Where Social Media Fits In The Sales Funnel

I hear a lot of talk about making money on social media. People believe that their social media audiences should result in a higher income.

But most people find themselves disappointed. They wonder if all of the time they spent on social media was worth it.

Social media isn’t the problem. The problem is how most people approach making money on social media. We can clearly see the problem in the first tweet I ever sent on Twitter

First of all, the link is broken now. The more important point is that this tweet makes no attempt at building a relationship with my audience. It was the good old “buy this product.”

I didn’t give people enough time to know, like, and trust me.

For a few weeks after that, I continued using social media wrong. My tweets were Amazon affiliate links and my blog posts (before this blog) had a strong focus on getting the sale versus providing value.

Then I focused on using social media to build the relationship with my followers. Once I changed the way I used social media, my revenue increased.

Here is the most important thing you will ever hear about making money on social media:

Social media is the best platform for generating indirect sales.

What does that mean? Social media is a platform where people get to know, like, and trust you.

Social media is also a great platform to promote your landing pages and get subscribers. The way I make money on social media is by using it to grow my email list.

Subscribers are far more likely to buy something you recommend than your social media followers. The logic is the expectation of each platform.

People are used to finding discounts and product information in their inboxes. In fact, some people welcome it.

People go on social media to escape important decisions. They want to interact and see what’s happening. They want free stuff.

In the sales funnel, social media is the very first stage. After you get your followers to complete a few other stages (i.e. subscribing), then some of them become customers.

Okay, that sounds nice. But I don’t have a landing page. Now what?

The quick answer is to create your own landing page as soon as possible. I use Optimize Press for my landing pages while other people use LeadPages. Both are excellent tools to have.

But I know that (unfortunately) not everyone will want to create a landing page right away. Don’t go back to promoting affiliate links to sales pages.

At any moment, there are dozens (or hundreds) or marketers who are asking affiliates to sell their products. These marketers offer training courses containing a wide variety of material.

At least one of those training courses will be within your niche.

These marketers put a lot of planning into their training courses’ success. They write the copy, set up the landing pages, and have affiliate links that ensure affiliates receive their proper commission.

I occasionally promote other people’s landing pages on my social media accounts for a few reasons:

#1: They have all of the email copy set up for you. These emails are optimized to get a lot of opens, clicks, and sales.

#2: The product is created for you. All you have to do is promote the landing page with your affiliate link.

#3: Each sale equals a big commission. The commissions you receive as an affiliate for a training course can get very high. Some people will provide you with a $500 or higher commission per sale.

#4: You get a better idea of how it all works. Maybe some day, you create your own training course and have your own team of affiliates.

It’s just a matter of finding people in your niche who offer this type of opportunity. Then all you have to do at that point is ride with the opportunity.

Is There Any Room For Direct Sales?

I am not actively pursuing direct sales from my social media audience. I prefer promoting landing pages and building the relationship before I offer any products.

With that said, it is possible to do some direct promotion.

I find myself looking through Kim Garst’s tweets again and again. She’s a social media expert with over 420,000 Twitter followers.

She will occasionally do a direct sale on social media that leads people straight to one of her sales pages. However, most of her tweets entice a relationship to be built.

Indirect sales are the best way to go. If you use social media to generate direct sales, my recommendation is to do so with a big discount involved. Discounts grab anyone’s attention, regardless of which platform the discount is discovered on.

When we buy something for a discount, we feel super smart. That’s the main reason discounts result in more product sales.

Sometimes, we won’t even care much for a product but buy it to feel like smart consumers.

In Conclusion

Social media is the best platform for generating indirect sales. Once you use social media with that in mind, you will get more sales in the long-term.

What are your thoughts about social media’s position in the sales funnel? Do you think direct sales work or that indirect sales are all you need? Sound off in the comments section below.