You’re not going to make sales on social media

“I think I really want to just… not do social anymore.”

If I had to think of a recurring theme when I talk with small businesses about social media, it’d be one of two things:

• Spending less time on social
• Wanting to completely abandon social

This isn’t exactly new, either. Even before Meta hung strategically undervalued populations out to dry with their content policy changes, social media was a monkey on our backs. 

I may be going out on a limb here, but I doubt any of y’all will be saying, “I wish I’d spent more time perfecting that Instagram Reel” on your deathbed. ;)

And yet, these same humans often seem to also view it as a necessary evil. They don’t seem to be thinking about HOW we cut down the amount of time we’re spending on social media marketing.

Fortunately, I’m an accidental marketer who also wants to spend less energy feeding the social media juggernaut, so I’ve thought about it a lot. What I’ve found is this: getting your audience to move on from social platforms is worth thinking about, even if you don’t want to quit social media.

Social media isn’t where your audience buys

Social platforms do offer some in-app sales options for retail and physical products. However, for those of us who consult, coach, or sell services, our audiences aren’t buying from us on social media. They need to move to our websites, or landing pages, or membership portals to actually make a purchase.

In short, your goal is to get your audience to leave the social platform. That can feel pretty sticky when you realize that a social media platform’s goal is to keep us there for as long as possible. 

All is not lost, however! There are tactics you can use to move your audience beyond your social feeds–and move yourself away from feeling dependent on social media marketing, while you're at it.

Set up pathways towards non-social-media channels

Put a clear route on your profile page. Your profile page needs to have your most current links: your website, booking link, email list signup, or maybe even your flagship offers. While you’re at it, be sure to clean up and clearly label your link-in-bio page, too–nobody’s going to scroll through a list of 10+ links to find what they need.

Use the Link sticker in Stories. A lot of social platforms de-prioritize posts with direct links in them–or in some cases, don’t allow them at all. Yet, you CAN give folks an easy one-click route off the apps in your Instagram and Facebook Stories. Use it!

Feed other marketing channels with contests. Sure, you could do the garden variety Like/Follow/Share type of contest on Instagram. But, why not take it a step further, and count new email subscribers, or follows on other platforms as contest entries?

Use autoresponders for DMs and comments. Another place where you can offer direct links without taking a hit on your reach? Your DMs! But you and I both know that we don’t want to babysit our inboxes, so let the robots do it for you. Manychat is just one of several apps you can use to set up auto-responders for social media comments and DMs.

Is quitting social media on your wish list? I’m game to keep talking about it if you are–take my 2-minute survey and let me know what topics you want to hear more about.

Until next week...!
--Sarah