Want to use social media to convert sales? Excellent idea! Social media marketing is a powerful way to connect with fans and turn them into paying customers. If you’re looking for ways to start converting leads into sales on social media, enjoy part 1 of our series on how to use social media to convert sales. In this article, we’ll focus on selling secrets for Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Selling on Facebook is an effective way to grow your business and reach your target audience. Whether you want to grow your customer base, generate webinar sign-ups, drive traffic to your website, or create a buzz around a new product, Facebook can do it all. For many business owners who want to use social media to convert sales, the natural place to start is Facebook.
There are many strategies for selling on Facebook, such as posting ads and lead generation pages, or setting up a Facebook shop. Much like on LinkedIn, you can also share posts and updates on Facebook and direct traffic organically to your sales pages. Facebook Store and Marketplace are ideal if you have an e-commerce business, but for that, you’ll need a Business page.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are one of the many ways to promote your business online. The best thing about Facebook ads is that you can target specific audiences and even your own email list. They also allow users to create a lookalike audience based on your email list. This helps to ensure that your ad reaches the most relevant people, which will increase your chances of success.
Facebook Marketplace
Another way to use social media to convert sales is Facebook Marketplace. Marketplace is a feature on Facebook where people discover and buy things that they want or need from other people selling their goods.
The best part is that Marketplace can be used to sell locally, and thus it’s a good fit for small businesses operating in a limited area. It’s also one of the best places to sell both new and used products. From cars to clothing or houses to rent, you can list almost anything in Facebook Marketplace. Just make sure to check community guidelines and restricted products first.
Facebook (and Instagram) Shop
Facebook Shops is another feature that helps small businesses set up an online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram.
You can sell products through the chat features of WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram while live streams are happening, and also tag items during live streams to send people to a product ordering page.
In the previous section, you’ve already learned about Shops on Instagram. Moving forward, we’ll explore other ways to sell through Instagram.
Instagram is a creative platform for brands, small business owners, creators, and individuals to nurture relationships with their growing audience and sell products or courses.
From e-commerce giants to service-based businesses to local retail shops, Instagram caters to companies of all types and sizes. For those who want to use social media to convert sales, Instagram is an ideal place to do it.
Sell Through Instagram Posts
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram doesn’t let you post clickable links in posts.
But you can update your profile bio and add a link to the desired landing page and write captions in your post asking followers to click your link in bio to order something.
Here’s how Lisa (@lisafiittworkouts) shared a limited-time deal on Instagram post.
If you have a shop on Instagram, you can tag products and sell through posts like Sephora:
Stories
Instagram Stories has been a huge hit, and it’s only getting bigger. Instagram Stories gives you a chance to experiment and create new content on the spot, and the best part is you can even sell through it.
You can tag products or add links to your site when publishing Stories so that your followers can buy from you.
Instagram Ads
Instagram Ads is a great tool if you want to use social media to convert sales. By creating an ad, you get your products in front of potential customers with minimal effort. People who want to grow their brand and audience on Instagram should start by setting up an ad campaign. There are various types of Instagram ad formats and styles, and they provide a repeatable path to convert leads into sales.
Instagram Live
Instagram Live has been a popular means for creators and businesses to interact with their customers. But did you know you can also sell through them?
Small businesses and influencers can use Live to sell products using interactive features like shopping.
Influencer and Affiliate Marketing
Both businesses and influencers can use Instagram to collaborate and boost sales. For example, small companies can collaborate with influencers to promote their products and sell right on Instagram. Most times, affiliate posts are tagged with “Paid partnership with…” followed by the brand or company’s name on the Instagram app.
The affiliate shopping feature has allowed more creators and influencers like Melissa to earn money through affiliate commissions and get paid directly on Instagram.
Creators receive commission payments based on the total sales they drive for a brand. The return period begins after purchase and lasts 30-90 days; commissions get credited once this period is over. Creators can track performance in the Insights tab as well. Influencer marketing is the hottest way to use social media to convert sales right now, so dive in and give it a try!
YouTube
Another platform to use social media to convert sales is YouTube, which offers several ways to sell on its platform. To promote your brand, you can leverage YouTube’s four ad formats, YouTube Store, and influencers. Recently, YouTube also tested their newest feature – live shopping experience, which will be rolled out to subscribers shortly. Here are some ways to sell on YouTube:
YouTube Ads
YouTube is an excellent place for advertising since it is the second most searched website online. So when people are searching and need to know more about your product or brand, you can use YouTube to target them with ads that will help drive traffic back towards your site or landing page. They offer six video formats: skippable ads, non-skippable video, bumper ads, overlay ads, ads outside the video player, and back-to-back ads.
- Skippable video ads allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds.
- Non-skippable ads must be watched before a video can be viewed.
- Bumper ads are short, non-skippable video ads of up to 6 seconds that must be watched before viewing a video.
- Overlay ads use overlay images or text that can appear on the lower 20% portion of a videos.
- Ads outside the video player are watch feed ads that appear in the feed of recommended videos below the player on mobile and next to the player on computers.
- Back-to-back ads, referred to as ad pods, happen when two back-to-back video ads run. This ad format only displays on longer-form video content (at least 5 minutes in length). Ad pods help reduce interruptions for viewers of longer videos, resulting in a better viewer experience.
When people search for a product or brand on YouTube, they can discover videos from many sources. Therefore, you can use this opportunity to advertise more effectively to those searching for what you offer.
YouTube Store
You must be in the YouTube Partner Program to access the YouTube Store, and you’ll only see this option if your channel is eligible. If you have more than 10,000 subscribers, you can check eligibility to participate in this program. To turn the ‘merch shelf’ on for your channel and videos, and to link your official merchandise store to your YouTube channel, follow the on-screen instructions after you click monetization.
Here’s an example from Crusoe the Dachshund on YouTube.
Fans and viewers who want to support the channel and creators can visit the store and order various merchandise.
Leverage Influencer Marketing
YouTube is one of the most popular influencer marketing channels, making it an ideal target for those who want to use social media to convert sales. As we know, videos are now a regular part of our online experiences on social media. Instagram has even created a competing long-form video platform – IGTV. However, YouTube is still the place for people to go to learn about anything and discover products. In fact, 68% of users watch YouTube videos to make a purchase decision. By connecting and partnering with YouTube influencers, you can drive sales and brand awareness for your business using video.
Hopefully, this post has helped you think through new social media marketing strategies for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube that allow you to use social media to convert sales. In Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at how to convert sales on LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, and Pinterest.