HubSpot’s 2024 Sales report ranked social media as the fourth most effective sales channel.
But before you rush to sign up for every platform, you must know that simply being active on social media doesn’t guarantee profits.
To see real results, you must post with purpose, keep followers engaged and guide them naturally toward becoming paying customers.
For that, you need a social media conversion funnel.
Let’s unpack everything you need to know about social media funnels, including:
• What Is a Social Media Funnel?
• 5 Stages of the Social Media Sales Funnel
• 7 Steps To Building a High-Converting Social Media Funnel
• Not Converting Leads? Here’s What You Could Be Doing Wrong
• Ensure Your Social Media Funnel Never Runs Dry
What Is a Social Media Funnel?
Social media funnel, social media marketing funnel, social media conversion funnel, social media sales funnel or social selling funnel.
Whatever you call it, they all serve one purpose: to convince strangers to buy what you’re selling.
A social media marketing funnel is the pathway users take from discovering your brand on social platforms to becoming paying customers. It guides leads through five stages:
1. Awareness: Social media users become aware of your product or service.
2. Consideration/Interest: The turning point where users feel a strong pull to buy. At this point, users (now called leads) become curious enough about your brand to scroll through your social media, click calls to action (CTAs) or visit the link in your bio.
3. Action/Conversion: Users take steps toward a purchase, like contacting your team, requesting a demo, adding to their cart or clicking “Buy Now.”
4. Engagement: You continue to nurture customers after they purchase social media interactions.
5. Advocacy: Happy customers become your biggest promoters. They start recommending your brand to their network and sharing on social media.
The thing is, the customer journey isn’t as linear as the funnel above. Leads may drop off or bounce around within the funnel. They may revisit your site and interact multiple times before converting, sometimes even through a different channel than where they started.
More about each stage of the social selling funnel in the next section.
5 Stages of the Social Media Sales Funnel
Each stage of the social media sales funnel is designed to gradually nurture a user from discovering your brand to becoming a loyal customer.
Stage 1: Awareness
The first stage is where you introduce your brand to people who have never heard of you. Your goal is to grab their attention and show them that your product or service can solve their problem. If you don’t hook them here, even the best content will not matter because it will not get seen.
This isn’t the time to make a hard sell. Instead, focus on offering value and support. Share content that’s helpful enough to stick in their minds and make them curious to learn more about who you are.
The best content types for the awareness stage are:
• Blogs
• Videos
• Guides
You can use static organic posts like the one below from Thrive Internet Marketing Agency or paid ads for a more targeted reach.
Video marketing also works well at building awareness because it is entertaining and can be consumed passively. Another option is collaborating with experts or influencers who trust your brand enough to share it with followers.
Stage 2: Consideration (or Interest)
Great, you’ve got their attention. Now, your job is to show them why your product is what they need. Use consideration campaigns to explain your benefits and highlight what makes you different.
Make it clear why they should choose you over any alternative, even if that alternative is not buying at all. What’s your edge? Is it the quality, price, ethics or time-saving aspect? Help them see how your product solves their problem better than anyone else’s.
Strategies to use at the consideration stage include:
• Case Studies
• Product reviews
• In-depth product tutorials
In this example from Zapier, a client shares how she uses one of Zapier’s features to automate her business:
Videos like these are especially effective here. They add a personal touch and build trust by letting real users speak to the value of your product.
Stage 3: Action (or Conversion)
Now, it’s time to give your potential customers that final nudge to turn their interest into action. By now, you have a strong sense of who your audience is, what they’re looking for and how to reach them.
The goal is to make it as smooth as possible for them to complete their purchase.
Share content that supports their decision to make it easy for them to take the next step. Think product demos, webinars, customer reviews and social proof, such as awards and testimonials.
You can also create a sense of urgency with limited-time offers, exclusive bonuses or welcome discount codes like what Emirates did here:
Sometimes, that final push is all it takes to turn promising leads into loyal customers. However, when asked about common mistakes brands make in the conversion stage, Thrive’s Paid Media Manager Wesley Wessels said:
“The biggest mistake I see brands make is not building up social proof, gaining trust and using some form of brand awareness first before looking at conversions. Each stage of the funnel should have its own creative messaging and work hand in hand with the next part of the funnel.”
Stage 4: Engagement
You made a sale; don’t stop there. Many brands forget that keeping customers takes just as much effort, if not more, than gaining them.
You’ve worked hard to win new customers, so ensure they stick around. Keep them happy, make them feel valued and deliver great customer service. You can also use social listening tools to monitor what people say about your brand.
