Whether your company is B2B or B2C, you can use social media as a tool to hit your sales goals. But only if you capture your audience’s attention in those first 2 seconds. The best way to do that is to cultivate a culture of interaction among your followers with engaging social media content. Here’s how we did that for our client Clarksburg Cider Co.
Treat Your Followers Like VIPs
You can’t pay your employees with social media likes, and the last time we tried to cash a comment in at the bank, the teller looked at us like we were crazy. But likes and comments on your social media posts can help you hit your sales goals if you think long-term.
Take Clarksburg Cider Co.’s launch plan, for example. When we first launched their Facebook and Instagram profiles, we decided to focus on brand visibility and engagement, with cider sales being a secondary focus. The idea was to make Clarksburg’s followers feel like VIPs with behind-the-scenes looks at the production facility and captions that asked followers for their input on content they wanted to see and ciders they were excited to try.
This strategy proved to be extremely effective. Globally, the average engagement rate for the alcohol industry is 0.13% on Facebook and 1.17% on Instagram. At the time of Clarksburg’s launch, Clarksburg’s competitors averaged around 0.55% on Facebook and 2.71% on Instagram, whereas Clarksburg’s rate was 6.06% on Facebook and 13.64% on Instagram.
This shows that putting your followers’ interests ahead of your own makes them feel special, and when they feel special, they will visit your profile again and again. But this affinity for your brand will reach beyond a thumbs-up or heart on your post. When you use it as a part of a larger strategy, it can translate to money in the bank.
More Than a Vanity Metric
A few weeks after we launched this social strategy, the Tap Room at Clarksburg Cider was ready to open. Our strategy, much like Beyonce’s in 2013, was to rely on the excitement that we had built around Clarksburg’s brand and wait until the day of our opening to make the announcement.
That morning, we hung a banner at the entrance to the Tap Room’s driveway and created a post that was shared to Facebook and Instagram. The post organically reached an audience 13 times greater than our follower count and helped to fill up reservations for the entire weekend and beyond.
Beyond B2C
Creating an engaging social media page doesn’t just benefit B2C companies, it can work for B2B companies as well. Engaging content can set your business up as a thought leader in your industry and can help collect data on topics that your customers are interested in. Think of every like or comment as a person raising their hand and saying, “Yes, this applies to me. I care about this.”
If you want to create an engaging social media strategy that turns social media interaction into tangible sales, contact us to start the conversation today.
