.
Also Read: How to Put the Experience Back Into B2B Customer Experience
Social media management solutions provider sproutsocial claims that 61% of social marketers prioritise social media posts that teach. 58% focus on telling a story and 53% focus on posts that inspire.
Content is Still The King
Social media leads are different from your regular leads. Hence, the same kind or form of content won’t work with the former. They are in a different stage in their buying process and thus on the top of the funnel. You need to create and curate quality and informational content for your audience to keep them engaged and move them in the funnel.
This list is not exhaustive in its approach; however, if you follow these steps, you are sure to find an increase in your social media conversions.
