Selling on social media is a fine art, like being able to read a room at a dinner party, or networking like a queen.
And social is the absolute best place to reach lots of people.
However, there are also people who aren’t sure how to do this. Who want to sell their new offer, but have no strategy.
So, if that’s you this post is for you, and if this isn’t you, this may also be interesting to think of the etiquette of using social media for selling.
Organic Social media for the long haul
Social really is about building relationships, getting engagement and offering something of value to your community.
The ideal scenario is that people will want to read your posts because you enhance their life in some way. You can motivate, inspire, educate and entertain.
Selling really isn’t on this list. The ideal scenario is that you provide such a valuable service to them that when they need a little extra help, you’re top of their list.
Now of course when you have something extra to sell you would want to post about it. But I wouldn’t be doing this several times a week. And I would create a strategy, so I would plan out when I would mention it and how. For example blog posts, Facebook Lives or testimonial posts.
Maybe I would create a post one week; introducing the product, the next week add in a testimonial, the next week talk about an incentive, like the money off, or the fact that it is time bound.
Facebook, Instagram and linkedin posts are sticky
Sticky as hell! This means that your one post may be seen several times by the same person. Unlike twitter which moves in a chronological fashion; Facebook, Instagram and linkedin posts bounce up and down feeds as long as people like, comment or share them.
It’s where the algorithm comes in.
So, if you post more than once about the same thing in quick succession, people may stop listening, become bored or at the worst grow to dislike your brand.
Imagine I go to Instagram or Facebook and all your posts are rammed together in my feed like cars in a crash. I might think ‘Jesus Christ, not this again’ – really not what you want to be engineering in potential customers heads!
Facebook groups are like a dinner party.
Read the room people!
Facebook groups are a great place to meet similar people, share nuggets of wisdom and let people know what you’re up to and if you have something they might be interested in.
However not all Facebook groups are the same. Just like dinner parties. Some are raucous and noisy, full of chat, others are a little more reserved with smaller quieter conversations in corners, others are subdued but full of good information.
Each Facebook group will be different.
Alongside that each Facebook group has a different hostess who will have her own rules for the group – so, find out what they are before taking off your top and dancing on her table – it might not be that sort of group!
And so, this analogy is really here to let me help you understand the nuances of Facebook groups (and really social media in general!). Social is just an extension of reality, so the same rules apply.
I know you want to post your offer in the Facebook group. Firstly, check out if other people are doing the same.
Some groups will have special days for marketing, some don’t allow it at all, and some (like the Blue Stockings Society) allow it, but hope that people also remember the golden rule of social which is engagement not marketing.
Next, check out how busy the group is. Are people posting a daily, or it’s actually quite a new quiet group? You could get away with a couple of posts over a month in a group that’s really noisy, but a smaller group – if you’re one of the only people posting and it’s all sales you’re probably ruining the experience of everyone else in there.
Imagine a dinner party full of rather reserved people, and you’re there talking loudly about yourself the whole time. It’s not really the best impression!
Social Media advertising is a marvel!
Now let’s say in your strategy to promote your new product; you may have produced a few blog posts around the topic that introduce your product, maybe you’ve done a Facebook live and posted in each group and social feed. (obviously, I’m skimming over the intricacies of strategy here, but no time to go into it wholeheartedly!)
Now is the time for advertising. This is where you can be explicit about your product and its benefits. Although advertising can be hard to get right.
Facebook and Instagram advertising
For Facebook & instagram advertising, I stop my advert if it goes above 20p a click (15p and I start to get a bit iffy). And I’ve had clients paying over £7 per click, which raised my blood pressure enormously!
You want to know your ideal customer, where they live, their age, what they’re into. Your advert needs to be catchy, to the point, with good visuals, you need to understand where you are sending them off line and make the customer journey as seamless as possible.
There is indeed an art to creating good Facebook ads. But if you can learn the art if will be worth its weight in gold!
The sales pitch!
Obviously, it would be silly for me to not have an offer at this time of year too!
If you’re struggling to make sense of all this, would love to know how to make Facebook ads work for you, or would love me to review all your digital marketing I’m offering my Digital Review – 3 hour deep dive again.
I only offer this once a year in January and at a 20% discount on my normal rates. So instead of £240 it’s £192 and you get 3 whole hours with me to pick my brain!
There are only 6 slots available in January and February and last year these filled up really fast, so if you’re interested you can find out more here.
Let's make magic happen in 2018!!
Debbie xoxox
Want to know more about Facebook Ads - read this blog post
Looking for a guide to launching a new product? This checklist might help!
