So the brand name is decided, you make a fancy website, marketing material, and then, you create your profiles on social media platforms, thinking it will be helpful to drive more sales / generate more revenue. And BAM! That’s where you take the first wrong step – thinking social media is the best platform to hard sell your product / service. So here are some points why branding and sales both go for a toss when social media is used as a hardcore selling platform, rather than engaging the customers –
- Brands fail to acknowledge their virtual persona.
The company should first decide what brand image do they want to portray in an online world. Accordingly, the communication line should be planned and content, design should be created. So the brands should know that it’s not about how amazing the product is; the first thing is to create a rapport with the customers. They should know what their brand stands for and how it should be positioned.
“45% of a brand’s image depends on what it says and how it says it”
2. They fail to understand the best social platform for them.
Selection of social media platform entirely depends on the type of industry you’re in. E.g. A brand from a manufacturing or mechanical sector does not really need Instagram or Pinterest because the people use it for an entirely different purpose. So first, this need should be taken into consideration. Brands should NOT try to be everywhere just for the sake of it. Even a single platform takes a lot of efforts and time to be used effectively.
3. The content is not interesting enough.
Would you click on a link or read a post that talks about how the product is best and you should buy it? An audience is generally present on social media to read, view, listen something interesting (apart from socialising) rather than buying stuff. So it’s very important to be one of them rather than intruding their space and pushing your products. Promoting your product is okay, on-the-face selling is not. Here are some tips on how you can use native advertising to promote your brand!
“In a study, it was found that 8% of the audience feels that company news shouldn’t be posted, and they might unfollow the page soon!”
4. Create a fan base and know what kind of content they like
A strong base of followers is needed when you really want to create a brand image and promote it. For that, gauge your target audience, and know what kind of content they like. A recent study showed that listicle posts get around 22.45% social traction. Why-posts claim traction of about 22.35%, videos get around 19% of total shares, How-to articles claim 18.50 shares. It clearly states that you either have to be informative / funny / entertaining, or all of that to create a buzz on social media.
5. Constant hammering irritates the audience
If you keep on posting your sales post on social media channels, people will unlike your page and unfollow you on all the social media platforms. No people means no brand recognition and in turn, no sales. And always remember that ‘report a spam’ button is just a click away, so once the user does that, it’s almost as bad as losing a faith in your brand.
“19% of the users say that they will unfollow the brand if it posts very frequently, every day.”
It’s true that in the end, the brand wants its sales to go higher and they use maximum resources to do so, however, the effort should be very subtle and should start from engaging and interacting with the customers on social media platforms rather than shoving it down their throats through hard selling!
Very good article post.Really thank you! Awesome. Staubs
[…] have been asked similar questions in some client meetings. It’s proved time and again that selling is not the main use of social media, though sales can be subtly and smartly achieved using social […]