How can you convert social media followers to buyers or paying customers?
Are you wondering how your social media followers can improve your marketing results?
Do you want the best actionable tips for acquiring social followers and retaining them as customers?
You don’t need to answer those questions, but if you are reading this article, it is obvious you answered Yes, already.
As a digital marketer, it is important to convey your brand message using the right digital marketing channels that will bring positive results. And one of the best communication channels is “social media.”
In view of this, recent research by “We Are Social and HootSuite” shows that the number of global social media users in 2018 increased by 13% year-on-year to over 3 billion.
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The research revealed that social media attract nearly 1 million new users per day over the past year–an equivalent to over 11 new social media users every second.
Saudi Arabia and India are taking the lead at 32% and 31% respectively.
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Nonetheless, it is great to consistently share informative content across social sites to help you acquire more social media followers, convert them to paying customers and maximize your return on investment (ROI).
But if you cannot convert social media followers to buyers, all your efforts would be a waste of time, because your primary reason for implementing social media marketing techniques is to make profits.
As a result, …
This article offers you a breakdown of 7 powerful strategies that will aid you to convert social media followers to paying customers.
1: Send Out Special Offers
I love this step because it presents you a platform to acquire more loyal audience and potential customers, that’s why it is #1 on the list.
Special offers, and or special deals are vital components in digital marketing.
This technique inspires and motivates your target buyer to take action–knowing that they’re acquiring items for less the usual market price.
However, it works best when you infuse the power of scarcity into your offer. How? By making your deal available only for a limited time.
This move will incite your audience to act right away to take advantage of your offers before the deadline.
There are many special deals you can offer your followers, including:
- Contests
- Discounts
- Coupon codes
- Sweepstakes
The concept is to help you attract and create a community of loyal followers who are willing to buy from you.
2: Post Valuable Content
Valuable content is the hallmark of social media marketing. All other marketing strategy comes second to valuable, informative content.
If you consistently offer high-quality exclusive content, it is logical to say that you will effectively build trust with your followers, which will move them to continue coming back looking for more of your content.
Furthermore, it opens the channel of communication with your target market because to them your brand is credible.
Pro tips:
- Post incredible content you’ve not shared on your site to your followers on social media. If you cannot create such content to share with your audience, content curation is your best option.
3: Evaluate Each Social Media Site
The best way to better relate with your followers is to evaluate each social platform to identify the ones that work best for your marketing campaign.
What you will be looking for basically are the social sites where your followers are engaging with your content the most. Only then will you be able to interact with, and possibly convert them to quality leads and paying customers.
Pro tips:
- All the major social media platforms have analytics dashboard that you can access and see first-hand how your content is performing. The analytics will show you how your followers are interacting with your content, the best performing content, and so much more.
- Use the data from your analytics to create engaging content and concentrate only on the social sites that are working for your campaign. You don’t have to be everywhere, that’s why it is vital to measure your marketing campaigns so you can have a focus.
For example, your Twitter Analytics dashboard is a great place to start.
It will show you the:
- Engagement rate
- Link Clicks
- Impressions
- Mentions, and etc.
This information will help you to better provide value that will convert social media followers to buyers.
4: Concentrate On Social Sites That Support Your Interest
Once you have figured out the best social sites that work best for your social media marketing activities, the next thing to do is to concentrate your efforts on those sites.
Like I said earlier, you don’t have to be everywhere. Trying to have a presence on all social platforms will amount to spreading yourself too thin.
As a result, channel all your efforts to those that support your marketing approach. Then with time, as you establish your brand and build a solid network, you can start expanding to other sites.
The best way to expand your social media horizon is to calculate your audience metrics to pinpoint which platform(s) to explore.
Your audience metrics will show you:
- Audience age
- Gender
- Demographics
- And so on.
For instance, if your metrics revealed that you have a huge number of younger audience, within the age range of 18 ~ 29, you can immediately conclude that your next best social media platform is Instagram. Why?
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Because recent research has proven that 18~29-year-olds are the major users of Instagram. So it makes sense to extend your social presence to Instagram if you have a great follower based on that age range.
5: Create and Share User-Generated Content (UGC)
Why should you use UGC? Because user-generated content has a 4.5% higher conversion rate than other content types.
Why is user-generated content so effective?
Please read this article to learn why UGC is so effective and how to create it.
Consequently, when creating content for social media, blend it with UGC.
But… how can you find user-generated content?
One of the easiest ways to find user-generated content (UGC) is to run a contest.
On Instagram, for example, you can post irresistible images to improve clicks and engage with your audience.
But when running a contest, you can use any image, as long as it aligns with your brand message to promote your campaign.
A contest is a remarkable UGC generator because everybody wants to win something.
Thus, the desire to acquire something of value with little effort will draw in more followers you can convert to paying customers.
6: Be Active and Regularly Respond to Your Followers
Social media best practices include being active on the platforms where you have a presence and, responding to your followers’ comments or any questions they might have.
Therefore, ask yourself:
- Are you active on social media?
- Do you engage and respond to followers?
To be active simply means to share or post content regularly. However, that does NOT mean that you should post any content. Make sure your posts are compelling and meaningful to your audience.
Nevertheless, it is not always easy to maintain consistency and be active on social media. Many marketers who have the budget employs the services of a social media manager.
But if you do not have the budget, the easiest way is to use social media scheduling tools to schedule posts and maintain an active presence.
Furthermore, responding to your followers is a phenomenal way to build bonds and establish yourself as an authority.
Your followers are potential customers, so you must respond swiftly to any questions or inquiries they might have about your brand, product, or services.
It will help to set you up for a long run, which will result in converting your social media followers to buyers.
7: Create Mobile First Landing Pages
Mobile Internet users have already overtaken desktop users, meaning that you have to take advantage of mobile pages on your website and social media marketing processes.
Google has also recently released its mobile-first indexing strategy, indicating its positive stance on mobile version internet over the desktop.
In fact, a recent survey by comScore suggests that mobile devices account for 80% of time spent on social media. This points out that more visitors are accessing your website and landing pages from social media via mobile devices.
In view of this, when creating landing pages to convert social media followers to buyers, make sure your landing pages are mobile responsive. In fact, apply Google accelerated mobile pages. It is designed for speed and will positively affect your business.
Give first place to elements of your landing page that are most important to the success of your conversion campaign.
Wrapping Up
Probably you have other methods to convert social media followers to customers. But as with any online business, you must acquire followers before you can convert them to buyers and paying customers.
Hence, it is necessary to start with special offers, as it will enable you to grow and convert your social media followers to quality leads.
Here is a recap of the tips we have covered as a reminder:
- Send Out Special Offers
- Evaluate Each Social Media Site
- Post Valuable Content
- Concentrate On Social Sites That Support Your Interest
- Create and Share User-Generated Content (UGC)
- Be Active and Regularly Respond to Your Followers
- Create Mobile First Landing Pages
Apply these tips and let us know in the comments section your best tips to convert social media followers to buyers.
About The Author
Moss Clement is a freelance blogger and content manager at Writers Per Hour. He is working closely with B2B marketers and individuals like you to grow your business by delivering highly informative content that is tailored to the needs of your buyer persona.
Connect with him on Twitter & LinkedIn.
