How to turn your followers into customers

 

Okay, so you’ve spent lots of time growing your social media audience, you post regularly, you’re getting the likes, comments and the engagement, but not the sales? Keep on reading to find out how you can turn your audience on Facebook & Instagram into avid, loyal customers.

• Lead Magnet Ads

Why not start off with the most common and quickest way of attracting attention. Advertise. However i’m not talking about advertising how amazing you are, expecting your followers to take immediate desired action; but instead advertise giving them value which is FREE. None of us can resist freebies, so advertising a free giveaway in return for prospects email addresses is a great way to capture attention and valuable information so that you can retarget them in the future to keep them warm and to keep your business on ‘Top of Mind’.

Examples of lead magnets could be anything from a free How-To guide, checklist, template, webinar or ebook- anything that provides value relevant to your industry and target audience. 

Whilst we’re on the topic of advertising; you can also advertise part of your services/products for a discounted price. Once they get a feel of it and (hopefully) have a good experience, they will be enticed to go for the real deal and buy your full service/product for the full price. For example, if you sell a subscription box, you can offer a few of your products in your box for half the price for the first 3 months. The reason why 3 months would be a hit is because your prospects will get into the habit of expecting new goodies every month, so it wouldn’t be so hard for them to part with their money for the full price of the box.

• Contest with messenger bot

Again, as mentioned above, none of us can say no to freebies and the idea of getting something of value for free is a huge deal for most people. So the smartest thing for your business to do is to capitalise on that. We all know that Facebook contests are an extremely effective marketing tactic. But coupling that with your business ChatBot can do all the heavy lifting for you. Your business will benefit from instant lead capture, next to no effort needed to participate and most importantly; you can build sequences that will allow for automated follow-up. Also, people love to play games, the psychological element is often dismissed however it really shouldn’t be. “People like to play games, they like to be involved in something, they like the prospect of winning.” – Isaac Rudansky. The trick is to Keep the barrier to entry low to make it easier for followers entering the contest.

An example of a contest via messenger bot could simply be a ‘Comment WIN below to win yourself a ______ and follow the instructions that you will be sent shortly in messenger’ so everyone who clicks on the link or replies to the instructions, automatically becomes a subscriber.

Another way of running a contest on Messenger is to:

1. Create a landing page for your giveaway. Manychat offer loads of free growth tools that make it easy to create a straightforward opt-in page.
2. Get visibility for your giveaway. You can do this by simply posting the giveaway details on your page, but for the most visibility; ads will be the best way to accomplish this.
3. Create your messenger bot sequence and tie it all together. Then let the magic happens.

Messenger bot giveaways should be in short form copy and should include:

1. What the product/service is and why it’s so great
2. How to enter the contest
3. When the contest ends.

Keep the images and graphics light, with a clear eye path to your CTA and/or button.

Here’s an example of what your sequence could look like:

• Day 1: Send them a welcome message confirming their entry into the contest. This is actually your opportunity to confirm that they want to hear more from your bot. Typically you’ll have them reply with something like this: “Reply with ‘enter contest’ to get all the details from us!”. 
• Day 2: Second confirmation of entry. This follow up message can pick up a good percentage of users who ignored the initial message. If they already entered, this is your first opportunity to sell your product. You might tell them that if they don’t want to wait, they can buy the product at a discount “today only.”
• Day 7-10: Typically contests run for 7-10 days, so somewhere in this time range you need to announce the winners. Again, you have an opportunity to offer those who didn’t win the chance to buy your product at a discount (as something of a consolation prize).
• Day 15: Another follow up message, letting users know this is their last chance to get a discount on your product.
• Day 20: At this point if a user purchased your product, they probably would have received it in the mail. Now is your chance to ask for a review.
• Day 25: Review follow up.
• It’s important to ask for reviews, whether you’re doing so via messenger bot or any other mode of communication. 70% of consumers will leave a review for a business… IF you ask them for one.

In short, you have to look at these free giveaways as an investment, not a loss.

 

 

• Instagram Shopping

Conveniency is key. Allowing followers to purchase from you straight from the app without having to be redirected to a product page or a checkout page is definitely something that will be of value to your followers; thanks to Instagram’s new checkout feature!

So, not only can you easily introduce and educate your followers about your products with shopping posts either on your feed or in stories, but you can guide your followers to make a purchase with just a few taps. All you have to do is simply tag products in your posts, coupled with enticing visuals and captions then the rest is history. All you have to do is tag the product and ensure you’re a checkout partner so that your followers can go through the whole buying process directly from the Instagram app.

 

For feed posts, you can tag up to 5 products per image or up to 20 products in a carousel image post. & just like a regular Instagram post, you can add filters and write a caption for further aesthetic appeal.

In Instagram Stories, all you have to do is tap the sticker icon and select the “product” sticker. You can even customise the colour of your sticker before sharing your story.

Overall; the beauty of Instagram shopping is that Instagram shopping posts tap into an already engaged following which means there is already interest there and gives your business more of a chance at capturing your followers and turning them into customers!

 

• Greet new followers

Don’t overlook a quick and simple gesture of welcoming your new followers either by individually messaging them (to make it more personal) or by creating a post/video welcoming all new followers and introducing yourself and your business and what they can expect from being a follower.

• Interact with your followers

Keeping in touch with your followers builds rapport and adds a touch of personalisation. Respond to comments appropriately. Don’t ignore DM’s & PM’s regardless of whether they are positive or negative comments. Comment and like your followers posts, nothing to be shy about! Start discussions/polls to encourage dialogue between your business and followers.

• Testimonials

Testimonials, especially testimonial videos are a really big hit. Hearing someone else’s experience with your business’ products/services puts things into perspective for potential customers. It allows your business to come across as trustworthy and credible.

So there you have it folks; try these tips out and watch your followers turn into long-awaited loyal customers!