Want to sell more on social media? Here's a little secret: You don't lead by selling.
Instead, the best social media strategy involves providing your audience with something they'll want to share or save. Usually, that's educational content.
Not only does this spread the word to more people about your brand, but every time someone clicks the "share" or "save" buttons on your content, it signals to Instagram that your content is high quality. In fact, these metrics are a much better signal of your content's quality than vanity metrics such as likes or even comments.
Secondly, establish trust. Be the brand your audience turns to when they want to know more about your industry. Ultimately, that means they'll turn to you first when they want to make a purchase.
As you go through the process of establishing yourself as a credible industry leader, remember that trust isn’t established in one grand gesture. It’s built in the little moments — repeated over and over again.
As you create your presence as an industry expert, have patience and know there are three little guidelines that make an unexpectedly large impact in maintaining trust:
Provide consistency: Show up for your audience in the same way, over and over, with quality educational content.
Be a stickler about accuracy: This goes for both fact checking everything and ensuring your grammar, spelling, and punctuation are on point. It seems small, but if readers can’t trust you to get the placement of a comma right, how can they trust you to get the big things right? Trust is built with every word and key stroke.
Involve expert sources: Remember, you don’t have to be the only expert source associated with your brand. Incorporate other experts with solid credentials who are willing to contribute to your social media marketing or talk to the press — and cite or quote those who inspire you.
You can also use this approach for getting media coverage for your company. Next, listen to this LinkedIn Live about securing high-impact PR for your business.
Kelsey Kloss is the founder of Kloss Creatives, which scales CEOs and companies as thought leaders through journalism-inspired PR and social media. Previously, she was an in-house journalist and editor for national media brands including Good Housekeeping, ELLE Decor, Reader’s Digest, Woman’s Day, Prevention, and Redbook. Kelsey has also shaped digital marketing strategy for corporations such as Scholastic and AT&T.
Book your discovery call with CEO Kelsey Kloss here.