Posted By: Scotty Spielman
Your business’ social media pages are perfect places for you to persuade customers to visit your shop, use your services or buy your goods.
It’s more of a soft sell that other forms of marketing, like direct advertising or cold-calling; you’re trying to foster a relationship to build up trust to bring customers into the fold. So how do you use social media to persuade new customers? Here are six simple tricks:
Give back. Share or like their content and comment on their posts. Everyone likes to be seen or know that they are being paid attention to. Social media is no different: people are more likely to retweet someone who has already retweeted them. If you show potential customers that you’re paying attention to them and care what they have to say, they’re more likely to do the same for you.
Let other people speak for you. Just like in traditional advertising, there’s nothing better than regular word of mouth. When you have customers give you positive reviews—either on your own web site, social media feed or on some third-party review site like Yelp—share it often. That’s doubly true if there’s a name attached. If you can get customers to pose for a selfie with you or your staff and agree to let you post their comment, you’ll be even better off. Make sure you offer them something back, however, such as a discount or free gift.
Partner with influencers. There are people in your industry or your community (or both) who have a large sphere of influence—friends, fans or followers. Make sure you interact with them and, if possible, get them to endorse your product or service.
Get verified. Having you business verified provides another level of authenticity. You’ve seen the blue badges on celebrity profiles on twitter; they’re a sign that the celebrity is actually in charge of his or her account and it’s not some random fan (or, these days, pundit) making random comments in his or her name. You can verify your business on Facebook, too, through a few short steps. It’s free.
Let your numbers do the talking. Highlight the number of fans, followers and friends. The more people you have interacting with your page, the more authentic it will appear.
Brag about your record. Social media is a soft sell for business, but’s it’s okay to talk about yourself sometimes. The standard rule has dropped from 70 percent information or entertainment and 30 percent marketing to more of an 80/20 ratio in 2017—in part because there is such an abundance of marketing strewn through all social media feeds—but when you do something right, it’s okay to brag a little bit. Also, when you successfully satisfy an unhappy customer, make sure all your customers and potential customers know about it.
Make no mistake, the soft sell takes a little bit of time. But the end rewards are worth the wait: you’ll end up with a customer base that is loyal to your brand and willing to share that positive experience with others.
Do you know of any other ways to persuade through social media? Let us know in the comments!