In an era when brands are using social media to market their products and services, it is important to ensure that your social media content aligns with your overall business goals. If you are only getting likes and comments without a corresponding increase in revenue, it can be hard to prove the ROI of your social media marketing efforts. In this article, we provide a step-by-step guide on turning views into sales using a social media sales funnel.

Tips on Turning Followers into Customers

How do you turn your followers into paying customers? Here are tips for doing that:

Align the Content with the Customer’s Needs

A good idea would be to create content that answers your audience’s real questions and solves their problem. You can use various content formats to get insights, such as:

• Stories and polls. You can ask your audience questions about their greatest challenge with a certain topic.
• Direct messages. If you find that someone took the time to send a DM message, you can pay attention and respond accordingly. With a good Instagram DM strategy, not only can you use the DM insights to inspire content, but it can also be an important sales lead.
• FAQs. What inquiries are customers commonly making in your comment sections?
• Reviews. Go through the feedback to get insight into the customer’s pain point and how your brand may be meeting their expectations.

After understanding the value of your audience, you can create content that matches their needs. You can then guide them on the exact action you need them to take.

Insights and Actions for Intentional Posting

You need to ensure that each of your social media posts accomplishes a particular goal, such as driving traffic to your site, driving email sign-ups, or even booking an appointment. For instance, as an accounting consultant, you can have people DM you about tax preparation. Therefore, you can provide a quick checklist for tax preparation with a matching CTA asking users to download the full guide using the link in the bio. 

On the other hand, a fitness coach can have people requesting home workout tips. They can share a 60-second video with a CTA asking users to sign up for their four-week virtual program.

Share the Right Content Mix

When they trust a brand, people are more likely to buy from it. This is why you need a good balance between educational and promotional content. Additionally, you want to prove to your audience how the content format works.

Educational content can help in authority building. Proof helps to increase the level of trust. Selling adds clarity and guides your audience to the next step. 

Here are examples of how the content format can work:

Educate 

Every day, there are millions of consumers who visit the internet to search for information. The majority of them are searching for answers to their questions and need some fast, digestible facts. This is an important content format for consumers at the top of the marketing funnel and for lead generation in the middle of the funnel.

When well used, educational content can help to position your brand as a thought leader. However, you need to ensure that your digital content is around the customer’s needs instead of focusing on self-promotion.

According to one study, consumers are more likely to convert after reading a helpful piece of content. In addition, when four brands were compared, prospects said they would buy from the brand that provided them with educational content. Therefore, this content format is a good choice for attracting new audiences, lead nurturing, and convincing users to purchase your product.

You can use different educational content, such as:

• Blog posts. This content format is highly shareable and versatile, making it suitable for driving traffic to your site. However, you need to choose a creative topic that will enable you to increase trust, depending on what users are searching for. You can focus on teaching your target audience a tip that they can use instantly. For instance, 5 home workout tips for pregnant moms.
• Videos. This is an interactive content format to educate your audience in a captivating way. You can create various content formats such as how-to tutorials, playlists, and more. 
• Newsletters. You can use a newsletter to remind customers about your new product, how they should use it, and more. They can enable non-customers to also become your product users.
• High-quality images and infographics. Infographics make it easier for your audience to grasp harder concepts, completing the data-driven perspective. You can use graphs, maps, and illustrations.
• Licensed content. You can use content licensed from major publications for lead generation and audience engagement.
• Webinars. These are great tools for lead generation and educating audiences. You can leverage thought leaders to discuss the challenges your audience is facing

Social Proof

Social proof leverages the fact that we are likely to do something that we see others doing, especially when we are faced with a confusing decision. We conform to other people’s actions, assuming they reflect the right behavior. That is why you are likely to visit a restaurant with a long queue compared to another one that is empty.

Similarly, businesses can use social proof to increase their level of credibility and trust, and increase customer engagement and conversion. According to one study, 45% of consumers suggest that they wouldn't buy a product without reviews. This is why social proof is an important step in turning followers into customers.

Examples of social proof include:

• Reviews and testimonials
• Scarcity notifications
• Influencer endorsements
• User-generated content for social proof
• Case studies
• Influencer endorsements

Promotional Content

This is the right content format for driving conversion. This content format aims to convince your social media audience to take a certain action, such as purchasing a product, booking a consultation, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an ebook. The goal is to bridge the gap between grabbing your audience’s attention and delivering the desired result for your target audience.

However, you need to be careful not to overdo it, as it can make your target audience lose interest. Add a clear CTA that is both simple and clear.  For instance, “Book a free consultation today. DM to get started”, or “Click our link in the bio or use our promo code.”

Track What Brings the Result

The problem with engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments is that they will not tell the full story. You need to find out what happens after someone has interacted with your content. This is where conversion tracking helps. 

You can do that in different ways, such as:

• Adding a link in the bio. You can use platforms such as Linktree and Bitly to better organize your links.
• Discount codes. You can add a particular code to your campaign to determine the sales coming from different content formats.
• UTM codes. This refers to the tags added to the URL to track how effective your digital marketing campaign is. You can add these links to determine the posts driving the highest traffic.
• Automation tools. Tools such as Tidio and ManyChat can help make responding to comments easier and ensure the seamless movement of consumers from one stage to the other.

Tips to Increase the Chances of Conversion

On top of creating content that turns followers into customers, use the following tips to increase the chances of conversion.

Build Strong Relationships

You can connect with your followers by talking to them and responding to their comments. This will show them that you have increased their chances of buying from you. Make sure you share some behind-the-scenes content and personalized stories to have a more trustworthy and relatable image. This makes your followers feel like they know you better, increasing their chances of conversion.

Run Special Offers

You can provide your audience with discounts and deals in the form of giveaways, limited-time offers, and exclusive discounts. These special offers will help you grab your audience’s attention and encourage them to buy. Make sure you explain how to use a promotion before exporting. This will enable your followers to understand what they will benefit from, increasing their chances of taking advantage of the offer.

Leverage Social Media Ads

Paid social media ads can enable you to reach more people, especially the target audience for certain groups, depending on their location and interests. This can help you add more people to the business and increase sales. Ensure that you have visually appealing ads and a clear CTA. Include a high-quality video and image, and add a strong CTA that grabs your audience’s attention and drives clicks.

Use Influencer Collaborations

Influencer marketing can help you reach an audience outside your current one. Influencers can help promote your products and services and grow your following, providing you with more exposure to your target customers. However, select an influencer who is in your niche and is genuinely interested in your product. This will make their recommendations look more authentic.

In Conclusion

With insight-driven content, the right post mix, and performance tracking, you can easily turn followers into customers. Rather than focusing on trending changes, you will have a framework for building trust, increasing sales, and positioning yourself as the solution in your niche.