Social media can be a golden goose for small businesses that want to get customers online.
What a lot of them struggle with, is how to use the platforms to get more customers.
In this month’s blog I’ll be talking about how you can use social media to get customers and some of my personal experience with clients who went from zero to hero on social media.
Who are your customers?
Let’s get down to basics. Who are your customers? And I don’t mean what is their age, location, martial status and gender. I mean WHO ARE THEY down to the brand of the shirts on their backs and whether they bought a prize-winning show-cat or adopted an old mongrel from the local dog rescue.
Their individuality will help you know how you are dealing with and how to sell to them on social media.
Imagine you’re in an episode of CSI. You’re the psychologist and the customer is the murderer (stay with me). You need to figure out how they think, and why they think the way they do. It your job to suss out their next steps, behaviour and motives.
The same principle applies to sales, only with a lot less murder (broadly speaking).
This is where it helps to understand generational purchasing behaviour, personality types, the cultural landscape of your selling area, and their other interests.
When you know all of these things, you will see patterns emerge. The best people you work with or sell to will embody a certain number of characteristics. These will help you figure out the next two questions – where they like to hang out online, and why?
Where do your customers like to hang out online?
This is important, it will partially help you decide which apps to invest your time in.
Facebook is a safe bet to start with as it has a broad range of personalities who tend to be “hunting” for goodies, bargains, connections, hive activity or fun.
Facebook is good for Millenials , Gen X and Boomers who are staying connected to local companies, family, friends, groups and societies etc. It’s about connection and activity.
Instagram should be renamed “look how good my life is dot com” and for good reason. If you sell “the dream” – wealth, status, luxury, beauty, wellness, cars, success etc. That is likely your place to be.
Super opinionated? You’ll get noticed on Twitter/X.
DIY, artist, maker and decor? Pinterest is where people go for inspiration on creativity.
You get the picture.
What are your customers using social media apps for?
Here are a couple of examples from Instagram.
There are several pockets of purchasing styles and behaviours on Instagram. How to market to them differs greatly.
You might be promoting luxury holidays or family homes to Gen X-ers. Interested buyers may fit this profile: they covet a shinier, happier, healthier lifestyle. They may want to climb a social ladder and raise their social status and image. Many of them enjoy a spontaneous purchase. They rely heavily on emotion to dictate how important the purchase is to them. Happiness, and having fun are top priorities, especially if they have children. They will go into debt if it means having a better quality of life. These people are here to live life to the fullest, right here, right now.
They will be using Instagram to fantasise about the sparkly future they want to carve out for themselves.
Then there are a whole host of introverts and lurkers. Loads of them use instagram, but not to buy anything… instead they doomscroll unhinged memes and videos, and fire them off to friends and family as a sign of affection.
They are often hard-working professionals who need time for their brain to reset. They won’t spend any money on Instagram, it’s exclusively there to disassociate and mentally “switch off”. Marketing to these people specifically to sell a service works better on other apps, specifically Reddit, LinkedIn and Facebook.
They will switch apps for sensible purchases when they can be bothered to go there mentally. You can probably imagine friends like these two character types.
This is where personality type and purchasing behaviour becomes so important. How they use the app is just as vital as the app choice itself.
These books are helpful for more insight into purchasing psychology.
Regularly publish interesting content
No matter the platform your customers use, they all want the same thing – interesting content. It could be educational, entertaining, funny, emotive, moving, inspiring or tender.
Whatever category it falls under, content must always be worth watching because it gives the viewer something they want to see, and will come back for.
What they want comes back to cheeky old personality types and purchasing behaviour.
For example, I am B2B and sell web design and social media services to local companies who want to find a techy person they can trust.
On social media, they want useful information on how to DIY tech and marketing to prove I can walk the walk.
My content makes their marketing feel less intimidating and when the time is right, they know I am a credible source for a website and SEO upgrades.
You might find that your customers want fun and silly videos, because they are light-hearted people and don’t like to get bogged down with the stresses of life (like council tax and admin).
Or you could be dealing with no-nonsense nit-pickers who care about details; grammar, spelling, guarantees and feeling safe before a purchase. They want to see you are organised and knowledgable and don’t trust easily. These people love to see how things are made, processes, systems and intelligence. They love a factory video.
The closer you tailor your content to these personalities, the easier they will follow you, and take in interest in what you’re selling. The key? Always give potential customers something they want to see on social media. It has to add to their day.
What does posting consistently mean?
“Consistency” is a word I have noticed a lot of social media professionals chuck around with gay abandon. It’s a vague term that could mean anything – posting the same genre of content, posting at the same time every day, posting only pictures of cars. You get the idea. It leaves a lot of room for guess-work and misinterpretation.
Posting consistently means this:
- posting content that matters to your customers (and nothing else – the page should be dedicated to them).
- Posting said content regularly (3x per week is a good starting point especially if your business is less than 2 years old).
- Posting around the same time as your followers are online (see insights for when that is).
- Posting content that is relevant (don’t suddenly go off on a tangent of sharing things like pictures of your dog or other business’ posts just because you like them).
- Posting similar design formats so you look like you (your logo, brand colours, fonts and shapes/colours).
- Creating opportunities for your followers to share/react/comment in a way that benefits them (not you/your business).
- Interacting with similar content and people
How often to post on social media
Posting 3x per week is pretty good for a sole trader on Facebook. Everyday is better.
For context, famous YouTubers tend to post around 50 times a day across platforms. That is what’s required to go viral and stay there. Some even post 500 clips a week to fast-track what is going to perform best, and then recycle it as much as they can.
The reality is, your 3 posts a week and 500 followers is actually very impressive. It shows people like you. Keep going!
Save time by recording videos and taking photos in large batches. Then use a scheduling tool like META to schedule posts in advance.
How will using social media get me more customers?
When you post content that people can’t get anywhere else, they follow you. If you are brave enough to post yourself and the inner workings of your business, you will provide transparency. Showing your social media customers that you know what you are talking about gives them peace of mind about your credibility. Posting consistently and understanding your customers creates trust. Being a regular poster shows you are a professional who is invested in the customer.
The combination of these qualities are what help customers find you, follow you and purchase from you.
Thanks for reading my blog. 🙂
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About the Author
Catherine Jarvis Clothier is a digital marketer and online presence specialist living and working in Kent, UK. She has worked in unusual UK businesses for over 10 years across the South of England, particularly in automotive and therapy-based enterprises. Catherine specialises in social media, SEO and web design. She can be contacted here for online business consultations.
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