Although some market researchers say that social selling has peaked during the lockdown of 2020 and is about to experience decline, as more clients and customers simply want to experience shopping offline, the odds of social selling actually declining are very low. While people may be interested in spending time outdoors, the sheer convenience of not having to join the traffic and queue at the registers is a habit that is here to stay. As more entrepreneurs see amazing chances to sell their content directly to their customers and as drop shipping continues to rise, so will social selling.
New Approaches to (Social) Selling
This new approach to selling both products and services opens a plethora of options for those who would start navigating these waters. A simple media channel can bring in millions of prospects (looking at you @notebook_therapy), which is an outreach older business models could only dream of. Furthermore, global standardization and a greater social insistence on cultural uniformity bring in a uniform market that exists outside national boundaries and (somewhat) local regulation.
Influences to the Sales Market
Changes in the market are driven by social networks and their alikes. Netflix series Queen’s Gambit increased chess board sales by 1048% worldwide, while their series Squid Game increased white Vans slip-on sales by 7,800%, also worldwide. The market is getting more uniform as we speak, so having a (geographically) diversified audience does not have to be a bad marketing move anymore.
As many have noticed growth in the field, more and more prospective sellers join the realm. The ability to form your own brand and think outside of the box has created a very lucrative field for all those who want to express themselves and make a living out of it. As the social sales market grows, so do the observations and exercitia bones – good practices.
The Importance of Content in Social Sales
The biggest driver behind these changes is of course content. So, having a good understanding of how to use content to improve your social selling process is of paramount importance. With Google’s recent investments in natural speech processing, many advocates of natural language and non-SEO-optimized articles have surfaced, so we will not dwell in this field at all. What we can focus on is what kind of approach to the content you should have to offer the most value in every stage of your social selling process.
Social Sales How-Tos
Tips and Tricks to Create Content that Sells
- Create Appropriate Content
- Create Content Aimed at your Audience
- Adjust Content for Every Funnel Stage
- Create Interactive Content
- Create Evergreen Content
Create Appropriate Content
Creating appropriate content for social selling is different from creating just any type of content. While you want to stay focused on the product or the service you offer, you want to avoid staying salesy and stay informative. Knowing your audience can be a gruesome task, so ask yourself: Whom best to hire to write my research paper? And hire the same folks to do your target audience research.
Creating different types of content will help you reach different segments of your audience. Using this knowledge to diversify content can only help boost your sales and increase your conversion rates. Not bad for a delegated task, right?
Shorter types of content, in general, go with younger audiences. A lot of (info)graphics, video materials, and short sentences are sure to keep the focus of Instagram and the TikTok generation. Avoid using too much slang, as your audience may take a critical stance. Sound confident and authoritative – after all, you know your job better than they.
Longer pieces of content, with more detailed explanations and fewer graphics, should be aimed at the middle-aged segment of your audience. The Facebook generation is well on their way to say bye-bye to their kids before school. After this, there is plenty of time. However, finding the balance between content that is long and informative is the key to success. Understanding what you should expect from website content writing services and your audience is the best combo you can make. This middle-aged segment needs some talking into buying your product or service. After all, they are just learning to be cautious with their money.
Long pieces of content (2000 words and up) should generally be avoided in Social Selling practices. Apart from Facebook, there is not a single social network that would allow you to post that much text. So, long blog posts, procedure pages, etc. should be kept as supporting materials, where you would use them to create a need when there is none.
Alternatively, long pieces of content can be aimed at older generations. With more money and free time, they are more likely to engage with the text. Yet other groups that may benefit from long content are professionals and the highly educated looking into expanding their skill set. Being mindful of who your audience is can make or break your content success. Since content isn’t cheap, using it wisely will also spare your business a dime here and there.
In general, approaching the audience or your prospective buyers with a multitude of types of content is most likely to result in a sales increase. Creating content such as:
- Webinars,
- FAQ sections,
- To-do tutorials,
- Testimonials (long form), as well as
- Video and image content that explains how your product or service works
will most likely bring in new customers and form a pool of repeated purchases.
Create Content Aimed at your Audience
It goes without saying that you should understand who your audience is. This, of course, goes beyond simply doing your stats. Enable the customers to be interactive with your content, read and reply to their comments on your blog posts, product, and procedure pages and make sure that every question they ask is answered PAA style. This will also give you an opportunity to learn about any black holes that are left unanswered and will provide you with new ideas for new content and new marketing approaches.
Adjust Content for Every Funnel Stage
Offer extra content at every step of the journey. If you have a three-step funnel, make sure freebies and a sneak peek of the next tier are present in every funnel stage. The initial and the final step should include great product descriptions, so making sure to know how to write a product description that works is of paramount importance. If you do not know how to, hire a professional service and watch as your business grows.
Create Interactive Content
It has been stated that comments on blog posts and social networks are a great way to learn more about what your audience needs. However, this is an excellent chance to also allow your audience to be heard and to make them more likely to stay on your page. Many search engines monitor the bounce rate, and the lower your rate is, the more likely you are to be seen by more people. Allow people to like, comment, and share your content with a click of the mouse.
Create Evergreen Content
Creating Content that is Evergreen can be a hassle. Understanding the most fundamental principles driving your niche of the sales market and your particular audience can be both time-consuming and demand years of experience. However, hiring someone to do my assignment can be proven very fruitful, as professionally made evergreen content stays on the website, or the social network account draws more visitors in and leaves you with all the data that can be renewed year after year and repurposed to create more content.
Move Forward With Your Sales Strategies
It may seem there is a lot to think about before creating any type of content. When feeling stuck, check your competition and see how they have dealt with the problems you currently face. When stuck, always ask for help. Moving with the help of others is always better than not moving at all, especially because social selling is not very forgiving to the lazy and the slow. Your social selling could take a huge blow from a few days without any posts and set your page back by hundreds of places on the social network’s list.