Okay, you've managed to get a decent amount of followers but now *crickets*. You're struggling to convert them into paying clients. Don't worry, you're not alone in this! This is actually one of the most common social media problems that entrepreneurs face. Luckily, in this blog post, you'll learn a few tips on how to fix it.
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If you market yourself or your business on social media, then I am pretty sure that one of your goals is to sell more of your products or sell out your services. In this blog post, you'll learn about a few common problems that I see that could be the reason why you are having a hard time converting your existing followers into clients.
A little disclaimer before we get into this: We're going to discuss a few of the most common problems that I see people have with their business accounts but it is still YOUR responsibility to have a look at your insights and see if this really is your problem. Lots of people follow the advice they receive online blindly. But let me tell you this: not every piece of business advice is relevant to your business. That being said, let's dive into the 3 potential reasons.
1) Your audience doesn't see you as an expert:
In a crowded marketplace like Instagram, you need to stand out instead of blending in with everyone else. You are reading MY blog right now because, in the sea of Social Media Managers on Instagram, I stood out to you.
I just finished a book called "What Great Brands Do" by Denise Lee John*, and the book says that great brands (and this is also relevant for personal brands)
don't follow trends, they create their own narratives. Great brands stand out in a crowd.
Unfortunately, every single week, there is a new trend to follow on Instagram and I see the same reels over and over again.
You might think that copying someone else's idea will get you to the same success but what it actually does is make you blend in with the masses.
In a crowded marketplace, you need to stand out with your own ideas. This is what will help you to be seen as a leader and not a follower.
Instead of blending in, here are a few ways to stand out more & position yourself as the expert that you are:
Always bring in your perspective on things: put your own spin on things instead of making the exact same reel everyone else is making and think of how you can bring your own personality into it.
Provide social proof: This is going to help people understand that you have already managed to solve problems for others in a similar situation before. Social proof is really powerful because other people's opinions matter.
I also want to encourage you to be controversial: I don't mean to post clickbaity kind of content. What I mean is that you, again, put your spin on things and dare to say your professional opinion about a topic that is relevant to your niche. This is so important because only an expert can be controversial, right? If I don't know what I'm talking about in a specific field, I cannot point out mistakes that others are making.
Make content only you can make: Don't make content that your audience can just google. This has two advantages. First of all, it shows that you know what you're talking about. You're not just copying what everyone else is saying. And secondly, it is much harder for other people to copy your content and pull it off as theirs making them look like the expert.
2) You aren't actually asking for the sale - at all or in the right way:
This goes beyond forgetting to add a CTA to your posts. I think, by now, we all know that we should have CTAs in our posts, whether that is asking for engagement or directing your audience to a link in your bio. That is not what I'm talking about.
With most business owners, I see one of these two situations:
They don't talk about their services at all. Like never, ever. They just expect their audience to magically know what they sell, at what price, and how they can book. Guess what? Your audience needs to be told these things. Often.
They talk about their services but always in the exact same way.
The important point to understand here is that we all are different types of buyers. Each person has different reasons why, in the end, they make the decision to work with you. There are different types of buyers that we consider in marketing. I won't go into too much detail right now, but if you want, I can write a separate blog post on all the different buyer types, what kind of content works for each one of them, and how you can leverage that.
For example:
The relationship-based buyer really focuses on their relationship with the person. They will never buy from you before they have established a relationship with you. For them, it's really important that you have talked in the DMs with each other before and that they get to know you better.
The analytical buyer, on the other hand, is really focused on logical arguments. They know exactly what they want, they know what they need, and they want to be convinced with logical (feature-type) arguments.
To start asking for the sale, the first thing you need to do is find out what kind of buyer your ideal client is. You can do this with market research! A common way to do this is to ask your current clients why they have decided to book with you. You can also ask them what convinced them to work with you and maybe even what objections they had before. The more people you interview, the clearer you will see what kind of buyer your ideal client is.
I want you to talk about your offer frequently, ideally every single day or every second day, and I want you to try to talk about it in different ways. You can highlight different aspects and speak to different buyer types.
3) Your audience does not see why they need your service:
This is a very common problem in many businesses and something that lots of people are struggling with. For you, it might be the most obvious thing why people need your service but for most people that might not be the case.
Example: As a Social Media Manager, I know all the benefits of having a fantastic social media presence. But to the average business owner, that might not be as clear. They might think that it will take them more time, cost them a lot and they won't see a good ROI. So for me, it's really important to show them WHY it can beneficial for them.
Content that can helps you achieve this:
Highlight a gap: paint a picture of what it would look like if they were to hire you. Then, compare it to what their life looks like right now.
Highlight the negative consequences of not working with you
Case studies of previous clients
I hope that you found this blog post helpful! I encourage you to do an audit of your social media strategy to identify if any of these issues apply to you. If you don't know how to audit your own marketing, or if you're not quite sure if you're doing it correctly, and you would love to have some feedback, then book a session with me!
This is exactly what I help business owners with on a daily basis! We can look at your marketing together, identify problems, and then give you strategies that are, first of all, personalised to your business, and secondly, will help you to fix what's not working. And then, in no time, you'll be converting followers into clients with ease!
Talk soon,
Hanna