How to Sell on Social Media
It is almost impossible to exist in this world without social media. Social media is not just about stalking old acquaintances from high school anymore, it has evolved into the literal one stop shop to furnish apartments, sign up for courses, buy clothes, and join fitness challenges. I know plenty of people who make all their purchases from Facebook or Instagram Ads and won’t go to a website without coming across it on social media first. In fact, 61% of people say they exclusively use Instagram when they want to buy something.
As much as some try to fight it, the best business owners know that they can effortlessly build business on social media (and need to in order to stay in the game!) The most successful businesses directly engage with customers on social media, learning their likes and dislikes, and delivering exactly what the customer wants in a low stakes way. It is also the most effective way to build loyalty that results in repeat business. BUT social media also allows you to expand your reach to find new customers who would have never found your product without coming across your business online.
Feeling overwhelmed? Never fear, here are 4 easy steps to start to sell on social media:
1. Identify Your Target Audience
Without a doubt, the most important first step in selling with social media is to identify your target audience. Everyday, people get bombarded with ads that have nothing to do with their interests, causing them to become jaded to them. The beauty of social media is that you can focus on exactly who would benefit from your product and engage with customers in a meaningful way, greatly increasing your chances of making sales. Going broad is simply not a reasonable approach. The more specific you get in your targeting, the more personal the engagements will be.
Developing a strong following with the select audience you’ve scoped out is a strong foundation for you to build business on social media, but the returns will really come when your loyal followers share their positive experiences with your product with their followers. This will open up new avenues for your business to sell on social media that you didn’t even think possible.
According to Tom Abbott, author of Social Selling – 10 Essential Strategies to Prospect, Position, and Present on Social Media, social media not only allows you to get in front of your ideal clients, but those ideal clients are the ones who then allow you to expand your reach across the world. All you have to do is put in a concentrated amount of work to find your unique audience, and they will take care of the rest. Social media has no boundaries!
2. Determine the Best Social Media Platform for Selling Your Product
So you know exactly who you want to sell to, now you need to find out where they hang out online. In order to engage with customers and sell on social media, you need to know which platforms to focus your efforts on. Again, there are so many platforms that have different uses, you want to avoid wasting your time on those that won’t reach your target audience. For example, if you are a B2B software company, focusing on your TikTok presence most likely won’t reach the people you are looking for.
Facebook and Instagram are the two most popular platforms that we recommend when selling with social media.
Facebook is definitely where you will find the most people, since it is still the biggest social media platform. Opening a Facebook Store is perfect to sell physical products on social media. Setting up a Facebook Business page is another way to establish credibility for your business and engage with customers. Keep in mind that Facebook tends to skew to older audiences which is where knowing your ideal customer inside and out comes in handy.
Instagram is fun and trendy where advertising can be enjoyable and low stakes. Chances are, most of your target audience is on Instagram since 84% of social media users are on the platform. People love pictures and videos! Gen Z dominates on Instagram, so if you want to reach under 30’s, this is definitely the place to start.
TikTok
TikTok is quickly becoming a leading platform for social commerce, offering unique opportunities for brands to engage with a younger audience. With over a billion users worldwide, it is especially effective for reaching Gen Z and young Millennials. The platform’s algorithm prioritizes engaging and creative content, giving brands an advantage when they focus on storytelling and entertainment.
Businesses can highlight their products through short videos such as order packaging, before-and-after transformations, or quick tutorials. TikTok also offers built-in commerce features like TikTok Shop and in-video product links, making it easier to convert engagement into direct sales.
3. Engage With Your Customers
After you’ve gotten the who and where figured out, it’s time to focus on the what. And that has the potential to be the most exciting part to build business on social media. There are several approaches to take, whether you are looking to sell products straight to consumers directly in the platform or just looking to engage with customers regularly to eventually drive sales.
Interaction with potential customers and your business is the best way to build a following and build a business on social media. The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report, highlights that short form, exciting, engaging content is what most people like to see, even though they know it is an advertisement. They want to see products being used in entertaining ways by people who are confident in them. Most consumers want to support businesses with missions and products that align with their values, so make sure that you have a clear, defined, purpose that shines through in your products and online business presence.
Be aware that with the crowded social media market, engagement on most platforms is dropping, making your personal, targeted engagement with only customers you want even more important in standing out against the noise.
4. Integrate With Your Point of Sale System
Your strategy is established and you are ready to sell on social media, all that is left is to make sure that logistics are in place so that you can finally collect the money for your products that you’ve worked so hard to earn. After all, the only way to actually build business on social media is to keep making the sales.
Most social media platforms have the capability to integrate with any point of sale system. LincSell seamlessly integrates with all social media platforms in the way that works best for you and your business. Your team at LincSell will help tailor your online store to appeal to your target audience on each social media platform, and make selling with social media easy as pie.
The best way to build business on social media is to find out who your target audience is, where they hang out online, engage with them through meaningful and fun content, and then get ready for the sales to come pouring in.
Find out how the team at LincSell can help your business grow today!