When asked about the best ways to build loyalty, Wessels shared:
“First of all, good customer service, a quality product, experience or service from your brand and finally, some sort of loyalty program goes a long way. For instance, a promo for returning customers or access to a pre-launch item can build brand loyalty for sure!”
In addition to stellar customer service, here are other ways to keep your customers engaged:
• Get customers to follow you and keep them interested with quality organic content.
• Offer sneak peeks, early access or exclusive sales just for existing customers.
• Encourage reviews with small incentives.
• Recommend products they might like based on what they’ve bought before.
• Let them know when their favorite products are on sale.
• Share updates about new products or features they might enjoy.
• Provide tips and inspiration to help them get the most out of your product.
• Use branded hashtags to get customers involved and share their experiences.
Hashtag campaigns are another strategy to consider for sustaining engagement. They create a sense of community and encourage ongoing brand engagement.
For example, Essie’s #essielove hashtag invites customers to share photos of their nail polish, allowing them to be featured and feel like a part of the Essie community.
Stage 5: Advocacy
The icing on the cake — turning satisfied customers into passionate advocates.
This is where you encourage your satisfied customers to share their experiences. Offer referral discounts, exclusive perks or loyalty rewards to show appreciation and motivate them to spread the word. Incentives like these make customers feel valued and give them a reason to recommend your brand.
Ask for testimonials or reviews to use as social proof in your campaigns, and make sharing easy with branded hashtags or social media posts.
The simpler it is, the more likely customers are to become advocates.
Want to build a funnel that works for your business? Partner with a professional social media marketing agency to get started.
7 Steps to Building a High-Converting Social Media Funnel
Creating a clear pathway that turns casual followers into loyal customers requires some strategy, especially if you want to gain maximum results. This usually involves crafting compelling content, leveraging data-driven insights that coax customers through your social media marketing funnel. So, how do you build one that actually works? Keep reading to find out.
Step # 1: Get To Know Your Audience
Before building your social media funnel, you need to understand who your potential customers are:
• Who are they? (age, interests, lifestyle)
• Where do they live, and what do they do for work? (demographics, occupation)
• When are they online? (best times to reach them)
• What do they enjoy in their free time? (hobbies, interests)
Demographic data is key to knowing your audience and creating content they can relate to. Ask yourself: What do they want from a brand? What would make them choose you?
But don’t rely on analytics alone to understand your audience. Social listening helps you see what people are actually talking about and what’s important to them. This way, you can pick up on things they care about, like specific problems or interests, that analytics alone might miss.
With this insight, you can create brand awareness content that captures their interest.
Step # 2: Generate Brand Awareness Content
Great content is what will get people to notice your brand.
Start by understanding your audience’s pain points. Identify the problems they’re talking about and create content that gives real solutions without pushing a sale (yet).
For example, if you’re in fitness, check out Reddit, fitness subreddits and other online communities for questions about workouts, nutrition and fitness advice. Watch for popular topics or questions with “I need this info too” comments — these make great awareness content for blogs, videos or social posts.
Support your content with solid search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword research. Combining what people need with what search engines rank well boosts brand awareness.
If you have the resources, use paid social media ads to expand your reach even further.
Step # 3: Present Your USP
You have their undivided attention and have gained a good amount of likes, shares and comments on social media.
Now’s the time to present your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
For example, let’s say you’ve written an article about the challenges of managing server uptime. At this stage, your social media content should highlight a real-time monitoring tool that tracks server metrics, alerts users to potential issues and provides performance reports to resolve problems quickly.
Offering tangible solutions to the problems you’ve already discussed speaks directly to an engaged audience ready to take the next step.
If your solution is clear and accessible, this is where you can turn interest into desire and drive serious consideration for your brand.
To drive this message home, use a combination of organic and paid methods:
• Organic Methods: Share positive product reviews, create demos, host AMA sessions with your CEO or CTO, showcase user testimonials and maintain strong support.
• Paid Methods: Run Facebook ads for retargeting, promote your product catalog and sponsor posts featuring customer reviews or blog endorsements.
Step # 4: Nudge Them To Buy
What moves someone from “I like this” to “I’ll buy this”? Often, it’s knowing the product fits their needs perfectly.
At this stage, your goal is to move people from wanting your product to actively choosing it. Focus on product-specific content that shows exactly why your offer is worth it.
Say you’re offering a fitness program. You can share customer success stories, testimonials or before-and-after transformations. Show that your service delivers real results, helping potential customers picture the benefits they’ll gain.
Sweeten the deal even more by using organic and paid tactics:
• Organic: Offer a free trial, a limited-time discount for new sign-ups or host a Q&A session with trainers to address common questions and build rapport.
