Engagement Rather Than Pushy sales

Hard selling doesn’t work on social media because your customers are on there to be entertained or to connect with others, not to see pictures of craft beer five times a day. And since social media algorithms are designed to give users the best experience possible, salesy content tends to get lost in the mix as it does not drive engagements.

So how do you appease the algorithm gods? How do you get your potential customers to pay attention to you?

You entertain them, engage them and connect with them, that’s how. Your goal with social media should be to build relationships with people who’ll eventually buy from you. Meaning that you should strive to connect with your audience by telling engaging stories that are relevant to your brand - this is called social selling. According to LinkedIn, social selling leaders create 45% more opportunities than peers with a lower social selling index. GoPro is a great example of this. They sell cameras, but they don’t always tell their audience that. Instead, they use consumer-generated content to show their audience how they can capture their own authentic experiences with GoPros.

However, deciding what route to take with social selling can be tough because we’re living in the age of the customer therefore your social media strategy wouldn’t be quite as straightforward as it would have been otherwise. Your customers have unlimited access to information and they’re already questioning the value of your brand way before they reach you. Which is why investing in a professional social media consultant isn’t such a bad idea if you want to position yourself as an authority in your field and build trust with your customers on their own turf.