In part one of this series on social media conversions, we focused on the three most prominent social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. In Part 2 of this post, we’ll focus on the more niche players in the world of social media marketing. While their reach is slightly smaller, these sites can drive sales and traffic effectively, especially if you have an engaged and active target audience. Let’s get started with LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is an excellent place to start for social media conversions if you’re targeting top-level executives, company employees, and B2B professionals.
Another exciting thing is that LinkedIn is very popular among Gen Z, executive leaders, and mid-career level professionals. So if you sell professional services or build courses to teach subjects of interest to people from these categories, you can use this platform to reach them.
Sell Through Regular LinkedIn Posts
Do you have a website where you sell something like an eBook or course? Or maybe you have live courses on Thinkific, Udemy, or elsewhere? Great! You can get social media conversions by sharing your course link with your LinkedIn followers through posts or newsletters. Your followers will see your post in their Feed, and they can click the link to view the product or register for the course.
This method for social media conversions doesn’t cost you anything because it is an organic approach to reaching your target customer. However, for it to be effective, you need to have a great headline to draw in your audience.
You can share your post through your company page or your personal user account. When you have gained a sizable audience of loyal followers, you can publish an update with the link for them to take action.
Here’s an example:
Moz on LinkedIn turned their company post into an organic sales post by sharing a course link with an offer code for Cyber Monday.
Become an Instructor with LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning instructors earn commissions for courses they sell through its platform.
You need to apply and get approved to become an instructor. Once you’ve cleared all the rounds, you’re in. Now you can create courses.
When your course is published and live on LinkedIn Learning, people can see them upon searching.
This is great for social media conversions and for building authority and audience.
LinkedIn Learning can help you reach out to LinkedIn users around the globe, build a healthy sales funnel, and land more opportunities.
LinkedIn Ads
You can also use LinkedIn to reach out to your target audience through ads. LinkedIn ads are cost-effective and easy to set up. They can be great for social media conversions, so long as you are clear about who you are targeting.
There are various types of ads on LinkedIn to select from, including Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, Text Ads, and Dynamic Ads.
Here’s a sponsored video ad from Semrush on LinkedIn. They’re promoting their content marketing platform through a story that immediately connects with their target audience.
TikTok
TikTok is more than just an app for gen Z lip-syncing videos—it can also be used for social media conversions! Short-form video content covering life hacks, how-tos, and comedy bits allows influencers, experts, and small businesses to connect with, entertain, educate, and even convert their audience. The opportunities to grow your business with TikTok are endless.
To sell on TikTok, you’ll need a Pro account. You can go for either a Creator or Business account, and once you get to 1,000 followers, you can post the link to your website or landing page. Then you can sell on TikTok in the following ways:
TikTok Ads
With various ad types, targeting options, and campaign goals available, you can find an option that works best for your business or project on TikTok. Ads are set up with either the TikTok for Business account or by speaking with one of their ad managers, who can help create your campaigns based on your requirements.
Influencer Marketing
On TikTok, you can find influencers who partner with brands by pitching products. Or you can build up your following and become an influencer yourself! To do this, you must have a large following and post content that generates high-volume traffic, engagement, and sales. If you want to hire an influencer, try the TikTok Marketplace and pitch a collaboration with them to sell your products.
Building trust and relationships matter when it comes to social media conversions on Twitter. Twitter is a unique social media platform where you can speak from your business point of view through a business account or sell from your personal profile.
What’s important to note is that, unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn’t have a shopping feature rolled out yet. Luckily, Twitter is testing their Shop Module, but we need to wait until the feature is available to more users and small businesses.
As of now, most of the selling work is done using tweets, which is why building relationships with your audience matters so much.
There are two primary ways to sell on Twitter:
Sell Through Tweets
You can sell organically without paying for ads if you have already built your audience and Twitter followers.
Here’s an organic tweet from Fenty Beauty who shared a post with their product link so their followers can visit the page and order it:
Likewise, you can share links to your sales pages, landing pages, eBooks, courses, and almost anything under the sun.
To understand how social media conversions work on Twitter, look at your favorite brands and influencers. How are they selling on Twitter? Then, do competitive research and create similar (but not copied!) posts that will resonate with your audience.
But remember that you must serve before you can sell. So stay consistent in your efforts, and post valuable tweets, videos, and lessons that your followers will love. And don’t forget to add memorable artwork and animated gifs to draw in followers. Gradually work towards building trust to amass an engaged audience to whom you can sell.
Sell Through Ads
Twitter advertising campaigns can help you achieve your marketing and sales goals faster. And the best part is there is no mandatory minimum budget for your ads.
One of the exciting features of Twitter Ads is conversation targeting. This feature allows you to target users based on conversations they participate in so you can easily find your target audience.
A good reason to use Twitter Ads for social media conversions is that people spend 26% more time viewing ads on Twitter.
To start your ad campaign, choose your objective, follow the steps to set up your ad, and then publish.
Want to promote and grow your small business on Pinterest? You’ve made the right choice.
Apart from being a social media platform, Pinterest also works as a search engine and a discovery platform. When people search for products on Google, your Pinterest pages can appear in the search results, driving more people to your profile and more social media conversions.
Make sure to add relevant keywords and make your profile search engine-friendly, so your profile and posts have a higher chance of appearing in search.
According to Pinterest, users are 66% more likely to be open to new brands on its platform while shopping. And once people find a brand they like, they’re also more loyal to it.
Here are various ways to sell items on Pinterest:
Tag Products in Idea Pins
In addition to businesses, creators on Pinterest now can upload Product Pins which make it easier for people to find and buy a product. These pins can be viewed and organized in a user’s Idea Pins. You may also add affiliate links to drive sales. This is all an effort by Pinterest to promote shopping on its platform, as reported by the Verge.
Create a Pinterest Store
Create a business account on Pinterest. Now upload your product images, write brief descriptions, and finish setting up your store. Another option is to connect to your Shopify store and sell there. Finally, you may also apply to become a verified merchant with Pinterest.
Advertising on Pinterest
With nearly 442 million monthly active users, Pinterest is an excellent place for small businesses to advertise products and get in front of potential customers.
Ads on Pinterest are user-friendly and unobtrusive for the person viewing them because they see ads the same way as regular pins.
Based on your Pinterest ad campaign type, you can determine what ad format you should use. You can also choose your bid type and the ad placements. Before starting an ad campaign, do some research and learn about the different ad formats on Pinterest.
These are some ways you can use LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest to increase your social media conversion and find new customers. But remember, selling on social media requires patience, consistency, quality, and empathy. If your message lacks empathy or emotion, it won’t appeal to your target audience; as a result, you’ll not experience great returns. So, aim for highly-relevant and valuable messages that tell a story and establish a bond with your customers. Only once you’ve nurtured your followers have you earned the ‘right’ to pitch a sale.
Got any more points to add about social media conversions? Let me know in the comments below!