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Turn your Followers into Customers
I recently posted on IG a cheeky, and, somewhat honest caption of ‘50,000 followers and you’re still broke…why?’. Whilst I recognised that it might raise some eyebrows, I honestly and genuinely am confused as to how anyone can attract followers, yet not be able to convert them. The way I see it, if you want profit, and not just profile, then your sole focus should be on "how do I convert" as opposed to just communicate with my followers. Whether you have 50 or 500,000 followers, there needs to be a strategy in place to drive more than just brand awareness.
So, here are some tips on how to do just that:
Listen More Than You Talk - Yes, it’s tempting to spend your whole time on social media talking to your followers, but the key to conversations is to listen, more than you talk. Your job is to find ways to ask questions that enables you to learn more about your followers. To post content that creates dialogue and encourages discussions on your page. By doing this, coupled with the use of analytics, you will start to gain a real picture of who your followers are and what they need. Like all good marketing, once you fully understand the customers’ needs and pain-points ,you can better communicate how your product or service serves those needs. Additionally, it’s important to ‘listen’ via researching your followers; spend a few hours every week discovering what’s on their pages so that you can learn what they like and what they require. From there, engage with their content so that you can see how their followers respond to your brand
Give More Than You Ask For - The more you learn about your followers, the more you can gauge how to truly give them value added content. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest that 80% of your content provide over-and-above value. Whether that be through tips and advice, how to guides, demonstrations or giveaways, you should focus on seeking opportunities across social media to give away value, before you ask for the sale.
Use Everything - When creating a content strategy, review how you can fully utilise the entire spectrum of the social media landscape from Live feeds to Stories, Graphics to Videos and Images to Gifs. You should identify ways to create a variety of content that permeates all aspects of your social media platforms. One area that is particularly important is the use of DMs. It is here that you can follow up on leads, reach out to new contacts and continue page conversations in private. However, as a word of caution, always make your DM is personalised. Your followers will be able to see a copy-and-paste job a mile away, so make sure you connect with them based on what you know they need as opposed to what you want to promote.
The Influencers Are Next To You - Remember that you don’t need a Kim Kardashian to have an influencer on your side. You need to identify who amongst your followers has followers, and since they are already familiar with your brand, request they become your influencer or brand ambassador. Develop strategic partnerships with key people within your followers and identify ways you can share content across each other’s platforms to engage with new audiences and grow your sales leads. The idea here is to create a tribe of influencers from within your own followers group. You can do this by offering them special discounts, complimentary services, one off give-a-ways or free promotions on some of your online platforms. Whatever you offer, make influencers a key part of your strategy, the more Word of Mouth promotions, the more leads you will generate.
Say What You Need - Don’t be shy to say what you need If you need new talent for your team, tell your followers. Need specific targets met? Tell your followers. Need help sourcing suppliers? Tell your followers. The key is to build a tribe. To create honest dialogue with your tribe. To go beyond seeing them as just a number and see them instead as a tribe of likeminded individuals who you serve, every single day. If you have truly been adding value, personalising your engagement, responding to their comments, supporting their pages, and so forth, your followers won’t mind if you then say what you need in your call-to-actions. In-fact they will love it! When followers become your tribe, the dialogue is less about pushing and more about conversing. So make sure you have your next steps ready for example; you might request they click to read more and then direct them to your blog page. You might request they sign up to get more information sent directly to their emails or to make their life even easier, directly to their mobiles via a WhatsApp group. You might present your website address and remind them to purchase on your shop page. Whatever options you take, remember that getting them into your sales funnel is important to start the conversion process. But…. you can only do this well, once you have taken the time to build trust.
Be Like Water – Fluid. If you do nothing else, remember that social media is constantly changing. There is no magic wand, no specific right or wrong. The key is to remain agile. To constantly review your analytics, revert back to your strategy and amend whenever required. With social media algorithms changing constantly you must be fluid to keep ahead of the trends and to find new ways to convert followers into customers. On those days when you are feeling frustrated, remember, none of us are getting this perfect, we are all in the same boat, adapting to technology and attempting to keep up as it changes on us daily.
Still not sure how to turn your followers into customer?
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