6 tips to increase sales using social media
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The landscape of social media has changed significantly over the years.
Think back to its initial purposes: to connect users with their peers and family, and allow them to create communities online. Now, it’s become the backbone of any brand's impactful marketing strategy. Some even allocate as much as 75% of their overall marketing budgets to social media marketing, highlighting exactly how modern brands increasingly rely on online platforms to reach consumers and generate their revenue.
There is no denying consumers have become more and more accessible – especially following the world events of 2020, where the percentage of users across all social media platforms has increased. This presents brands with a powerful, exciting opportunity to capture new audiences and to seriously accelerate their growth.
The key to utilising the array of tools available to us on channels like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest (think Reels, Stories and in-app Shopping alone) is strategy. And this strategy must run off of unique creatives, structured content plans and numer-crunched statistics if you truly want to see results.
However, there are downsides to this moment of opportunity. Social media has fast become a noisy, saturated place and, now more than ever, brands need to find new ways to cut through the noise. Both organic and paid social media landscapes are constantly evolving, and right now it's clear organic reach is shrinking with every new element the platforms launch and every new account a consumer follows.
When it comes to standing out on social media and increasing your sales, brands need to think long term and create sustainable strategies. Compelling content, crafting stories and building a community to better understand your audience are the essential elements of developing a social media strategy that helps towards the bottom line.
Add these in with other quick-win tactics to capitalise on the traffic and revenue-driving opportunities social media still has to offer, and any fashion business can harness the power of their socials. Here, we’ll walk you through our 6 top tips to successfully selling through all your social channels – whatever they may be.
Build an engaged community
Online communities have seen a significant growth over the last few years, and have predictably peaked in 2020. Even if you don’t yet have much of a community for your fashion business, we’ll bet you’re a part of one.
Creating a community around your brand and engaging with it can amplify your visibility and give your business the much-needed boost you’re after.
Think…
- More followers
- Loyal followers
- Converting followers
- Increased brand loyalty
In 2020, we’ve also seen brands turning to super niche communities to stand out further and, more importantly, to get closer to their specific audience. This way, their community will always connect with the brand beyond a transaction. Brands that show up and are there for their communities through thick and thin are the ones who will see long-term growth in return.
Here are some ways you can make an impact on your community building efforts:
- Have an opinion and share what your brand cares about. Brand values and sharing your brand mission is key for driving like minded individuals together that share the same passions and values as your brand stands for.
- Make short-form video a priority now, on any platform. Reels, anyone? Adding this to some long-form content through IGTV, for example, is a great way to educate and engage your community also.
- Share behind-the-scenes of your brand. Behind-the-scenes content shows the face behind the logo and offers a glimpse into the world of your team, your products and how you bring the brand to life.
Create scroll-stopping, compelling content
Content marketing lies at the heart of everything you do through social media. Over the last few years, it’s become increasingly important that you find ways to stop your audience mid-scroll.
Compelling content means it:
- Resonates – People want to feel like you’re writing for them. They relate not just to what you write, but also how you write it.
- Converts – Compelling content engages people. It sucks them in so they pay attention and eventually trust in, and look out for, what you share. This leads to more subscribers, more leads and more sales.
- Matters – Perhaps most importantly, compelling content makes readers feel something. They care about the content, which is what drives them to take action. Modern content can’t just inform, it must also distract, entertain and inspire, and do so in an enjoyable way.
Quality content is key. Nobody needs to make content that adds to the noise for the sake of it. Knowing exactly what will resonate with your audience, and how to provide them with this, is paramount.
Influencer partnerships
Using influencers to boost your brand awareness and visibility is no secret. Yet so many small fashion brands feel it’s either out their reach or that it doesn’t work – the latter often being due to a lack of objective setting with, and research on, who they’ve worked with in the past. Chasing big follower counts and working with only the latest group of influencers can have detrimental effects, rather than increase the brand’s numbers as desired.
Done right, working with influencers is one the most effective ways to gain new customers. Social media has pushed traditional forms of advertising out of the limelight, and brands need to be both transparent and human to succeed. Influencer partnerships have continued to be an essential part of successful brands’ marketing strategies to stay relevant and reach new audiences.
The difference between a successful partnership, and what can only be described as a massive flop, is finding the right people who stand by what you do and are already brand fans.
Multi-level paid social
Fashion businesses have been turning to social media to generate awareness, engagement and traffic for years, so it’s no surprise the number of brands using paid social advertising to maximise their reach has also increased (especially remembering the decline in organic).
Running paid social ads will undoubtedly help increase sales, as long as it’s done properly.
Facebook, Instagram and even Pinterest advertising is now an opportunity to equip brands with the extra facets they need to increase brand exposure and amplify social ROI.
As a consumer yourself, you’ll know what it takes for you to take action on an ad. That’s exactly why creating a customer experience through a clever and well thought-out campaign is absolutely key for sales growth.
For many years, it’s been believed that it takes seven times on average for us to see an ad before we are consumed by it. Social media advertising makes it easier to put this concept into action, enabling brands to have multiple touchpoints with the same audience.
Harness video content
Content is always king, and so is video right now – as evidenced from a steady increase in the rise of video marketing over the last few years. Not only has it become a key pillar for many fashion brands, it’s also being prioritised as a content format across all key platforms. This is especially true on channels like Instagram and Pinterest as, because the majority of content in the main feed is static, you will find the effectiveness of video much higher.
Video content doesn’t need to be high production right now either. It’s much more about finding ways to tell a visual story, communicate a message and educate audiences, and it’s proven one of the most engaging ways to capture an audience's attention.
By creating video content that delivers meaningful messages to your consumers, you can build deeper connections with them than ever before. This truly creates a foolproof method of undoubtedly increasing your sales, as you build the loyal community we touched on before.
Leverage user generated content
User generated content (UGC) has started to outperform those well-known professional style posts.
Let’s face it, as consumers we all want to see how products look in real life, how they’re used and how they make real people feel. Social media strategies that focus on building UGC create an affordable way to share high-quality content that will generate sales for your brand. All this, and UGC also takes a piece of the creative process off your plate by filling in any content gaps with quality material.
Ways to use UGC:
- Find and share reviews. Sharing honest user reviews through UGC will keep your brand ahead of the curve.
- Find its purpose. Your UGC should instinctively serve a purpose – whether that’s being inspirational, showcasing how to use a product, sharing in-real-life video reviews or helping your followers make a decision on their product choices.
- Share a good variety of it. Sharing content created by a variety of users will always be best practice for meaningful inclusivity and celebrating diversity online. It also allows you to reach a wider variety of potential customers through this UGC.
- Use it to build connections. UGC is also about building a community. So, if you’re looking to harness its power, you need to make your audience feel they’re part of something bigger than a simple repost. Inviting UGC that reflects an audience’s passions can strengthen any sense of community, and transparently reinforce your brand values on your social channels.
So, if you were stumped by the idea of increasing sales through Social Media before this, we hope you’ll leave here feeling empowered. It’s high time to take the social success of your brand back into your own hands, and continue building the fashion empire you’ve always dreamed of. We know you’ll find the tools we’ve shared here help you strike gold.
About the author
With a combined 30 years experience in the fashion and retail industry. After working with the likes of Topshop, Whistles, Coggles and House of Fraser, Verity and Kate from Style Up Social Academy understand all the problems and pitfalls fashion businesses face like no one else. Verity and Kate are fashion strategic social media specialists. Here to equip fashion businesses with the digital skills they need to take control of their brand’s online presence and propel its profits. Together they empower fashion brands to harness the power of social media, paid ad campaigns, Pinterest and content creation, so they get the results they deserve.
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