Where do you go to reach new customers? If you're a brick and mortar brand, you might try to get a booth at a farmer's market, put an ad in the newspaper, or branch out into digital marketing. For an eCommerce brand, digital marketing is the only way to go. And even more so, if you have a small advertising budget, but you're willing to put in the time (which let's be honest, time equals money ...) to create quality social media content - social media marketing can be a relatively affordable way to bring customers into your sales funnel and convert them into loyal fans of your brand.
Awareness and Interest
The top of every sales funnel begins with awareness that morphs into interest. 37% of consumers find inspiration for purchases on social media. Social media offers you an audience primed to buy. All you have to do is get your content in front of them, and see if they bite.
With the rise of short form video content pushed by advanced algorithms, getting to the "awareness" phase of the sales funnel with new customers has never been more achievable. The sales funnel with social media at the top begins with a "view".
We're not guaranteeing that every view you receive on social media is going to translate to a sale, but what other form of advertising can get your brand and business in front of 259K potential customers (see above) for free? (Remember, we use the term "free" in social media very loosely because the time it takes to create short form video content can be expensive.)
The sales funnel with social media at the top can often look as follows: view > follow > mention > DM > subscribe > reply > followup > sale
But how many times does someone need to see your content on social media in the awareness stage before they take the next step down the funnel and tap follow?
Marketing Rule of 7
Social media makes the marketing rule of 7 far more accessible to the everyday small business. But what is the Marketing Rule of 7?
"The Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to “hear” the advertiser’s message at least 7 times before they’ll take action to buy that product or service. The Marketing Rule of 7 is a marketing maxim developed by the movie industry in the 1930s. Studio bosses discovered that a certain amount of advertising and promotion was required to compel someone to see one of their movies." - Kathi Kruse
Could you imagine how much it would cost to do enough paper advertising to reach a new customer group SEVEN times?
Now think about how often you're scrolling on TikTok and you see multiple videos from your favorite influencer while you're scrolling? That influencer reaches you far more than 7 times a week on social media. Social media is the most powerful marketing tool available to help you achieve the Marketing Rule of 7, yet another reason that social media should be the top of your sales funnel - not a newspaper ad.
Relationship Beats Advertising
The biggest reason you should view social media as the top of your sales funnel? Relationship beats advertising - every single time. A quality social media strategy contains educational content, inspirational content, entertaining content, and finally - sales pitches. That means around 25% of the content your potential customers see is sales focus, which means that 75% of the time is spent building a relationship and creating brand trust.
Did you know that 21% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands they follow on social? That's because consumers feel they have a relationship with that brand. They see that brand's posts mixed in with their friend's and family's posts. The positive feelings they have towards seeing their niece's cute dance recital photos will bleed over on to your brand's posts. Your brand slowly becomes "part of the family." This level of connection makes social media the perfect entry point for the sales funnel.
If you have a great following on social media and your videos are getting high views but none of that is converting into sales, that means you have a breakdown somewhere further down your sales funnel. Maybe your website is messy or your checkout system is difficult to understand. If you need help analyzing your digital sales funnel, we can help. Reach out here to learn more.
Comments