Sales & Systems Saturday: Selling on Social Media

Selling on social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, and Instagram happens everyday. People go there and buy products.

But it’s important to remember that buying products isn’t the reason they go there. They go there to be social. That’s why it takes a different approach to be successful when selling on social media. Here are 5 tips to help you do it.

1.      Understand the Purpose of the Platform

What is the platform’s purpose? Why does it exist? The purpose of the platform changes not only the type of audience you can expect to find there but what they will expect in terms of social interactions. You need a very different strategy on LinkedIn than you do on Facebook or Pinterest.

2.      Be Social, Not Salesy

Direct sales tactics DO NOT WORK on social media sites because this isn’t a one-to-one conversation. It’s a one-to-many conversation.

Imagine some guy coming to a pool party with a bullhorn and an easel blasting everyone with messages about how great his product or service was and why you should buy now. He’d not only be completely out of place, he’d be behaving in a manner that was very off-putting and rude. Rather than convincing people to buy from him, he’d quiet likely be getting himself thrown out in a hurry.

Unless, of course, the products he was selling were contributing to the good time of the party goers. Maybe he’s offering floaties, sunscreen, or snow cones, cocktails or other goodies that will allow the party goers to enjoy the party longer. He’s blending into the party and becoming part of it.

He doesn’t need a bullhorn in that case. All he needs to do is let people know what he’s got to offer and make sure it sounds and looks good. The rest will take care of itself.

3.      Make Meaningful, Non-Salesy Contributions to Conversations

This is social media and everyone’s chatting about something. Scroll through posts, find conversations where you can contribute. Answer questions, congratulate people on their accomplishments, ask questions about things that inspire you, and just let people get to know you. If the conversation goes on long enough, you’ll have a chance to subtly steer it in the direction you’d like it to go.

4.      Show Up Consistently

The more often you show up, the more people have a chance to get to know you and what you do. The more often you enter into the conversations they are having and share your thoughts, wisdom, and advice, the more they come to trust you. That’s an important part of getting ahead on social media.

5.      Seek to Serve, Not to Be Served

It’s fine to post a sales offer every once in a while, but when you do, ask yourself how you can serve others with the product that you are offering? What piece of helpful information can you share with them that will make your post relevant to their lives and will prevent that post from seeming like an intrusion in their day?

Free Courses on Social Media Marketing

Check out my Friday Freebies post and get a link to a free course from Hubspot that goes into far more detail about social media marketing.

Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

If you work in social media marketing, drop us comments and let us know what tips you have to offer. If you’ve tried marketing on social media and you’ve had trouble gaining traction, let us know about your experience. We might be able to help. What are your thoughts about the post? Did you learn anything new?

Join Project FED

If you’d like a free Facebook marketing guide, join Project FED and indicate you’re interested in our marketing side, and I’ll send it right away.

Location: Lewisville, TX, USA

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