How to convert social media into sales

Ann Mack of Ann Mack Distributors in our Launchpad community posted this question “How do I convert social media into sales” I asked Ann if it was ok to mention her in this post because I know so many of you feel the same way and the best way we learn is from each other. Thank you Ann for this opportunity and allowing us to use you as a case study.

I’m going to answer it as best I can by using Ann as an example. Thank you Ann for the opportunity.

Let’s begin by looking at Ann’s background to best answer this question:

Ann is a small business owner and my guess is that Ann works alone without support staff and Ann doesn’t have the necessary funds or resources to hire someone to help her manage her online presence for her. By this I mean her website, her social media presence and also building a digital footprint for SEO.

Based on Ann’s answers to questions I asked her, she has attended workshops to learn how to use various tools. She has definitely grown her network with quality followers and she has been using social media for 3 years and spends roughly 2 hours a day on social media. Ann receives enquires from Facebook mostly, not Twitter or other social networking sites. She gets leads from Facebook but have not converted them into sales.

I did my own research to see what I find online about Ann:

Facebook
Having a look at Ann’s Facebook page. Ann is doing a great job of making her fan page visually appealing and I can see some personal engagement going on which is very good. However, most of the page consists of Ann sharing with others what she sells in her shop which is a good thing to do but there needs to be a balance.

Coming back to “Why should I buy from you and not someone else” “Why should I use your products?”

Ann now needs to position herself as an expert in selling earth friendly products. She needs to help her fans and followers with information that helps in the decision making process.

Twitter
Then having a look at Ann’s Twitter stream. Ann posts on average maybe once every 5 hours. No wonder you are not getting any results! You must post something at least every 30 minutes or every hour on Twitter and it has to be strategic posts and not random un informative content and it cannot be just promoting your products only. Again here you have to demonstrate and tell others why they need to be buying earth friendly products.

Google
Having done a search on Google for Ann Mack alone and not conducing a key phrase search. I noticed that Ann’s website is not optimised properly for search which will make it even more difficult for people to find her.

Besides implementing the prerequisite guidelines Google asks you to implement one now needs to pay attention to blogging but only blogging very useful content that people will value.

I see Ann has been blogging but in all the months I’ve known Ann I’ve yet to see a blog of hers posted in social media which tells me that she may have published it once but never shared it again or perhaps never thought to do share it. Your blogs should be streamlined into your social media platforms and continuously rotated, if you only have a few blogs then once a week.

Pinterest
Pinterest is not one of the platforms I speicalise in but I see that there are some stunning pins on Pinterest which again hasn’t been shared on Facebook or Twitter.

LinkedIn
There are definitely areas for improvement here and having a look at Ann’s LinkedIn profile, it needs a complete rewrite. Again you can circulate your blogs on LinkedIn.

Ann’s website
The home page does not communicate to the target audience in a way that will want them to know more about Ann Mack Distributors.

The key rule to remember when writing content for almost everything online is:

What is the problem?
What is my solution to your problem?
And how does my solution benefit you?
Add a call to action.

This formula should be followed for each page you have on your website.

Testimonials need to stand out more. The about page needs a complete rewrite and some of the content moved to the home page.

There are a few things that can be tweaked to make improvements on Ann’s website which I’m not going to get into detail in this blog as we still have a long way to go. I can’t answer how you convert the leads into sales because everyone is different and it depends on many factors as to why you are not converting the leads you are generating, which is not a social media issue but more of a sales issue. However, I can certainly give you tips as a small business owner on how to generate more leads:

Maintain a constant presence so when someone is ready to buy they choose you and not someone else. In other words people must think you are online 24/7 even though you are not.
Grow and develop brand advocates which closely relates to networking.
Blog at least once a week.
Develop strategic content to post in your social media channels that represents you and your brand. THIS IS NOT A SALES BROCHURE OR A PROMOTION!
Network with your existing network, fans and followers daily to build brand advocates.
For strategic alliances that serves both you and other parties involved.
Develop marketing campaigns to sell and promote your products.
Make use of paid online advertising.
Build your digital footprint for SEO.
Constantly be aware of how you are spending your time online. As a small business owner you cannot afford to waste valuable time. Therefore how you spend your time online becomes critical if you want to make an impact or get results using social media.

These are just some ways in which you can generate leads using social media. Do you have a tip you’d like to add to this list?

What are your experiences? If you would like an assessment done on your online presence, contact me for a consultation and let’s do this!

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How to convert social media into sales – Part 2