7.6% of online time is spent reading e-mail and 23% on social. The juicy bit of the study is that more than 70% of social networks users shop online. That’s ~12% more than the average person. One thing that social is bad at is direct sales. Using sales messages through social media converts at just 5%. That’s not good. People buy from companies and brands that they recognize and trust. That have some kind of relationship with them. Promote good relevant content is key to successfully generate a positive brand identity. Once people recognize that you don’t just blast your company’s PR and sales message all over the place, but share stuff they like (give good advice, relevant info etc) and find useful, they will follow and like your activities.

1. what is social media
Why It’s Important To Use Your Audience To Promote Your
Brand
don’t sell, engage
•
by: Barrie at FoundUB4

2. 5 Reasons To Share On Social
Exposure
Generates exposure for your business
Increase
Traffic / Subscribers / Sales
Improve
Your online reach of your target audience
Generate
More sales through referrals
Reduce
Overall marketing budget

3. Don’t Sell – Engage With Your Audience
Exposure
Source 1
Nielsen on social media
Source 2
Forrester purchase path of
online buyers 2012
7.6% of online time is spent reading e-mail and 23% on social.
The juicy bit of the study is that more than 70% of social networks users
shop online. That’s ~12% more than the average person.
One thing that social is bad at is direct sales.
Using sales messages through social media converts at just 5%. That’s
not good.
People buy from companies and brands that they recognize and trust. That
have some kind of relationship with them.
Promote good relevant content is key to successfully generate a positive
brand identity.
Once people recognize that you don’t just blast your company’s PR and
sales message all over the place, but share stuff they like (give good
advice, relevant info etc) and find useful, they will follow and like your
activities.

4. Drive Visitors From Facebook To Your Website
Increase
Source 1
Nielsen on social media
Source 2
Forrester purchase path of
online buyers 2012
Now that you have their attention, it’s time to drive them off of Social
Networks and into your website.
In there you have total control over the environment and thus can work your
conversions magic.
The easiest way to drive people from social media to your website is
through your very own News area on your website.
You write news worthy content, and share it (and hopefully others do that
as well) on their wall by Liking/Commenting/Sharing.
It’s definitely a long term strategy, but one that will pay off in the end.
Blasting “buy / sale / offers” on social media will not lead to anything.

5. Using Your Existing Audience To Generate More
Improve
Source 1
Nielsen on social media
Source 2
Forrester purchase path of
online buyers 2012
When you post on Facebook & Twitter – do people reply , like , comment,
share your updates?
The more of the above you get, the more confident you can be that you’re
doing the right thing, e.g. pushing out content that people care about and
want to read.
If there is no engagement with your content then you have to take a critical
look at what you’re doing and why it’s not working.

6. How To Get Sales From Social Media
Generate
Source 1
Nielsen on social media
Source 2
Forrester purchase path of
online buyers 2012
How many new sales are you getting thanks to your social media efforts?
One thing to remember is that sales from social media are different from
your traditional sales.
Different as in you can’t go straight for the kill a.k.a “sale” – that will distract
the conversion with a social media buyer.
Instead you must work on building trust through valuable and useful
content and then slowly move into the sales part.
In Conclusion:
Keeping your existing audience engaging with your brand to see promotional
offers and sales messages through the use of the main website will assist on
generating an increase in both returning visitors and new visitors to the main
website.

7. How To Get Sales From Social Media
Generate
Source 1
Nielsen on social media
Source 2
Forrester purchase path of
online buyers 2012
How many new sales are you getting thanks to your social media efforts?
One thing to remember is that sales from social media are different from
your traditional sales.
Different as in you can’t go straight for the kill a.k.a “sale” – that will distract
the conversion with a social media buyer.
Instead you must work on building trust through valuable and useful
content and then slowly move into the sales part.
In Conclusion:
Keeping your existing audience engaging with your brand to see promotional
offers and sales messages through the use of the main website will assist on
generating an increase in both returning visitors and new visitors to the main
website.