Engagement Isn’t Sales—So Do Social Media Posts Pay Off?

Social media. It’s so ingrained in our lives that for some of us, it’s the first thing we check in the morning and the last thing at night. In fact, according to Statista, there were 4.26 billion active social media users across the globe in 2021. This is forecast to increase to 5.85 billion by 2027. For better or worse, it’s here to stay – and its role in retail is growing every single day.

These days, you’d be hard pressed to find a modern business that isn’t on social media in some way, shape or form. Loads of businesses have the engagement side of things down pat. We know it’s incredible for brand awareness and cementing strong customer relationships.

But as valuable as engagement is – it doesn’t always equal sales. So… do your social media posts really pay off?

With the right approach, yes they can.

• Industry data shows that 55% of social media users ages 18 to 24 have purchased something through a social channel.
• Customers spend 20%–40% more money with brands they’ve interacted with on social media.
• 77% of Millennials report buying online or in-store after seeing a product on Facebook. Those are some impressive stats.

That’s right – social media isn’t just engaging with customers and prompting them to shop in store or online. It’s the platform through which the sales themselves have been made.

This is the key to harnessing your engagement and directly converting it into revenue.

To some, this might seem like a new frontier of sales. Others have already been champing at the bit to get started but weren’t sure how. Wherever you’re at, let’s streamline the process. 

Here are some tips, tweaks and powerful software solutions that can help:

• Think about your social selling process
• Remove hurdles to sales
• Track and measure your results

What does your social selling process look like?

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and clear the path to a sale

Picture this: you’re scrolling through a social media app, and a post from a favourite store of yours pops up. They’ve got something on offer that piques your interest, so you tap around for more information.

You even leave your feed and go to their profile – but there’s nothing taking you right to the product.

Closing the app, opening your browser, going to their website and searching for the product feels more like a chore than an indulgence at this point. So you flick back to your feed and carry on scrolling.

Now that we’ve put ourselves in our customer’s shoes, we can face facts. Those seemingly small layers of friction can build up and stop a sale right in its tracks. Plus, it’s competitive out there! Sometimes the stores that make it easier to shop can come out on top.

It’s in your best interest to take a good look at your social sales process. Let’s check that you’re doing everything you can to make it easy for your customer to click, shop, and smile while they’re doing it. 

Remove hurdles and make sales seamless.

Now that we’ve identified these hurdles, it’s time to tackle them. We want to smooth your customers’ path for a few reasons – more than just making a single sale. We want them to have an awesome experience that’s up to the standard you’re setting elsewhere. This lets them know you care and keeps them keen to come back for more.

Let’s break it down.

1. Use product tags

Say you’ve created some content you want to show off – like a gorgeous photo of some new stock. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to learn more and buy.

A simple way to do this is product tagging. You can tag an image so that when the customer clicks, it takes them straight to the product on your website. It’s an incredible way to capture and inform your customer. Plus, it means they’ve jumped the queue and are one step away from the all-important ‘checkout’ button.

2. Create a Link in Bio

Even if you don’t want to tag a specific product in a post, there are ways you can make online shopping more straightforward. A Link in Bio consolidates all your links, forms and promotions into one utterly clickable link in (you guessed it) your bio. Mention the link on a specific social post, and interested customers can quickly scroll up and click. It couldn’t be easier.

3. Plan ahead

You’ll also want to plan some of your campaigns ahead of time. Even though we’d love it to be otherwise, one-post-conversions might not be your bread and butter. Most shoppers will have seen more than one post, and they’ll be seeing them at the right time.

So if you get a great idea at 8pm on a Friday, that doesn’t mean you have to post it then and there. Think about where your customers are and what they’re doing – and plan ahead to talk to them when they’re most receptive.

4. Organise posts in a calendar

Use Advanced Marketing’s social post calendar for a simple and tidy way to create, manage, schedule, and review your posts across multiple platforms all in one simple calendar view. You can keep track of messaging across your social media platforms and plan ahead for important dates.

This means you can say goodbye to last-minute panic and wondering what you’ve posted where. Instead, you’re focussing on crafting impactful posts that change customer behaviours.

Track and measure.

If you’re doing all of the above already, you could be successfully selling through social. 

But if you’re not tracking your social-driven sales, how do you know exactly what impact your posts are having?

This can be easier said than done. The software you need can be hard to find, and it might not slip seamlessly into your POS and ecommerce systems.

Marketing & Loyalty Product Tags

Tag products with Advanced Marketing’s post creator, and track when a social post has contributed to a sale. That means you get all that good data telling you if, when and how your social posts are working.

This works slightly differently from native product tagging. You’re telling Advanced Marketing what products or collections are featured in your posts so that all purchases with related SKUs can be linked to that post.

Promo Codes

Another way to do it? Promo codes are a great way to track sales in Advanced Marketing. Use a promo code in your social posts to track any sales in-store or online that use the code. This means you can get direct insights. Want a look at how persuasive your offers are? How about seeing what photo or video has led to the most sales? It’s all possible.

UTMs (tracking links)

If you’re using Google Analytics, chances are you’ve come across UTMs before – even if you don’t know it. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Modules, and they’re bits of code that track how effective a campaign is.

UTMs capture info like where the sale has come from, what campaign it’s associated with and any other terms or parameters you want to include. That way, you can see which posts or platforms are working and which aren’t.

Link In Bio

It’s not just a pretty page. Link In Bio tools do more than just direct your social audience to your website. Connect your sales channels to your customised landing page and track revenue coming through your social channels.

All of these work smoothly separately, and powerfully together. You can choose what suits your business and platform. But most importantly, you can see and understand your results, so you can learn what’s working and what’s not. This knowledge is vital to make your future campaigns smart and effective.

Turn social into sales with Advanced Marketing

With our powers combined, we can boost your social and drive revenue across your business.

Do social media posts pay off? The answer is clear. They absolutely can – but they might need an extra push.

With Lightspeed Advanced Marketing, you don’t just get the tools to capture your customers and take them from social to sales. You also have everything you need to track and collect purchase data. Then, you can use it to understand your customers’ behaviour and how to affect it.

From specific product tagging and UTMS, to a Link in Bio that consolidates all your links, forms and promotions. Advanced Marketing has a simple solution for practically every piece of the puzzle. 

So what are you waiting for? 

Sign up for Lightspeed Advanced Marketing for free here.