How to Turn Leads on Social Media Into Customers

By Sahil Kakkar

 

By now, every brand should have an online presence.

It is necessary because out of 4 billion internet users in this world, 3 billion are active on social media.

This medium has brought people closer and it is just as effective if strategically used for marketing.

Social media can make a brand or a simple motive shift to become a global sensation.

For example, The ALS Association Ice Bucket Challenge was a big success. Thousands of people and various celebrities like Bill Gates, Justin Bieber, etc. participated in this challenge and dumped a bucket full of ice cold water over their heads. This event, for spreading awareness about ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), received a donation that totaled up to $220 Million.

This challenge became the 5th most popular search on Google in 2014.

See, a global sensation!

Social media platforms hold a lot of potential to bring about a progressive shift to a brand’s awareness, sales, customers, etc. Majorly brand awareness and then acquiring new customers.

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But what these social handles hold plenty are leads.

Leads which may or may not be your customers. However, by the time you reach the end of this article, you will believe that converting your leads into customers does not have a “may not be” element in it. 

• Don’t Stick To One Social Channel

First of all, quit sticking to one social channel, I know that Facebook is leading the market but sticking just to it would only cost you the opportunity of gaining more customers through other channels like Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

The only tactic in this field is to have a presence wherever possible because not everyone uses Facebook..

Some people might be using it for sharing photos but they prefer scrolling through or sharing their views on Twitter.

A brand has to have a handle on more and more social channels, this can help them widen their reach and increase their chances of getting more leads and convincing them to become customers.

• Choose Social Channels Based On Your Target Audience

Who is your target audience?

If you know the answer to this question you are already a step ahead but those of you who don’t, you need to do a research and find out who your business is selling to.

Brands should market themselves depending on their target audience and choose the social channel accordingly.

You cannot market a cold shoulder dress on Twitter and think that women will buy it, they probably will buy it but the sales could have been more, if only you had used the proper medium.

Only 47% of females use twitter, most of them prefer to browse through Pinterest (60%), and Instagram (58%).

So, it is better to market your product on those social channels to gain maximum customers and profit. 

• People Should Know They Can Reach Out To You

 

One thing you have to understand when you have an online social media presence is you have to be active. You have to respond to people’s query and reply to comments.

It’s upon you to decide which comments are absolutely necessary to reply to.

You have to make the leads/people feel that they can reach out to you and you will help them resolve their problems.

This triggers the trust factor as people notice how genuinely you try your best to resolve a person’s query.

This increases the likeliness of people buying from you.

 

• Use Tools To Streamline The Process And Save Time

 

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Always being active has a great USP (Unique Selling Proposition) but a brand cannot always be active and respond to each one of the audience's comments and queries.

For big banners, it is probably easier because they have a social media management team whose sole purpose is to do such a job. But for small businesses and startups, it is a little tough. So, they use tools.

There are several tools in the market that you can use to schedule a post on social media and automated comments (I strongly advise that you reply to comments yourself, customers can gauge if a reply is automated or not).

 

For example, Buffer, Social Rank, etc.

  

• Post Valuable Content

 

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Next up is content, which is basically a powerful weapon to embrace.

With content, you can change opinions, attract more people, build more customers, at least you know what kind of content your should introduce your audience too.

Posting something irrelevant only because you didn’t post anything is ineffective.

Your content should have a value that your audience can comprehend and treasure. They need to be useful.

So, what’s the best possible idea? Do exclusive promotions. Yes! Post about new offers which are not on your website or any pamphlet, just on your social media page.

Post it and see your leads turn into customers.

• Contests Bring More Followers & User Generated Content

Running contests can never go out of business. People love to win surprises.

If you are a brand that regularly holds competitions or contests, you are engaging your audience and with that engagement chances of getting more followers increases.

There are certain criteria which allow a person to participate in a contest, so you can get them to retweet or share; forwarding content will lead to more people participating in the tournament.

Although remember to keep it simple, you can ask your followers to post images with your product, this creates user-generated content, and as more people follow suit their friends will notice it and become a potential lead and then a customer.

 

You have to make their voice your powerful marketing tool.

 

• Get People To Relate To Your Brand With An Influencer

 

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Start working with an influencer.

Influencers can bring you more followers, customers, lead, recognition, sales, etc.

People tend to trust them and follow them because influencers have more knowledge about a particular product and they can enlighten their followers.

You have to choose an influencer in your niche so that it is more relatable to the audience and get those influencers to share your content.

For example, Maybelline has been winning social media because of their way of marketing to people through multiple influencers.

 

Closing Thoughts:

Turning leads into customers is not that hard of a job, you cannot force anyone to become your customer, you can only fascinate them and the rest is their choice.

And to fascinate, you have to plan a social media strategy depending upon who your target audience is. You cannot just go ahead a target everyone, you have to specify who your target audience is.

And when you begin to target them, you need to create content that is valuable to the reader and offer some exclusive promotions on social handles.

End of the day, whatever you are doing is for your users. You need to resolve their queries, you need to help them understand your brand and your products.

It might take some time for the leads to decide upon buying your product but you need to keep following the steps and think about the welfare of your users and eventually, they will purchase your product making them your customers.

 

About the Author: Sahil is the CEO and Founder of Rankwatch - a platform, which helps companies and brands stay ahead with their SEO efforts in the ever growing internet landscape. Sahil likes making creative products that can help in the automation of mundane tasks and he can spend endless nights implementing new technologies and ideas. You can connect with him and the Rankwatch team on Facebook or Twitter.

 

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