When NOT to sell on social media
If you feel like you are always in sales mode on social media, or your social sales tactics are not producing the sales you want … this is the article for you. Rachel covers her thoughts on when and more importantly when you shouldn’t be selling on your social media account.
The dawn of social media and the rapid changing nature of it means there is hard and fast rule book on how to use social media, we have to constantly adjust our strategy.
Social media was originally developed as a social connection tool for people, but as more companies hopped on board and realised the power it could have for sales, the more important sales tactics have become. Now, for business, there tend to be two camps on selling on social media - the over sellers and the under sellers.
Are you an over seller or an under seller?
The Over Sellers
The over sellers are people who are constantly telling their audience whats for sale. The majority of their social media posts will be sales posts, rather than posts building their audience. An over sellers description is brief, contains little to no story telling and no clear action point for the customer. An over seller tends to sell the same product, or similar products over and over again.
An example of an over sellers post would be: a picture of a bouquet of flowers and a caption reading
‘I made this lovely bouquet today, would you like one they are £29.99’
The Under Sellers
The under sellers are people who don’t sell at all. They don’t tell their audience what they do, what services they offer. They generally describe what’s in the photo but don’t give a clear call to action for their customer and don’t have a clear message. An under sellers description contains lots of pretty details about what they have made, but little story telling and again no clear action point for the customer. An under seller tends to post when they feel like it, with no clear social plan or way to engage their customers.
An example of an under sellers post would be: a picture of a bouquet of flowers and a caption reading
‘Here is a lovely picture of a bouquet I made using ammi, roses, eucalytpus”
So how to do strike a balance between the two?
Social media is 90% serving your customers and 10% selling to them.
This is where having a very clear social media plan becomes invaluable.
I like to break mine up into 7 days, 5-6 of these days are trust building days and 1-2 of these days are my selling day with clear action points. We try to think of the media for these days to be connected rather than just random, so your customer has a clear build up to a product and so they feel like they are part of the story.
Your weekly plan should have a clear story line to it - it could be covering the journey the flowers go on, the ordering process, the growers, why you have ordered that palette this week and then go into your sell mode.
Where should I sell?
Looking specifically at Instagram - you should be selling on both your stories and on your grid posts. There are a lot of users on social media that don’t know the difference between stories and a grid posts, so its important to have both angles covered, however its also worth noting that your reach on stories is around 10-12% of your followers and your grid posts is between 3-5%
It is worth selling more on your stories than your grid posts due to the audience reach, but remember to stick to your planned selling days. Grid posts are fantastic for longer story telling about the process or the product. You can then re-use this content in your stories, breaking it up into 5/6 different slides.
Just remember to pick 1-2 days a week to heavily sell and make sure your product stands out from the crowd. Don’t be afraid to point out the difference between your product and someone else’s. This could be something simple like showing the customer that your bouquets comes with a handwritten card or perhaps if they order this week they receive a small bespoke christmas decoration … Think outside the box on how you can make your product stand out in a crowded market.
When should I sell?
This may sound obvious, but you should be selling when your customers are online!
This is often so overlooked on peoples social media plans. When you post can have a huge impact on how many people see your offering. After all that hard work, you want as many people to see your posts as possible!
Take a look at your insights on either Facebook or Instagram to determine when the best time to post will be. As well as looking at the hours that your audience is active, these also tell you what days they are most active on.
If your shop is closed on a Monday and its the day your audience is LEAST active, there is no point in planning this as your selling day because it will fall flat.
Consistency is also key!
Consistency is different for different people, it can be posting every day, it can be posting once a week. Just make sure you stick to set days so your audience know when you will be posting. It will increase your know, like and trust factor which is the ultimate key to selling!
Florally yours,
Emma and Rachel xx