Although most marketers and companies are spending more time than ever on social media marketing, that doesn’t mean reaching potential customers with social selling is easy. The reason it is so challenging for a business to stand out on any social platform is there’s a lot of noise and competition.
Since publishers and businesses across countless industries have realized the opportunity that social media presents, simply posting a few links every now and then on a profile isn’t going to generate meaningful traction. If you want to get real results from social media marketing, it’s important to take a strategic approach. That’s why we want to share four tips that can help you maximize the effectiveness of the time you put into social media:
1. Less Is More
While you want to grab people’s attention on social media, what you don’t want to do is overwhelm them with a post that resembles a wall of text. People like social media posts that are short and sweet, which is why research has found that shorter posts can increase engagement by up to 86%. Although fitting everything you want to communicate into fewer words can be a challenge, making this a priority is a proven way to improve your social media marketing efforts.
2. Curate Content
It’s always helpful to think of social media as a cocktail party. When you’re in this kind of setting, you generally don’t want to be around someone who only talks about themselves. Instead, you want to be around someone who has a lot of interesting things to say and is also happy to listen. You can give your business this kind of personality on social by curating. While it’s fine to periodically promote your business, focusing on sharing content that will provide value to the types of people you want to reach will help draw them to you.
3. Use Images And Videos
Images provide a great way to grab people’s attention without typing a single word. And because all of the major social media platforms have made significant investments in video, it’s definitely worth trying to incorporate video into your overall social media marketing strategy. Sharing images and videos on Pinterest and Instagram is a great way to boost your branding.
4. Don’t Be Afraid To Share More Than Once
When a business begins getting active on social media for the first time, it’s generally not hard for them to come up with interesting content to share. But as time goes on, it’s normal to hit points where you feel like you’re out of fresh ideas. The good news is there’s nothing wrong with sharing great posts more than once. The life of a Facebook post is 4-6 hours and a Tweet only 1 so it’s common for only a small percentage of followers to see your posts, sharing more than once will ensure you get the most value out of your best posts.
Why Social Proof Matters
People are constantly bombarded with information whenever they are online. Lots of this information is great, but plenty of this social media information is a waste of time or downright false.
Since people need a way to filter information, one of the ways they can accomplish that is by looking for social proof. Because social proof can directly impact how people view what you’re communicating and selling online, we’re going to look at exactly what social proof is, along with how you can get creative with using social proof:
An Introduction To Social Proof For Selling Online
When clients come to us for conversion optimization strategy, social media marketing proof is generally one of the first things we discuss. The reason we put such an emphasis on social proof is it can directly influence whether or not someone makes a purchase. So, while it’s clear that social proof is important, what exactly is it? The best way to define social proof is the positive influence that’s created when someone finds out that other people are doing something. The best example of this is a line outside a nightclub. The most common response individuals have to this is thinking the club is in high demand, which in turn makes them want to go in.
Ratings on movie review websites are another example. Movies that get kickstarted with positive reviews are far more likely to attract lots of viewers than ones that begin with even just a handful of negative reviews. For businesses selling online, social proof can accomplish two important things. First, it shows visitors that they’re not the first person to buy something. This reduces perceived risk and eliminates a common buying obstacle. And second, social proof can show that other people have benefited from their purchase, which creates a positive feeling in visitors and gives them a desire to buy.
Get Creative With Your WebSite Social Proof
The good news about social proof is there are a lot of different ways you can utilize it throughout your website. The first is to add testimonials. These can go on your home and landing pages. When it comes to optimal testimonials, relevancy is important. A photo of your customer and the full name under the testimonial is also ideal. And depending on what you offer, it may make sense to include the customer’s job title as well.
Case studies are the next type of social proof you can add. This is something you can publish directly on your site and offer as a lead magnet for email marketing or utilize as a combination of both. Social media also provides several really compelling opportunities for social proof. Adding a plugin that displays the number of shares for your content, embedding social media posts or displaying how many people are following you on different social sites are all ways to show visitors who come to your website that you’re the real deal!
I hope you enjoyed this article about social selling and the importance of social proof online.
Interested in reading more articles about maximizing marketing?
Read My Blog Posts:
- How To Improve Conversions With Call-To-Actions
- Tips To Avoid Making Personal Branding Mistakes
More Lean Startup Life Lessons Below
