This is the #1 question I get from business owners: Can social media increase sales? Short answer – Yes.
Long answer – If you want to increase sales using social media, you must think beyond the share.
Let me explain in detail and provide you some specific actionable advice.
It’s common to advise SMBs trying to figure out how to increase sales to tell them to use one of the social media platforms. I was sitting in on a “how to increase sales” webinar just last week that was pitching Pinterest as the platform to increase sales.
I thought to myself: “the logic is there, but is it really true?” Unfortunately, yes for some, no for most. Which can be said for almost all social media sites. However, there is one platform that flips this: no for some, yes for most and that is what we’re going to discuss today.
The key-word in the title of this post is customer. Not prospect, not lead, not opportunity. CUSTOMERS.
The lifeblood of your business. The last thing you want to do is destroy your credibility with CUSTOMERS!
However, data shows that 35% of business unknowingly destroy their credibility with existing customers everyday. Are you part of this 35% of businesses that are in the dark?
If you run an e-commerce business such as an online store, and pay a social media manager to help generate sales for you, then this is required reading. Depending on whether or not you are tracking the ongoing ROI from your social media investments, the data shared below may come as a shock.
A few days ago while I was doing my daily check-in on LinkedIn, I came across a gem of an article that may change. your. life. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit. However, if you are trying to sell your products and services using social media, this article I found provides at least what you would call a game changing insight.
One of the most undervalued marketing channels for entrepreneurs today is email marketing. The main reason for this is that the explosion of social media has made it easier for business owners who juggle marketing along with many other tasks to replace list building efforts with friending and following. This is a big mistake.
