Monetize: Turn Fans to Customers Effectively on Social Media

Before we start off with this article, I’d like to ask, why did you make your brand visible on social media? Why did you set up a Facebook page for your business? Your answers may range from the following:

• You are following a trend already established by bigger business names
• You want to build a strong support group from your contacts and keep them updated with your brand’s latest offers.

These answers are, well, correct, and at the same time they are the most common reasons why brands become visible via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. But given that you have already made your business present in this arena, you must also realize that the journey of a social media campaign DOES NOT end with establishing a fan base. You’re just halfway to your destination. You still need to do the real magic, and that is to turn your fans into paying customers.

Going deeper into the Sales Funnel

While social media is an ongoing trend, nobody said that it’s easy to extract customers from community-based fans. Why? It’s because you first have to convince your fans subconsciously that your business is totally worth buying, that they will be the ones to proactively purchase your goods and not just because you coerced them to do so.

But how exactly can you drive your fans to buying your stuff?

Actually, the answer is both a mix of shameless plugging and soft selling. Yes. When you reach this part, there’s no need to sugar coat your offers anymore, as your target customers already know your persona and have already shown interest to your goods and services from day one. All you have to do is to utilize the opportunities found on the social media platforms in which your brand can be found.

Offer Freebies. The most primitive, yet the most effective way to make your fans buy your stuff is to offer freebies! You must understand consumer psychology-nobody could resist free stuff! The giveaways will serve as your investment, and you can tag them along with the packages you actually sell.

Treat them to special events. If you’re more service-oriented, you may want to give your fans limited access to some of your webinars and podcasts provided that they purchase your offers. The extra-special treatment makes a big difference, as your fans get to see that you give them only the best your business could provide.

Stress out scarcity. Pushing your offers at a limited time offer will make fans cram to buy your stuff, as that’s the opportunity they can get the most out of their buck. You can offer special packages within a limited time only, or you can stress out that there are only a few stocks to get.

Keeping their emails

Most of all, if you want to continuously churn your fans into customers, you must have their email addresses present and updated. This is your only way to formally contact and introduce your latest offers to them. Give them a reason to fill up your opt-in forms, to submit their contact details, as you can use this database over and over again.