• Paid: Use retargeting ads to remind people who’ve visited your page or watched your videos. Create ads promoting special offers or limited-time deals, and ensure your “Sign Up” or “Buy Now” buttons are easy to find and click.
Step # 5: Follow Up and Engage After They Buy
The post-purchase engagement shouldn’t be an afterthought. After a sale, customers want to know they’re valued. Checking in to ensure they’re happy shows that you care about their experience with your product.
Good post-purchase support keeps customers returning and can turn them into loyal advocates for your brand. Stay connected to your customers — check up on them, invite them to try new products and share helpful information so they can get the most out of their purchases.
Create communities for current customers to share experiences and ask questions on social media. Keep creating social media content that supports their purchases and encourages engagement.
Content types you can use:
• Organic Methods: Host regular chats on social media, invite customers to webinars or panels, answer questions, offer priority support and create content from frequently asked questions.
• Paid Methods: To target existing customers, use sponsored posts, create private groups on Facebook or LinkedIn and run ads with exclusive offers.
Step # 6: Promote Customer Advocacy
Make your customers love your product so much that they’re excited to share their experiences with others.
When customers genuinely love your product, their excitement becomes contagious. Encourage this natural enthusiasm by offering excellent support, listening to feedback and building a community they feel connected to.
Avoid paid ads at this stage, as genuine customer loyalty cannot be bought. Focus instead on delivering a high-quality product, exceptional support and using organic tactics, such as:
• Developing an employee and customer advocacy program.
• Building customer communities using branded hashtags on X and Instagram.
• Featuring customer interviews and quotes to highlight real experiences.
Step # 7: Run Tests and Make Adjustments
Once your social media conversion funnel is set up, it’s time to test, test and test some more. Assess how well each stage of your funnel performs, paying close attention to where customers drop off.
Use social media analytics to understand how users move through the journey and spot areas where you lose them. As customers move through the funnel, monitor key metrics like:
• Impressions
• Reach
• Engagement
• Social media conversion rate
• ROI from referrals
• Brand voice share
• Response rate to customer queries
• Click-through rate (CTR)
Regular testing and optimization help ensure that each stage of the social media conversion funnel delivers results and that your customer journey keeps improving.
So, How Often Should You Revisit Your Conversion Funnel?
Here’s what Wessels has to say:
“As much as possible. Especially the top of the funnel, as this is where new audiences are discovered. They may not be ready to convert immediately, but nurturing them with the right ad copy and creative can guide them to the bottom of the funnel, turning them into your next lead or conversion.”
Not Converting Leads? Here’s What You Could Be Doing Wrong
If your social media conversion rate is declining, you might be making some of these mistakes:
• No Personalization: Generic posts and messages don’t work. Personalize your content and DMs to show you understand your audience’s needs and interests.
• Poor Lead Qualification: Not every follower is a lead. Make sure you identify and engage with those who show genuine interest in your product or service.
• Slow Response: Social media moves fast. Leads may lose interest if you don’t respond to comments and messages quickly. Timely engagement is crucial.
• Lack of Value: If your social posts are all sales-driven, you risk losing your audience. Share useful tips, insights and value-driven content that addresses their needs.
• Misaligned Offers: Make sure your offers align with what your social audience wants. Misaligned promotions can attract the wrong followers who are unlikely to convert.
• Complicated Path to Conversion: Potential customers will drop off if your links or processes are confusing. Make it easy for leads to take action with clear calls to action and simple next steps.
• Lack of Trust: To convert, leads need to trust you. Use social proof, such as customer reviews, testimonials and case studies, to build credibility on your profiles.
• No Lead Nurturing: Many social media leads aren’t ready to buy immediately. Nurture them with consistent, helpful content, retargeting ads and DMs that keep them engaged until they’re ready.
Ensure Your Social Media Funnel Never Runs Dry
The journey toward becoming loyal, paying customers isn’t as linear as you’d think. Leads may drop off, get distracted or need multiple touchpoints before they commit.
A well-designed social media conversion funnel helps you keep them engaged and gently guides them back on track, turning interest into lasting loyalty.
Let Thrive’s social media experts craft content that connects with your audience at every stage of the funnel. We’ll optimize your strategy, sharpen your targeting and help you maximize your budget to drive measurable results.
Our social media marketing services include:
• Lead Generation
• Social Media Management
• LinkedIn Marketing
• Twitter (X) Advertising
• Instagram Advertising
• SEO Copywriting
We also offer social media conversion rate optimization (CRO) services.
Go for what’s best for your business — speak to our SMM experts today.
