According to research, there are now nearly 3.2 billion social media users in the world. Yes, you heard that correct. Billion – with a “b.” The average American spends roughly two hours on social media each day. With so many people spending so much time on social media, it seems like a no-brainer that businesses would turn to social media platforms to help increase their brand’s awareness, engagement, and most importantly, sales. What are the best ways to use these platforms to generate increases in revenue? And, crucially, how easy is it? Here’s Next Level Marketing’s guide on how to drive social media sales.

Increase Brand Awareness

Perhaps one of the best features of social media for businesses is its ability to increase brand awareness. That’s due to the simple fact that more and more of the consumer’s time is spent on social platforms, like Facebook or Twitter.  As such, social media is the optimal location for brand awareness campaigns.

If you are looking to increase your brand’s awareness to drive social media sales, you’ll need to consider what metrics are relevant to track your campaigns. Three of the best metrics to consider using are:

boost social media salesUse Social Media Influencers

One of the latest trends to emerge in social media marketing is the concept of “influencer marketing.” Influencers are individuals who have established a presence and credibility on social media, which they then utilize to advance the campaigns of the companies they work with.

How effective are social media influencers at boosting a brand’s awareness? According to a study jointly conducted by Twitter and Annalect, 40 percent of Twitter users felt compelled to buy after seeing a tweet by an influencer. Also, teaming with an influencer can lead to a whopping 600 percent return on investment (ROI).

Use Loyal Customers to Your Advantage

It’s not just social media influencers that can drive an increase in brand awareness. Your loyal customers can too!

If you are looking at using real people to promote your brand and its products, who better than your own customers? If your customers have had a great experience with your products or services, they can be the most effective brand advocates out there.

A simple keyword search of one of your products, or even your brand, on social media can reveal a wealth of information about who is currently posting about you. By examining the posts, the pictures, and even the follower counts of the individuals, you can formulate an easy – and effective -grassroots campaign to increase your brand’s awareness. Perhaps offer particular users a discount, or a free product, in exchange for posts about our company. You’ll be amazed how much legs a simple glowing review can have!

Boost Brand Engagement

Social media is great for engaging with brands you love. It is so effective at engaging with audiences that it’s one of the main reasons that marketers have increasingly turned to social media in recent years. In fact, social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest’s algorithms are specially designed to prioritize posts with higher engagement rates on their feeds.

What does all this mean for companies? It means that effective social media campaigns and posts boost not only brand perceptions but also boost brand loyalty and word of mouth recommendations from loyal customers – a big win for any brand!

User-Generated ContentHow to Drive Social Media Sales 3

User-generated content is one of the smartest ways to help boost a brand’s identity. Why? First of all, it costs you nothing. Encouraging your customers and audience to create content is a cheap and effective way to promote engagement and to boost brand awareness.

User-generated content is also important when it comes to influencing and encouraging sales. According to a study conducted by Olapic, 70 percent of respondents stated that they were more likely to purchase a product after being exposed to a relatable image created by other consumers. And data from Spiegel Research Center shows that 95 percent of shoppers read online reviews before they make a purchase.  

This means that not only is user-generated content cheap – it’s extremely effective in driving sales.  In fact, the same research from Spiegel shows that having five or more reviews increases the likelihood of a sale by 400 percent!

Invest in Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms have millions – and in some instances billions – of users. Taking advantage of these users is a great way to boost social media sales, but it can be difficult if you are an upstart or a relative unknown in your i9ndustry. That’s where social media advertising comes in.

Each social media platform has options available to either promote your content or to create ads. On Instagram, for example, Instagram Stories allows brands the chance to promote themselves in unique and dynamic ways. Online fashion retailer YOOX successfully used this platform to attain a 6 point increase in brand awareness and an 11 point increase in total ad recall.

Next Level Social Media Marketing

If you’re thinking about boosting your social media campaigns, now is the perfect time to partner with a team as dedicated to building your business as you are. Next Level Marketing’s world-class marketing team has the know-how to provide you with cutting-edge social media marketing techniques. Our experienced team will work exclusively with you to discover what sets you apart. We will create a compelling social media marketing strategy to dynamically develop your business visibility and awareness, as well as take a holistic, evolutionary approach to continually deliver exceptional results.

So, if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, give us a call today at 1(844) SEM-NEXT for a free consultation.