Selling on Social Media and Why You’re Doing it Wrong
Every week it seems like my shares and likes go down because of some ridiculous Facebook algorithm change. All the social media experts in the world speculate and predict why these changes are made and what it means for businesses who use this platform for making sales.
Sure, other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram are not as notorious for drastic modifications like Facebook is, but whether you sell on social media for your hot new fashion blog or you are trying to manage a blossoming new Etsy business, some sellers do social media right while others miss the target by miles. Let’s see if you’re doing anything wrong.
What You’re Doing Wrong
Asking your customer for shares or likes. This is a surefire way to get Facebook to stop sharing your posts widely, and you just look like a beggar.
An update is nice, but posting an update on your newest product everyday becomes a little overwhelming.
Don’t repeat or post similar posts.
Many companies don’t ever reach out to the customers who are writing comments on their Facebook page. Facebook is the ultimate support medium, so respond to all inquires.
Tips
Post your products being used by people or solving problems as opposed to standalone product images.
Forget about lengthy posts.
Talk to your customers like they are old friends. Salesy posts sound horrible.
Try your hardest to always link back to your own ecommerce or service website to drive traffic.
What You’re Doing Wrong
Selling hard for every single post.
Just using your Twitter page as a feed for your blog posts. This gets obvious and boring.
Running overboard on the length of your posts. Information is fine, but you need to leave room for people to respond to your tweets or retweet them.
Favoriting or retweeting your own posts. There’s no reason for this.
Trying to follow every single person in your industry. Many people see this as a slimy way to drum up followers.
Tips
Focus on your passion and stick to this culture without straying away.
Determine a strategy far before you start tweeting.
Learn how to use Twitter with the hashtags, mentions, messages and retweets. Are you aware of all the differences?
Don’t just save all the wonderful pictures for Instagram and Facebook.
Research hashtags for your industry or market and log them in a spreadsheet so you are always cross tagging your tweets to reach larger markets.
Separate the people you follow into lists so that you can pick out the more valuable tweets that are worth sharing with your own followers.
Use images in your tweets to make the experience more visual. Most people think that Twitter is just filled with text, but you can really grab attention with images.
What You’re Doing Wrong
Using image formats that aren’t square.
Posting images that don’t fit your company culture or previous Instagram themes.
Taking photos wherever you want. (Aka taking photos indoors or when it is dark outside)
Not color treating each one of your photos, regardless of how awesome you think is looks.
Not choosing a color palette, or knowing your color palette and straying away from it.
Putting together tacky looking collage photos.
Sharing similar photos with very few changes.
Tips
Keep all images in a square format, because it makes it easier for people to scroll through the gallery. If you randomly upload a long rectangle it leaves a significant amount of whitespace.
If you have a clothing store and you post photos that are generally more fun-loving and cute, don’t occasionally post models in risque poses. Stick to your cultural image.
Always take photos with light. Try to get outside on a fairly bright day.
Color treat all of your photos, and choose a color palette such as white or blue. Your color palette should look consistent throughout all photos.
Stay away from collages because they hurt the quality of the best images and make it tough to see the detail in any of the photos.
What You’re Doing Wrong
Pinning anything you find interesting on Pinterest. The only time this is acceptable is if you run two businesses and have a separate account for each one. There is no excuse to overlap your personal recipe pins with your t-shirt business pins.
Using Pinterest for direct marketing. A single product image is not only against the Pinterest terms of service, but it looks terrible. Create pins of your blog posts that feature ten cool items, them throw one of your items in there. You’re also better off sharing your product being used by a customer as opposed to just your item in front of a white screen.
Marketing primarily for men or young people. Although this is changing somewhat, the current user base on Pinterest consists heavily of women. It’s not teenagers either.
Only pinning your own content, so that it looks like you only care about yourself. It’s best to create a community so that others see that you are interested in generating conversation.
Tips
Tap into customer emotions with stunning photos of people interacting with the world.
Add a hover Pin It button to the images on your website. This works as a nice integration between your Pinterest and website, and you can quickly push more people to your website.
Use the boards function to separate the various categories that relate to your business. One single board is boring and complicated to navigate.
Follow other businesses that relate to yours. This provides tons of awesome content for you to work out a different angle with.
Talk with all commenters as if they were your friends.
Spy on your competitors to check out what is working for them. Maybe you can find some solid ideas and tweak them to work for your own business.
Drop a line in the comments section if you have any suggestions for other people who are attempting to reinvigorate their social media strategies with some brand new tips.
image sources: Rosaura Ochoa, jason a howie, mkhmarketing, sean macentee, Shutterstock
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