Proof that Social Media Drives Sales! [Research]

6 Social Media Marketing Tips To Generate Sales

Free Social Media Iconsby Dawghouse Design StudioSocial media drives sales. This isn’t a finger in the air, “I think social media contributes to our business,” concept that’s difficult to quantify. Sales and customers are metrics you can readily track.

Social media generates 14% of all leads and 13% of all customers, and customers translate to sales, according to Hubspot’s 2013 State of Inbound Marketing whitepaper, based on their online survey of marketing and business professionals between January 31 and February 14, 2013. These aren’t elusive metrics such as branding influence that require a survey to calculate. Rather sales and customers are readily measurable by your finance or analytics department.

Specifically, the following six social media platforms enabled businesses, both B2B and B2C, to acquire a customer. Hubspot 2013 State of Inbound Marketing-Lead Generated via Social Media

  • 52% of marketers acquired a customer using Facebook. As the largest social media platform with 1.1 billion monthly active users, where consumers spend almost a quarter of their time online, it’s no surprise that Facebook tops the list. While most participants spend their time engaging with family and friends, Facebook’s sheer size and ability to micro-target audiences yield more profitable customers. Smart marketers will incorporate Syncapse’s Facebook findings into their strategies, namely that it’s your raving fans that promote you and contribute to building your presence. Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Leverage the power of your sales receipts and post purchase communications to get customers to engage with you on Facebook.
  • 43% of marketers acquired a customer using LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the professional social media platform. LinkedIn is like putting your Rolodex on steroids so it’s no surprise it supports customer acquisition. Additionally, LinkedIn is powerful for acquiring new talent. It tops small businesses’ list of social media platforms for this reason. Led by former Fortune editor Dan Roth, this professional powerhouse’s growing content offering shouldn’t be ignored. Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Ensure that your firm has a full presence on LinkedIn. Remember that it’s not only prospects that check your profile but also it’s your future employees and business partners. don’t forget to consider the power of your former alumni.
  • 43% of marketers acquired a customer using a blog. Your blog is your social media home base in the words of Chris Brogan. Use it to provide the information your prospects are looking for, whether it’s answering their questions or showing them how to use your products. Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Publish quality content on a consistent basis; while daily is best, do what you can maintain even during your busy period, at least two to three times a week.
  • 36% of marketers acquired a customer using Twitter. On Twitter, it’s critical to make every tweet count since your communications may not stand out in a large stream of messages. Provide a mix of curated content via Twitter so you’re not viewed as just being self-promotional. Alternatively, offer customer service via Twitter to answer prospect questions when they have them (rather than when you’re main business hours are.) Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Maximize your Twitter customer acquisition and sales by creating a “Deal of the Day” where appropriate. This provides you with a way to promote on social media without pissing off your followers since they know that you’ll only tweet one promotion a day.
  • 15% of marketers acquired a customer using Google+. Many marketers consider Google+ a must due to its relationships with the search engine. Still it’s surprising that one-in-six marketers acquire customers via Google+ since it’s a secondary platform for many users. Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Stake your turf on Google+ and post regularly at a minimum. Also, don’t forget to claim your authorship to ensure that the content you create is associated with your Google+ ID.
  • 9% of marketers acquired a customer using Pinterest. Given the focus of Pinterest users, it’s a good bet that most of the customers are consumers seeking a handful of product types. With Pinterest’s recent growth, expect this visually oriented site to support great customer acquisition and sales especially since there’s research that shows Pinterest generates sales. Actionable Social Media Marketing Tip: Link your Pinterest images to the appropriate product pages on your website and include a social media call-to-action.

Social media does drive both customer acquisitions and sales. To make your social media more effective at achieving these goals, create content and communications for these platforms that engage your target audience, has a social media call-to-action, and links to the appropriate products on your website.

Have you been able to track customer acquisition and sales back to your social media presence? If so, how did you accomplish this?

Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen


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