Give Your Online Presence a Purpose: Lead Your Followers to Buy

As a business living in 2022, you probably have a nice website and at least one profile on a social media platform. That’s great! But does your content have a purpose? Is it working for you as a tool to grow your sales? Or does it merely exist so you can check a box and say “we’re a modern business with an online presence”?

Your online presence should exist to lead people down the marketing funnel and make a purchase. It’s easy to create a Facebook page or Instagram profile and throw up some basic content. Even publishing a website today is pretty simple. But you should always have a strategy for your content. Your website and social media can be strong tools to generate sales when correctly equipped.

The Marketing Funnel

You want every person who interacts with you online to take action. And after they take one action, you want them to take another. And another. Until, step by step, you lead them to making a purchase with you.

What we’re looking at here is cultivating a strong marketing funnel that generates, nurtures, and converts leads to sales. This is what it means to create content with a strategy. Do you find yourself posting a picture or a quick link on your social media just because you know you should be posting something?

If so, it may be time for you to take a step back. Review the marketing funnel and discover how you can use your online presence to make more sales.

Stage One: Lead Generation

In the beginning, no one knows who you are. They don’t know your name, they don’t know what your products or services are, and they may not even understand how they work. They certainly don’t understand at the moment why they need you.

This first stage is all about finding your ideal audience and introducing yourself. It may require some market research. It will require a lot of content that is friendly, full of value, and memorable. For content in this stage, do not immediately jump into the sale. Just start the conversation.

Here’s how to leverage social media and your website to generate leads.

Stage Two: Lead Nurture

At this point, people know a little bit about you and you should have a following of some sort. They may recognize your name, understand what industry you operate in, and hopefully understand the problem you solve. Do not stop here with this awareness. Always create content and a website that leads people to take the next step into interest and consideration.

Some people will be in their own research mode, needing to solve their problem but unsure which business they should partner with. Others may not have accepted they need to solve their problem now, but they’re curious enough in your solution to consider purchasing from you. Either way, your content in this stage should be more detailed and persuasive. Here are a few content ideas to nurture leads:

This stage is more persuasive than the last. This time you should take a step past introducing yourself and tell people why your company is the best and they should buy from you.

Stage Three: Converting Leads to Sales

People know who you are and what you do. They know the benefits of your products or services and hopefully why you are better than your competitors. You have built a relationship with these leads and have every right to ask for the sale. Here are a few ways to use your online content to convert leads to sales.

This stage is the moment to push and ask for the sale. But you can’t get to this stage without introducing yourself and nurturing the relationship first, so make sure the first two stages are not neglected.

Put it All Together

Now you have three stages of content to build from. But what does this look like on a daily and weekly basis? First, use each stage as a category to brainstorm content ideas from.

These are just a few ideas. Keep a constant list of content ideas for each of these categories. Any time you create any advertising content for a lead nurturing post, target people who have engaged with your lead generation posts. When you create advertising to convert leads to sales, target people who have engaged with your lead nurturing posts.

Keep Going

Social media can be a lot to balance as a business. But with a simple strategy to direct people down the marketing funnel, your social media will increase your sales. No more posting inconsistently and without direction. Let your social media work for you instead of just being an afterthought. Create content that introduces yourself, engages with your followers, and persuades them to purchase.

Get a copy of Ray’s latest eBook The 8-Step Marketing Blueprint: How to Move Total Strangers to High-value Customers by clicking here.