How to use social media to drive sales

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More and more companies are realising the benefits of using social media to drive sales. Social channels are now being used with success for everything from traditional push messages to content marketing and storytelling.

High-quality, relevant content works particularly well if you want to build relationships over time, advises Kenneth Akselsen, CEO of Norwegian Social Media Management agency SocialCee.

"Companies that own their content can use it in several channels on different platforms, which reduces advertising costs," he says.

How to identify leads

The global average for the organic distribution of messages in social channels is around four per cent.

And that figure is falling. This is partly because it takes time to build up a relationship with good content, but also because more companies are discovering the benefits of advertising in social channels.

To identify leads, you need to have knowledge of how the different platforms for advertising tools have different ways of segmenting target groups.

"The number of likes isn't as important any more. Instead you have to find an audience that doesn't just consist of followers, and you must use meta data for the messages you send out. That's how you find out which individuals respond to which kind of communication," believes Kenneth Akselsen.

Do you have to process these leads in a special way?

"At SocialCee we work a lot to use the data you obtain from recipients in social channels, from newsletters and in CRM databases. By managing and processing the customers' behaviour in these channels, as well as their transaction data, we can make more use of real-time advertising."

Omnichannel – the customer service of the future

Viewed from a marketing perspective, the social channels are perhaps the most important advertising platform today. More and more companies are either supplementing their customer service or transferring it entirely to digital channels.

"There are still surprisingly few companies that have an omnichannel strategy for their customer service, although the number is growing. There are major gains to be made here, the younger generations communicate almost exclusively in social channels, so they also expect companies to have a presence there," says Kenneth Akselsen.

Can you work with activity-driven marketing that is based on data from customers?

"Yes, definitely. Re-targeting is used a lot nowadays, although I think this kind of marketing is still in its infancy. But I'm sure that more sophisticated solutions will be appearing in the near future, making more personalised messages possible.

"As with all marketing it's a balancing act, if you take it too far customers can feel that they're being monitored. But with the right omnichannel strategy there are major gains to be made by using social channels to drive sales," says Kenneth Akselsen.