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Let's be real: a strong social media presence is non-negotiable for businesses these days. With its visually driven platform and engaged user base, Instagram can be a goldmine for cultivating customer relationships and driving sales. If you have no idea how to turn casual scrollers into loyal customers, this is your sign to create an effective social media sales funnel with your content.
What is a Social Media Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is the journey potential customers take from the moment they become aware of your brand until they make a purchase. You probably already have one built into your website. This journey can generally be divided into four main stages: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action. Sometimes that journey happens in a matter of seconds (impulse purchases), and sometimes it takes its sweet time. However long it takes, your content strategy should guide users through each stage without them realizing it. So, how do you go about doing that?
How to Research Information for Your Social Media Sales Funnel
Every brand has a target audience, and every potential customer's journey is unique. But let's be real – your customers have a lot in common, too. Understanding and reflecting on these common needs is what it takes to succeed on socials.
By asking the right questions, you can get a clearer picture of your audience at every stage of their buyer's journey. The goal? To figure out how customers are finding you and what they need to keep moving through your funnel.
Key Questions for Funnel Research
What information do your customers need to move from one stage of the funnel to the next?
How can you tell when customers have transitioned from one stage to the next?
Blueprint for Building Your Funnel
Here's your step-by-step guide to creating a killer social media sales funnel:
Create Buyer Personas & Create Content Pillars
Do in-depth target demographic research and develop detailed personas. Get to know your target demographic's pain points, preferences, and behaviours inside and out. Once you know who you're making content for, you'll use that information to decide what kind of content to make. This is where your content pillars come in.
Content pillars are 4-5 general topics you make content about. If you're a real estate agent, for example, these could be property listings and virtual tours, market insights and trends, home buying and selling tips, and community and lifestyle content in your area.
If you have a fairly basic product with a limited amount of content, use Immi Ramen (@ramenonthestreet) as inspiration and create content that makes people feel good. Recipe content is a little bit played out, so instead of creating content about their product, Immi does street interviews over a cup of ramen. Those genuine one-on-one conversations (with a little product placement) have netted them a following of 145k on TikTok and a whole lot of brand trust.
Segment Your Funnel & Content Types
Identify the different stages of your funnel and what each segment needs to move forward in its journey. Some may need more information or social proof, while others might simply be waiting for a sale. This is where content types come in: Educate, Inspire, Entertain, Sell. Cater to each segment of your target demographics by creating each type of content for each one of your pillars.
Tailor Your Content & Adapt It To Your Funnel
Develop various types of content tailored to each stage of the funnel. While most of your content should be developed with a well-informed strategy, we like to leave 10% open for experimentation. Sometimes, the unexpected works wonders.
Trends are a fantastic way of adapting your pillars to top-of-funnel content. They're fun, generally easy to do, and automatically relatable through commonality of experience. Trends are part of being in the online community. You don't have to do all of them, but a couple that aligns with your brand presence is a good idea.
Set Up KPIs:
Establish Key Performance Indicators to measure the effectiveness of your funnel. These could include metrics like engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Get to know your analytics well - they're the barometer by which you'll measure success.
Measure and Adjust:
Regularly analyze your analytics to see what’s working and what’s not. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments to your strategy, and don't be afraid to repeat content. Try using a different hook for the same concept. On average, people need to see you on their feed multiple times before following, and a slightly different take on a well-performing piece of content could be content that converts a casual scroller into a follower.
Once you’ve got a deep understanding of your customers, it’s time to put that knowledge into action. We've got you covered with strategies and content ideas for each stage of your social media sales funnel. Ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Top of Funnel: Awareness
Goal: Brand Awareness - Get noticed and attract a wider audience.
Content Types:
Eye-catching images and videos
Reels, Youtube Shorts, Tiktoks
Influencer collaborations
Hashtag campaigns
Trends
Tactics:
Consistent Branding:
Make sure your Instagram feed is cohesive and visually appealing. Use a consistent colour palette, style, and tone of voice. Think of your Instagram grid as a magazine spread - you KNOW when an article is from a specific magazine because of its branding. Emulating that consistency is always a good idea.
Use Hashtags:
Use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts. You'll want hashtags that are:
relevant to you and your niche
relevant to the content
relevant to your audience
relevant to your location (if applicable)
Collaborate with Influencers:
It's worth considering a partnership with local influencers to amplify your reach. Influencers can introduce your brand to their followers in an authentic and trusted way - especially micro-influencers with fewer than 10k followers. Those accounts are still small enough to be seen as approachable rather than having the unavailable celebrity status of large accounts.
Create Short Form Video:
Reels are Instagram's answer to TikTok and are currently given high visibility by the platform's algorithm. Use Reels to showcase your products, share behind-the-scenes content, or jump on trending challenges relevant to your brand. Reels are fantastic for top-of-funnel attraction content. Yes, it can be intimidating to get on camera, but Reels are getting the best reach, and that's what you want for getting your business in front of fresh eyes.
Middle of Funnel: Interest
Goal: Keep potential customers engaged and start building a relationship.
Content Types:
Informative carousels
Behind-the-scenes content
Instagram Stories with polls and questions
User-generated content
Strategies:
Share Valuable Content:
Post carousels, infographics, or reels that provide useful information related to your industry. For example, a skincare brand could share skincare tips or ingredient benefits, and create reels that bust industry myths.
