Whether you’re a sales manager or sales rep, chances are you’ve heard of social selling. At first glance the trendy phrase is intuitive–selling via social media channels. But while the definition might be straightforward, understanding how to effectively use social media to generate leads and make sales is a much more crafted, considered process.
As a business’s operations and overall presence become more digital in nature, so do sales activities. More of the sales process happens online versus in person than ever before. This transition isn’t exactly replacing the art of making things happen, though. Selling is still about relationships and knowing how to influence and persuade people to action. Social media is just a new frontier where salespeople can foster and activate those relationships.
In this article, we will share several ideas to boost your online sales.
- Who don’t like Coupon Code?
Coupon use has soared during the recession as people seek out cheaper prices and bargains, especially during the holidays. Entice customers into buying your product with a coupon code only available to those who have “liked” your page on Facebook or followed you on Twitter. This will both increase your number of followers and draw in more customers.
- Give FREE Shipping to Your Customer
During the holiday season, people purchase the majority of their buys online. Shipping costs when buying online can add up, especially if customers buy from multiple companies. Offer free shipping to those who click on a link from your Facebook or Twitter account. You’ll be tickled with how many new “likes” and followers you can get from this promotion, not to mention the boost in sales.
- Join the Community
You likely have buttons linking to your social media accounts at the top of your web site, which is a great way to get the word out. But do you have links on your email signature? On your blog posts? In your newsletters? Any way you can gain more followers means more people who hear about your social media sales.
- Use Hashtag
Retailers continue to revolutionize the way consumers shop on social media. For example, Amazon has elevated the social commerce experience with #AmazonCart, which allows Twitter users to add products from tweets with a link directly to their Amazon shopping cart so they can purchase the item later.
You don’t need highly sophisticated technology to produce results. Apply a similar strategy by using free social media sharing tools, such as Hootsuite, to schedule regular tweets regarding product deals, holiday campaigns or company storytelling. Each tweet should include a compelling visual, promo code, direct link for purchase and a relevant hashtag, such as #petfood and #petlover if, for example, you are a pet store owner.
- Go Mobile
Do you have a mobile site yet? If not, get one as soon as possible. A huge number of people now access their social media accounts through their phones; in fact, more people use Facebook mobile than Facebook on their desktop. Any sales promotion you put on social media will most likely be accessed on a phone, and you don’t want to annoy your customers with a slow, non-mobile friendly site where buying items is a hassle.
- Build Your Ecommerce Site
Instead of using Go Mobile only, you can find hosting provider, such as HostForLIFEASP.NET that support e-commerce. You can use nopCommerce, Magento, Prestashop to build your ecommerce site.
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