5 Social Media Tips to Help You Drive Sales Optimize your social media platforms to help your business.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The evolution of social media and technology has completely reshaped marketing. Today, data is plentiful and insights are easy to gather, allowing social media savvy marketers to drive tremendous results.
Social media allows you to build a loyal following and share your message in a unique way, resulting in generating sales and ultimately building a successful business. It's quickly becoming one of the most effective forms of online marketing. Here are five tips to helps you use social media to drive more sales for your business.
Related: 6 Social Media Monitoring Tools for Managing Your Online Presence
1. Use the same handle for all of your social profiles.
It's important to use the same handle on all social media -- Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. While it sounds like a small detail, it's a branding play that can have a significant impact on your growth across social media.
Consumers have become accustomed to remembering usernames, and most assume a brand's handle is the same across the board. Something as simple as maintaining a consistent brand, username-wise, ensures that you will always be found, regardless of the social media platform.
Personally, when I am creating a new consumer brand from the ground up, I always make sure the brand name handle is available on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Once I know they are all available, along with the exact-match ".com" domain, I will begin my trademark research.
2. Re-post content from real people using your product.
There is no better testimonial than real people posting about your product on social media. Re-posting this content on your social media pages is more effective than any forced-advertising. You are letting actual customers do the selling and convincing for you.
By sharing content created by consumers who have already purchased your product (or use your service), you are putting out content that instills trust. Consumers love reviews and endorsements by real users -- give them incentive to create this content for you. Create a branded hashtag and incentivize its use by creating contests or giveaways.
3. Target the social networks your audience is active on.
You don't need to have a social presence on every platform, but you do need to have a strong presence on the platform's your audience is active on.
Graham Kramer, CEO and founder of Artemis Venture Capital, and his business partner, David Mendelsohn, say they use social media marketing to help scale their client's businesses, and one of the things they focus on it targeting the correct social media platforms.
"It's all about identifying where your target audience is active," said Kramer, "and creating a message that audience will identify with. You don't need to speak to everyone -- you just need to speak to those most likely to engage with your brand. This begins with knowing where your audience is."
Related: How to Stand Out on Social Media, Even With Heavy Competition
4. Speak your audience's language.
When building a relationship with consumers, it's important that you use their vernacular.
This is especially true if you are asking a user to take a specific action -- like comment on a post, tag their friends or even purchase one of your products. A great way to show that you understand your target consumers is to speak their language and use keywords, phrases or emojis that resonate with them.
When you make that personal connection, your audience is more receptive to your marketing message. Let your brand voice and personality shine.
5. Link to the product you're trying to sell.
At the end of the day, driving sales from your social media efforts is all about making it easy for your followers to convert into customers. If it's complicated in any way, a potential customer will turn their attention elsewhere.
Make it seamless for consumers to click-through from your social media page to your website. You can include links in your bios, as well as within your content. If a user can't access your product page in one or two clicks, your conversions will be extremely low. The social networks are constantly making changes to help their business users perform well, like Instagram's product tagging.