Behind-the-Scenes Content:
Humanize your brand by sharing behind-the-scenes content. Show the faces behind your business, your workspace, and the process of creating your products. Remember, the more connected people feel to your business, the more they'll want to support you. It's all about building relationships.
Interactive Stories:
Use Instagram Stories to engage directly with your audience. Polls, quizzes, and question stickers can make your followers feel involved and valued. They're also a great place to ask for audience feedback.
If you're wary of being on camera, stories are the perfect place to ease yourself in. They're gone in 24 hours, so they're a less intimidating place to practice than something more permanent like a reel.
User-Generated Content (UGC):
Encourage your customers to share their own photos and experiences with your products. Reposting UGC not only provides social proof but also shows appreciation for your community.
If you were aware of the beauty community in 2016, you'd remember Anastasia Beverly Hills leveraging UGC like it was going out of style. Every time they tweeted that they were looking for talent to feature, thousands of people would be showing off their looks across multiple platforms in hopes of getting the brand's attention. That's brand awareness gold.
Lower Funnel: Decision
Goal: Encourage potential customers to consider purchasing your products or services.
Content Types:
Detailed product posts
Testimonials and reviews
Comparison posts
Limited-time offers
Strategies:
Highlight Benefits:
Clearly communicate the benefits of your products or services. Use carousels or single posts to highlight unique selling points and address common questions or concerns. This is another great place to leverage influencers again. The right person can address concerns in a natural way that feels like a conversation rather than a sales pitch.
Leverage Testimonials:
Share testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers. Real-life success stories can significantly influence potential buyers.
Create FOMO:
Use limited-time offers and countdowns in your Stories to create a sense of urgency. Exclusive discounts or flash sales can push hesitant customers to make a decision.
Product Demos:
Use videos and lives to demonstrate how your products work. Showing your products in action can help alleviate any doubts potential customers might have.
Bottom of Funnel: Action
Goal: Convert engaged followers into paying customers.
Content Types:
Direct calls to action
Easy-to-find contact information
Swipe-up links (for accounts with 10k+ followers)
Shoppable posts
Strategies:
Clear CTAs:
Every post should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Whether it's "Shop Now," "Learn More," or "Contact Us," make it easy for your followers to take the next step. Be mindful of your brand persona, and adjust your CTA's based on who your brand is.
Example: "Up Your Style Game" feels sassier than "Shop Now." Using the term "complimentary" feels classier than "free."
Instagram Shopping:
Set up Instagram Shopping to tag products directly in your posts and Stories. This makes it effortless for followers to shop your products without leaving the app. Think of each click as a barrier to purchase. You want as few clicks as possible between your customer and checkout.
Highlight Contact Info:
Make sure your contact information is easily accessible. Customer service is still a top priority, especially with the rise of chatbots, wikis, and AI taking the place of human customer service agents (Meta, we're looking at you).
Follow-Up:
Engage with your followers who show interest. Reply to comments and DMs as promptly as you can. If you get a ton of similar questions, consider adding a FAQ to your website and highlights to your Instagram. The more frequently you get a question, the more of a tip-off it is that information isn't easy enough to find.
Analytics and Engagement Strategies
Understanding how your content performs at each stage of the funnel will make your life so much easer. Instagram Insights provides valuable data on post performance, audience demographics, and engagement metrics.
Key Metrics to Track:
Reach and Impressions: Gauge how many people are seeing your content.
Engagement Rate: Measure likes, comments, shares, and saves to assess how engaging your content is.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Track how many people click on your bio link or swipe up on Stories.
Conversion Rate: Monitor how many followers convert into customers through Instagram Shopping or other CTAs.
Engagement Tips:
Be Responsive: Reply to comments and messages to build a loyal community.
Do Outreach: Scroll for a little bit and comment on reels and posts. It gets your name out there, and on social media, users tend to think that brands showing up in unexpected places is funny, which helps create a positive image of your business.
Run Contests and Giveaways: Encourage followers to engage with your content by hosting contests and giveaways.
Analyze and Adapt: Regularly review your analytics to understand what works and what doesn’t. Adapt your strategy based on your findings.
It's Not As Intimidating As It Seems, Promise
Creating a social media sales funnel seems like a huge, intimidating job when you're doing it for the first time, but it's just a plan. All you're doing is getting to know your people and planning how to make stuff they like.
Think of it as inviting friends over for a movie night. You know one of them is a vegetarian, so you grab a thing of veggie patties for them while you're getting ground beef for burgers. Another one of your friends hates horror movies, so you steer clear of that genre. Everyone likes cupcakes, and your bestie's favourite flavour is chocolate, so you make chocolate cupcakes for dessert. You put up some twinkle lights to make your living room feel special and have a variety of snacks, so there's something for everyone you've invited.
By strategically using your knowledge of your friend group, you've catered to all of their preferences and created a pretty awesome evening for all of you. They leave full and happy, and they can't wait for the next time you host. It's the same thing with your sales funnel. You create awesome content, turn your followers into customers, and they become brand advocats who gush about how great you are.
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