How to Use Social Media to Drive Sales

Utilizing social media to effectively drive online sales really depends on what your sales cycle is and what you’re selling. We’ve set up different social strategies to drive sales activity. Some are transactions (e-commerce), others lead generation for services or B2B. Both of those options tend to come with a longer decision-making process.

E-Commerce – most businesses can leverage the shopping tools that are built into Facebook and Instagram which link very easily to WooCommerce and Shopify. This populates your “shop” tab on Facebook and allows you to tag items in your posts on Instagram using the “catalogue” feature. Then you can focus on building an audience that can shop your feed instead of solely relying on ads. The best practice is not to rely on this by itself, though. A strong strategy here is a mix of paid ads, optimized organic posts, and retargeting for people who clicked on your ad or post, went to your site but didn’t buy.

Lead Generation – start by adding value upfront. You know it’s going to be a long relationship and a high-value sale, so don’t be afraid to give before you get. Find a way to start building your authority with your prospects and qualifying that they will need your product or service. A free consultation, downloadable resource or booking for a webinar works great (if it is specific enough to connect with your ideal prospect). This is not designed to make an immediate sale, it’s to get a prospect into your funnel so the lead can be nurtured into a new client or disqualified with varying levels of automation. Again, supporting content on your profile helps. Post regularly and stay on topic to support the advertising that you’re doing.

E-Commerce – most businesses can leverage the shopping tools that are built into Facebook and Instagram which link very easily to WooCommerce and Shopify. This populates your “shop” tab on Facebook and allows you to tag items in your posts on Instagram using the “catalogue” feature. Then you can focus on building an audience that can shop your feed instead of solely relying on ads. The best practice is not to rely on this by itself, though. A strong strategy here is a mix of paid ads, optimized organic posts, and retargeting for people who clicked on your ad or post, went to your site but didn’t buy.

There’s more on our agency insights blog if you’re curious, as this is just starting to scratch the surface for this topic. There are many tips that can help you grow your social media numbers and effectiveness. For more examples and information, you can also check out Super Social Media, an online course designed to teach some of the most efficient ways to expand your reach and target the right audience.

Every business should be blogging – 5 reasons why:

1. Leads come from Blog Posts

People search for things that are happening, how to do something or situations they need help with. All of these topics could better be suited to a blog post than a page on your website. Customers who find you on the blog because of a tip or trick you gave are more likely to keep you top of mind when they need services you offer (when you make it clear what you do). 

Kiss Metrics is a great example of creating a blog that generates leads.  Everything below they are doing extraordinarily well. It’s no question that they;

• Have content to keep customers engaged between transactions

• Are seen as industry experts

• Create content that is valuable and shareable

• Get a boost in SEO for the blog that they created

It has been noted that over half of their leads come from their blog.  Good work.

2. Keep in touch between transactions

Many business that we work with do not have a product or service that is purchased daily or has a daily interaction with customers (a coffee shop). Some businesses can have months or years in between transactions. The touchpoint between transactions can become more automated and it will definitely be more friendly than another monthly invoice.

For example, we work with Realtors in Vancouver and have been told the average duration between transactions is 7 years. What are you doing in between to stay top of mind?  

Here are some blog post ideas:

• Start with a monthly recap of what’s happening (what were highlights about doing your job or working with clients… this promotes referrals)

• Talk about the post-sale service of the products you sell (possibly a mechanical company talking about furnaces)

• Explain the benefits of keeping your product in the best shape (like a car dealership)

• Provide a list of top uses for your product (could be a kitchen appliance with endless recipes)

3. Be an Industry Expert

Following a meeting or sales call, your prospects and even current clients will start to research your discussion if they are on the fence. It’s better to find something on your site that says, “Why our products and services are worth it” than going to comparison shop or request a competing quote.

Being qualified as an expert in the industry has numerous benefits, especially when closing deals and repeating your unique value proposition and client benefits. Strong brand presence online solidifies trust and gives customers confidence. To build that presence, it takes more than just BS; it takes a serious look into your core values and business practices. Having this expert approach naturally makes your company feel more transparent.

4. Distribution – Articles are popular to share

Being popular on social media is much easier with shareable content. Articles about a small snippet of your business can be gems for social media as they are more shareable than a product or service page. You need to have the qualifying pages on your site, don’t abandon those in favor of a blog, you need both.

For example, some people might be looking for a how-to on a topic that relates to some part of your business and finds your post. They follow the advice, it works, they share it in hopes of helping out a friend who might be in the same jam, and that friend turns into a new client for you.  

That might be overly simplified for the way social media actually works, but it does work.

Here are some great shareable content ideas:

• Turning a process into a list or infographic

• Compiling information about the past year to do an industry snapshot

• Providing content that answers Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) before they are even asked

• Create a “did you know?” post on fun facts for your industry

• Map out a timeline of how a product or service you work with evolved

5. SEO Boost

While there is no exact science for blogging to guarantee a higher ranking in search engine results, having more content on your website that relates to your company certainly helps. Be consistent with your blog entries, have a schedule and stick to it. Staying on topic will make more of an impact, both for SEO and for audience engagement.

You should Start Blogging

To double back to point one, we want to ensure that this post leaves you with some pointers so that blogging can benefit your business. If you run into a wall, need some advice or someone to manage your company’s blog, we do that. We also help companies with content and blog optimization.

There are many great platforms to choose from for blogging specifically, we choose to build and blog on WordPress due to its flexibility, endless amount of plugins and its tenure of success as a content management platform.

There’s more happening behind the scenes that we’re excited to be releasing soon… look for these below to become links when they are ready!

• Tactics of Marketing Roadmap - a growing list based on industry, goals and budgets to achieve your goals (or at least get some ideas).

• Content Machine Course Update - a refresh on our course for 2025, this course walks you through the way we do content marketing for clients.

• Done for You Content Marketing by 323 Media - book a call now, we are opening up a few spaces for full-service clients that need a turn-key option to run their marketing.