Mutual understanding between the brand and the customer fosters trust and commitment, generating long-term business opportunities. Building these bonds should be the main goal a company sets for itself in social media. Turning these connections into sales will be a consequence that will almost come naturally if we have worked well with our community on social networks.
Can you sell on social media?
Can social networks be a sales channel for brands? The answer is yes, but indirectly, and it will also depend on the company and its line of business. You can’t expect that just by being on social media your revenue will increase significantly, since these are not channels for direct e-commerce, but rather avenues to generate conversation with customers and potential customers.
With this in mind, you’ll see how this two-way interaction between consumers and the brand will indirectly drive sales. If the users who are part of the community feel identified with the company, are listened to, and have their needs met, they will likely turn to it—and not the competition—when they need to purchase one of its products or services.
Additionally, satisfied users will become advocates who will recommend the brand to their friends and acquaintances, possibly generating a chain of indirect sales that will be difficult to determine and quantify. To try to measure this, you’ll need to look at traffic, conversions, leads generated… everything that social networks helped monetize in some way to determine how they contribute to the company’s financial health.
Achieving that relationship of trust between company and consumer is not easy. Its foundation is commitment, connection, conversation… terms that could be summed up in one: engagement. This English word is widely used in social media and refers to that bond between the brand and consumers that leads to an improved company image on social media and, secondarily, increased sales.
Mutual understanding between the brand and customers fosters trust-based relationships that generate business opportunities, but establishing them is not easy and requires a lot of time and effort. However, creating these bonds should be the main goal of any company when considering its presence on social networks.
Five keys to increasing engagement on social media
1. Engage in dialogue. This is the fundamental advice. The brand should speak, but also give a voice to community members, since listening to their feedback is essential to know which path to follow on social media. If it’s a newly created or somewhat apathetic community, the brand should take the initiative and ask for their opinion when launching a new product, sharing important industry news, etc.
2. Focus on quality content. This is the main tool for generating interaction. As we’ll see in chapter 4 of this book, creating good content for social media is not easy and requires significant effort from the company. However, it’s the only way to stand out from the competition on social media and attract potential consumers’ attention.
3. Provide value. The company should make those who join its community feel important and offer them something in return: discounts, special promotions, relevant information, exclusive products, etc.
4. Respect the user. To generate engagement, it’s necessary to create a two-way dialogue, establishing a relationship of trust with community members that should never be betrayed.
5. Stay alert. Users’ needs change, sometimes unexpectedly. The brand must always stay attentive to new trends and any signals from community members to provide what they may need—or even anticipate their needs before the competition does.
Being among the first companies in your sector to be present on social media, with a defined strategy, a good understanding of the environment, and mastery of the tools and techniques that help generate business opportunities, is now essential. Those who do it first will gain a significant advantage over their competitors.
