Gaining followers on social media feels good. I mean, we all like to be liked. So, when you see those numbers rising, butterflies start swirling in your stomach and you feel like you’ve made it.
But what good are those followers if they don’t actually add value to your business?
They say to be successful all you need is 1,000 true fans. This can be followers, friends, family or anyone in your life who believes in what you do and wants to be a part of it. When you look at it this way, it becomes clear that it’s not about the race to 10k at all. Instead, it’s about nurturing your audience and using strategies to turn those adoring fans into tangible sales.
How do you do this? Good question.
We have come up with our top 6 tips on how to convert your social media followers into real, paying customers. So if you’re interested in gaining some real ROI, read on!
Define and understand your target audience
Take some time to really do some research. Who are the people you are targeting? What are their pain points? What are they looking for in a product/service? How can you help solve their problems? Who do they follow, and why do they connect with them? What are their purchasing habits?
By answering these questions, you will be able to understand your target audience on a much deeper level and start creating products/services that meet their exact needs. By talking to them directly, they will feel compelled to buy from you as you are solving the problems they need to tackle.
Stay active
If you are on social media, be on social media! Don’t just post and ghost. You want to be active in your community, responding to comments and messages, following new people and making real connections. Social media is a social platform, so be as social as possible.
Try posting a few times a week and show up on Stories every day. You want to be at the top of your customers’ minds, so that when they are ready to purchase, they will go to you. If it’s hard to do this each day, try batching your content and scheduling it in advance. This should ease the pressure and will ensure you are creating strategic content.
Offer exclusive promotions
Give your loyal followers discounts, early access and bonuses. You want them to feel like they are the first to the party and that you truly value them (because you do). It’s all about give and take. So throw your audience a bone and watch them take it!
Give a LOT of value
People often make the mistake of thinking that giving away too much value will stop their followers from converting into clients. Yet, it’s actually the opposite. By giving away plenty of free value, your followers will know, like and trust you and see that you are the expert in your field.
Through watching your content, they will gain new knowledge about your field of expertise but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to implement it. That’s where you come in. They are already hooked, they know that you have the knowledge to get them where they need to go, so they will hire you or buy from you! Voila!
Leverage influencers
Depending on the type of business you run, influencers can be a great way to convert followers into customers. The trick here is to not just get any old influencer, but instead carefully select influencers that align with your core values and whose followers will resonate with your products/services.
Forget about the follower count and focus more on how engaged their audience is. Someone may only have 5,000 followers, but they are completely obsessed and buy everything recommended. On the other hand, someone may have millions of followers but barely get any comments and only work with any brands to get free stuff. We know who we’d pick to work with.
Ask for the sale
Although this seems obvious, a lot of businesses make the mistake of never asking for the sale from their followers.
Now, we aren’t talking about hitting your followers with a sales pitch every time you post. Instead, we are talking about adding strategic calls to action on the end of your posts like ‘need some help?’ or ‘book a call with me’ or ‘click the link in our bio to shop now’. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. People spend seconds glancing over posts so they want to be told exactly what to do and what their next steps are.
To run alongside this, you can create ‘salesy’ posts and Stories that talk specifically about your product/service and its benefits. Try to create a good mix of content so your customers feel like they understand what you’re selling but also gain value from following you, whether they have already converted or aren’t yet ready to convert.
And that’s it! Six ways you can start converting your followers into paying customers. Start making these simple shifts and see your ROI skyrocket.
Still not sure how to convert your followers to sales? Send us a message (see we’re using a call to action ?), we’re always happy to help!
