social media Social media is a big part of my life and business.

It’s my bread and butter.

With social media, I’ve grown a personal brand and have built an entire business around it.

Having said that, not all social media posts are equal.

There are social media posts that will help increase profits and there are many that qualify as pure spam.

If you want to use social media to increase your profits, these types will get you the results you are after.

  1. Personal Posts

Personal posts? What? How do personal posts help you make more profit, you ask?

Personal posts allow you to add personality and humanize your business. It gives a face to your company logo. Doing this enables you to separate your company from your competitors since personal posts create a more personal connection between you and your customers.

The other day I was searching for a new auto responder. I stumbled upon a few of them.

Many of them had similar price points and services, but MailerLite stood out because of how human they were on social media. It not only made them memorable, but it helped to add the personal touch I was looking for.

I decided to go with them. Picking them was the right choice – Keep reading and I’ll explain why.

  1. Responsive Posts

You should be responding to your customers. It’s my personal pet peeve when businesses don’t respond, and I know I’m not alone. Failure to respond shows me that the business doesn’t care about their customers.

Just the other day I decided to upgrade an app while trying to pay for an entire year’s worth of services. I had a few issues that made it difficult. I messaged the company on social media, and they chose not to respond. I ended up with another service.

  1. Value Added Posts

This tip goes well with one of my 3Ps of social media. Purpose.

Purposeful posts are all about adding value to your community. People follow you for a reason (not just to purchase from you). They like what you have to offer and enjoy how you communicate your brand.

Share one small actionable tip that your followers can take and implement to get results on their own.

If you can help them get closer to their goals, they will purchase from you.

And it starts with ONE actionable tip.

It could be:

  • A video tutorial
  • A response from you, teaching them ‘how to’ solve an issue they are having
  • A simple 140 character tip
  • A visual guide
  • An infographic

It can even be a blog post (like this). It’s all about adding value to your followers that will help you sell in the future.

  1. Demonstrate Results

The best method to show people what your business is, or what you can do for them, is by demonstrating results.

It helps to prove what you’re selling works.

Think of the commercials you watch. They not only explain what the product can do, and how it can help you, they also demonstrate results. Without the results, we wouldn’t be convinced to buy.

Unfortunately, not many businesses are posting results on social media. They have a great product, but they are trying to sell too much. I often see businesses telling people what their product can do, but without demonstrating its results, I’m left feeling unconvinced.

Another method of demonstrating results is to share testimonials from your customers. Ask your customers for testimonials and publish them. Here’s a trick from Social Quant.

  1. Share Your Story

One of the most memorable types of posts that can turn your business around and grow your profits are stories.

We all enjoy a good story. Stories make us feel more engaged. In fact, whenever we listen to a story, we try to relate it to our actual experiences.

Just watch Shark Tank. The pitches that always get a deal from The Sharks are those that tell a great story on why the entrepreneur started their business in the first place.

Stories allow you to relate to your followers, making you more memorable. And stories – whether they are about your product or not – allow you to sell better when you do sell something.

It can be any story that is relatable to your audience or demographic.

See how Ahna Hendrix engages her audience using stories?

 

  1. Get Visual

I’m sure you’re tired of listening to this, but the reason we’re repeating it is many businesses aren’t taking full advantage of visuals.

Did you know content with relevant images gets about 94 percent more views than content without relevant images?

Now you know.

  1. Lead Magnet Posts

Lead generation is KEY.

Everyone should have a lead magnet on their social media.

Lead magnets allow you to collect leads to nurture and to grow sales as a result.

Here’s how you can come up with effective lead magnets:

  1. First, find out what your audience is struggling with. You can use tools like Buzzsumo to find the most shared articles on social media.
  2. From there, convert those posts into reports or ebooks and give them away for free in your lead magnet.
  3. Get people to give their email, and you already have a foot in the door to future business.
  4. Don’t forget to pin, promote, and create individual size images for them.

  1. Bragging Rights

Not everyone will agree with this, but if you’ve won even the smallest award, or have been featured in any publications, you should announce it to the world on your social media.

Many people are too humble. I see great people featured and awarded on social media, but they aren’t sharing nearly enough.

Posting your awards provides social proof that will build trust in the eyes of your potential customers.

Use it to your advantage.

Summing up:

For my business, storytelling works the best when it comes to converting my audience to actual sales.

It worked for one of my clients too after she posted a photo of herself on her Facebook page. It was scary for her because she never tried before. However, her fans LOVED it. It has been one of the most engaged posts on her wall and helped her convert many fans to sales.

It may be different for you. Try them all and see which works best for you.

If you’ve tried any of the tactics above, I would love to hear which of them provided the best results.

Photo Credit: andr3ms Flickr via Compfight cc

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