Social marketing is another phrase for putting adverts on social media. It is called social marketing because it sounds nicer than saying you are filling up your profile with annoying adverts. There are lots of ways that you can blatantly market your goods on social media, and there are also quite a few subtle ways you can do it. This article covers a healthy mix of both–giving you both tips and tricks to help you sell your products or services via a social media website.
Being promotional and posting adverts on your profiles
Almost all of the social media networks allow you to post content on them for no fee. This means that you can manufacture and post some quite sophisticated adverts on sites such as Facebook and Google+. If you post the adverts in between your normal posts, then you may get away with it and may not lose any viewers/friends as a result. You would be a fool to not try to leverage this, since it is free and there are an awful lot of people who use one or both of these social media sites.
Let people win a massive discount
Run a competition where you offer to give out a whopping fifty prizes, but the prizes are all discounts that people can use in your shop. This is the same as any sales discount promotion you run, except that you are giving out the discount via unconventional means. You can actually make it so that every person wins the discount, thereby giving a discount to everyone who enters. This gives them a further incentive to purchase your goods, as it would be a shame to “waste” their prize.
By JNFerree under CC BY 2.0 license
Video demonstrations will prove your marketing claims
People are going to remember and pay attention to your product demonstrations, as they show evidence of the things your marketing claims. For example, if your text based adverts claim that your builders build the straightest walls then it is just a claim. But, if you show a video demonstration of the builder building a straight wall then it is proof. Obviously it is not rock solid proof; otherwise we would all believe that washing up powder can remove any stain on earth.
Offer exclusive discount codes on social media
These are the codes that you enter into a special box at a checkout screen. Once the code is entered then the discount is given and the sub total is amended. Choose a social media site and make it known that you will offer exclusive discount codes on that profile. People will attend that profile to check for new codes, and will use the codes in order to make purchases. Just remember to make your codes time-limited (aka, they must expire at some point), otherwise people can look through all your posts, pick up all the codes and save a fortune.
Nag people on Twitter with marketing messages
The idea is to remind them that you exist and to keep your brand and your products at the top of their mind. You want them to think of your business when they are making a purchase in the future. You can build up your brand recognition with little nagging Tweets, all without the worry of boring your followers, as people tend to have more patience for low quality or nagging messages on Twitter.
Use social media testimonials to prove your point
The fact is that people follow people, so if you have enough people saying that your product is great, then more and more people will start to think your product is great. You can use this fact by making a point about your product (e.g. it is fast), and then have people post testimonials about the point you are making. This will help you to sell more products via your social media site.
You can prove your claims with a video
If you claim to have the most efficient factory in the first world, then you can show a video of it on YouTube. If you claim that your product is made with fair-trade goods, then you can show a video of the farms where you purchase your goods. Basically, if you are making any sort of claim about your products, then you can prove it with a video. This works especially well if your product is a means to an end. For example, showing how well your mower cuts grass is very effective.
Post your outrage at how great something is
A post about how outraged you are is going to draw a bit of attention. All you then need to do is show that you are outraged about something positive and you have caught your consumer. He or she will be tricked into looking at your advert, and then exposed to whatever selling points you wish to convey.
