3 clever ways to sell using social media platformsThe advent of social media has changed the way people interact with each other and with the businesses they buy products from. Just a few years ago, businesses were content with having websites as the only way to reach their online audiences.

Social media platforms have changed all this, becoming the sensation of the online world. Today, a good number of businesses use various social media sites not only to offer customer support and real-time interaction, but also to sell their products.

It is important for business owners and digital marketing teams to understand the effective social media techniques that they can integrate into their selling strategies.

1. Match the Social Strategy to the Customer

The modern customer is knowledgeable and more discerning. To ensure that your products meet the needs of such clients, you should be aware of the best social media platform to use. Not every social network will be a suitable fit for selling to all customers.

Make sure that you understand the purpose for which your customer needs your products, their age, what they are looking for as well as how technological savvy they are. This will help you to determine the best social media platform to use when selling your products. Start by listening to the specific problems that your products can solve before proceeding to give relevant advice. You can even capture leads and engage with sales prospects while performing this research – it’s all part of the social selling mix.

2. Create the Right Content

For any social media strategy to be effective, it is important to ensure that the content is original, engaging and relevant. Just like with your choice of social network, you will need to customise content based on the tastes, preferences and buying patterns of your customers. As much as you may want to use visuals to attract the attention of your customers, you should learn to strike a balance on the frequency of using each format.

If you want to use visuals to sell your products, you should learn how to sell on Pinterest, as these two platforms are most suitable for imagery (and can be highly effective). If you’re using visual content on any other social media sites, it’s important to ensure you’re giving customers enough information and aren’t diverting them away from the sale.

3. Build your network

There are no two ways about building your network. It is important to dedicate time and effort towards building your network if you want to be successful in selling using social media platforms. The best thing to do would be to set daily, weekly and monthly goals so that you are committed to what you want to achieve. Look up the relevant social networks and identify the users who are talking about your industry and searching related keywords. Look for ways to contribute to the conversations of such prospects and adding value to their network.

At the end of it all, you should connect all these strategies back to the business so that there is an increase in sales. It is important to include calls to action that will motivate both customers and non-customers to buy your products and work with your business in future. Another thing to remember when selling using social media platforms is to build and maintain healthy relationships with your customers.