You Need To Go Beyond Likes And Comments If You Sell.
It is easy to be fooled, thinking that people who like our social media content actually buy our products and services.
We know this too well. Many of us have our accounts with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, and maybe ClubHouse.
Many others tell us that the way to reach out to millions of people is to post content and garner as many likes and comments as possible.
And it seems to be working. Months after we start producing social media content, we see the following results.
- Thousands of followers.
- Billions of likes.
- Millions of comments.
And we become happily busy posting, responding to, and gifting likes to those who gave us their likes for our content.
Months in and we sense that something is amiss. We instinctively know, but we cannot point our fingers at it. So, we proceed with the party.
Many more months would fly by as we enjoy the fruits of our labor on Social Media.
And then, as fate would have it, we wake up one morning to reality. We finally found out what was missing.
Our products and services did not sell. Sales revenue is flat.
And we start wondering.
What went wrong?
When it comes to social media, many believe that the journey ends when we post viral content. That is true only if you want to be a social media influencer.
Reality has a different view of this. We have to take a step back and reflect on our behavior as we engage with content in our post-feed.
My reflection tells me that: -
- Giving a Like is free.
- The same goes for giving a Hug or other emoticons.
- Commenting is free.
- Re-Sharing is free.
It may be interesting to know that I am willing to help your content go viral because it is free.
Would I pay to like your content?
Zero chance. You read that right. Zero. It is also known as zilch, nada, no chance at all, fat hope.
Active engagement on social media alone does not equate to an automatic increase in sales revenue. We have to do more than that.
To run a business, we need to create good content and be willing to engage with everyone on the platform. That is the first step of a million.
What should we do after creating content and engaging with others?
I have a couple of recommendations.
We can start by identifying those who routinely comment and like our content. If people like what we do, chances are, they may endorse our perspectives.
From there, we can establish a connection via Direct Messages. There is a low probability for a Cold shoulder treatment since they know us. Note, I meant low, not no.
Pro Tip: It does not work for Social Media Influencers. The likelihood of them responding to your direct messages is very low unless they know you personally. That is because they are swarmed by hundreds of messages daily. Your message is likely to be buried deep beneath others.
We have to go that extra mile to speak to our connections, addressing them one-on-one. Invite our connections to a Zoom call to understand them personally and their needs.
We are more likely to close a sale this way.
Next, you can extend your marketing reach if sales are not the objective.
Observe what content-types each follower endorses. Once there is an established pattern, we can do the following.
We can send them our YouTube videos on how to bake cookies if they are always appearing and commenting on our Instagram Live when we teach them how to bake at home.
And then, ask (via direct messages or Zoom) if they are interested to learn more. From there, we can point them to paid resources such as our e-books on Amazon or Website contents behind a paywall.
If we have given value for free on social media, our followers will want to continue to learn from us. Organic marketing propagation happens when there is word of mouth from our connections.
When they start referring to their friends and family to connect with us, our follower population grows. Chances for future sales of our products and services increases.
Pro Tip: It is not easy to give knowledge away for free. We learn.
In Parting.
Let us clear the social media fog.
Likes and comments make us feel good, up to a point. I do think they are great marketing techniques. I use them a lot.
We should also be aware of their limitations.
If we have a business to run and grow, we have to go beyond that endless loop of social endorsements.
Social Media Is A Tool!
Aldric
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