Social media alone is not usually a direct conversion-maker. But, it can be a vital tool in that all-important purchasing funnel.
As part of a wholesale effort, it does a pretty darn good job. To get an idea of how it can boost sales, look at these stats from a 12-week study EventBrite did on the topic. They estimated that customers who shared an event on Facebook increased ticket sales by $2.52. Meanwhile, a share on Twitter equaled about 42 extra cents.
These are examples of “indirect e-commerce.”
Why? Social media helped drive the sales, but it wasn’t the only factor involved; sharing was one push among many.
Social media conversions are a means, but not a means to an end. If you understand this point, you’ll bump up your own conversion chances.
If you’re ready to start getting a conversion assist to score big points in the sales funnel, here’s how.
How to Grab a Conversion Assist from Social Media
Social media can be a vital tool to help convince your audience to become buyers. These buyers then become long-term customers. It’s a great avenue for indirect conversions. These are ones that don’t happen immediately, but occur after the customer has had a chance to get to know you.
Think of Social Media like planting a seed.
1. Use Social Media to Make Signing Up Easier
Social media is ubiquitous nowadays. Everybody has at least one account that’s their go-to. You can use this to your advantage to make the process of jumping on your bandwagon easier.
On your sign-up pages, let your audience opt-in using one of their social logins. Often, it’s faster and easier than having to set up an account and create a new password.
Often times, people abandon ship at the opt-in stage because they don’t want another login to remember. Circumvent this and allow them to sign up with an existing login, one where they’re probably already signed in or have the password memorized.
2. Prove Your Mettle with Social Proof
Since social media is ubiquitous, it’s a great opportunity to build up your social proof.
What is social proof? It’s demonstrating you’re a trustworthy brand and an authority in your industry through customer words and actions.
When your audience shares, likes, comments, or engages with your content, they give their unspoken approval. Other people who follow them can see their activity engaging with you, and poof – social proof. You’re worth their time, because ‘so-and-so’ seems to like you, and they trust so-and-so’s opinion.
You build social proof by building relationships with your customers. You provide easy opportunities to share your content/products/message. This can take many forms:
- Creating share-worthy posts and content
- Getting boosts or shout-outs on social from fellow influencers with whom you’ve developed a relationship
- Providing social share buttons at crucial points in the buying process, such as right after the sale, when buyers may want to share their cool find
It’s easy to see how social proof can lead to more conversions. Social media can help you build it, which will attract a bigger audience and more leads.
3. Get Attention with Eye-Popping Posts
An informative, well-organized blog is a fine thing. But, it doesn’t usually translate well on most social media platforms. Posting a plain link to your blog is hardly eye-catching. And, in the endless scroll, you should make the audience want to pause and take a closer look.
For this reason, you should create content specifically for different channels. Or, you should take existing content and morph it so it suits another channel better? After all each social platform has posting standards to follow. Playing by their rules gives you a greater chance of succeeding.
For instance, would that long blog post look good summed-up in an infographic? Could you post it with a related funny image or GIF? Or, maybe you could boil down your main points into a cool chart or graph.
Whatever you do, the point is to go visual. Simplify the message to influence more people and convert them to your brand.
So, you know how to power up your social media conversions. Now you might be wondering about some general tactics to improve your rates.
2 Simple Ways to Improve Indirect Conversion Rates
There are a few more ways to assist a conversion. Make these overarching goals inform everything you do. These should help your conversions increase across social media and other avenues.
1. Provide Value
If you’re not providing value to your audience, what are you here for?
The value factor must under-gird everything you do. Everything must go back to the customer and what they need. This is true for your products and services to your content, marketing, and outreach.
It’s about making their lives better or easier. You must do this at all levels of the sales funnel, not just through what you’re selling. Providing value every step of the way is how you turn a casual audience into loyal customers.
2. Track Everything – and Do It Well
If you’re not tracking your social media conversions, you will have no real idea of your success. After all, to improve the numbers, you need a baseline from which to start.
Kissmetrics advises not only tracking sign-ups and form submissions, but every little interaction. This includes ad and search engine clicks, phone calls, in-store visits, and more. Once you track all evidence of conversions, you can properly understand where you’re at and where you need to go.
Social Media Conversions Can Boost Your Bottom Line
Each of the social media conversions you get are a boost to your brand and your bottom line. These platforms are powerful for interacting with customers, building relationships, and positioning yourself. Think of social media conversions as little pushes toward your larger sales goals.
For more professional know-how to boost conversions and improve your brand’s presence, talk to us at Thrive Internet Marketing.
