Social Selling - Part 1: How To Sell On Pinterest
In this series of articles, we’ll show you how to sell on social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, so you can get more social media sales with these social media apps.
In the first article on social selling, read an introduction on how to promote a product through social media and how to sell on Pinterest as a SHECO Partner.
According to social media selling statistics, 64% of sales reps that invest in social media hit their team quota as compared to only 49% of sales reps that don’t use social media.
Compared to sales methods like direct selling, social selling is more about building long-lasting relationships, and according to Nielsen, over 80% of consumers purchase a product based on recommendations from someone they know and trust.
So, selling products on social media is largely based on trust and whether your buyers think of you as a credible source of information.
Just one recommendation from an influential person can sell a lot of products, if their followers see them as a credible source of information on that subject.
For instance, if an award-winning photographer recommends a certain type of camera, their followers are more likely to buy it based on their recommendation.
Many YouTubers who publish make-up and beauty tutorials also make money by recommending certain brands or products. This is largely how influencers and YouTubers that build a large social following make money online.
What Are The Advantages Of Social Media In Selling Online?
Social media has leveled the playing field for marketers who don’t have big budgets to spend on advertising but are willing to spend time and effort to build an online presence.
This means even if you’re a mom who runs a home business from her cell phone, you can still reach customers, get customer feedback and build customer loyalty, without spending money like the big brands.
However, you should also remember that interactions on social media are in real-time and need daily monitoring because customers have also grown used to almost instant replies on social media.
So, if you don't actively manage your social media presence and respond to customers quickly, you may not get the results you hope for.
What Are The Best Things To Sell On Social Media?
According to the Cybeclick blog, retail, travel, hotels, movie, music, electronics, and beauty are the best-selling products on social media.
Fashion and apparel also do well online as do online courses, digital products, and downloads. So if you want to learn how to sell clothes on social media, you’re in the right business.
However, that doesn’t mean other products don’t sell. It just means there may be more touchpoints in the customer journey for other products.
Customer touchpoints are where customers interact with your brand, product, service, etc. Developing an understanding of each touchpoint means that you can design better user and better customer experiences.
For example, the moment when customers see your message on their social network feed is one of the touchpoints. Another is when they message you using Facebook messenger to learn more about what you’re selling.
So, if you want to sell subscriptions or services, you may have to come up with more creative ways of selling or spend more time and effort educating your customer on the benefits of these products.
One of my most recent social selling examples is when I saw a video in my Facebook newsfeed from a lady who prepares a type of Goan bread called Poi at home and offers classes on how to make it online.
Now if, like me, you love that kind of bread and know that it is not easy to get in your city, you might be interested in learning how to make it at home.
So I commented on the lady’s post asking her for the recipe and she replied to me on Facebook messenger letting me know about her classes.
So would I buy her class if possible? Yes, definitely, because I can see that she’s a credible source of information on the topic and I can learn something new from her.
How To Sell On Pinterest
Many women use Pinterest to search for products they want to purchase, such as clothes, jewelry and home decor.
Pinterest is also a huge source of traffic for many bloggers and video creators, and blog visitors are willing to purchase products if you make it easy for them.
Selling on Pinterest is easy if you own an eCommerce website or blog. However, if you’re a reseller, it’s not as easy to sell directly on Pinterest.
Want to know how to use Pinterest to attract customers? How do you sell on Pinterest as a SHECO Partner? The best way to do that is to create a blog and video.
For instance, if you’re selling a product like BeatO, you can write a review on it and how it helps diabetes sufferers or create a short video on the same topic.
You can now publish short videos on Pinterest, so upload the video to Pinterest and link to the article on your blog. You can also publish images linking back to your blog.
Vertical videos and images do best on Pinterest, so create your Pins using Canva’s Pinterest templates and post them on Pinterest with a link back to your article.
Then, when people land on your blog, you can ask them to email you or send you a WhatsApp message to place an order for the BeatO product.
If you don’t want to write a blog, you can just link to your social media profile so people can connect with you and place an order, although that may not work as well for building credibility as a blog.
The best part about marketing on Pinterest is that for each blog you publish, you can create multiple Pins or videos and share them all linking back to the same article on your blog.
Although the SHECO Academy provides video content for the products you will sell through the SHECO Partner program, successful SHECO Partners use their creativity to create their own video content to share on social media.
This not only boosts their credibility but also creates an emotional connection with their customers that builds on their Know, Like and Trust (KLT) quotient.
So, use your creativity to build your Pinterest profile and share multiple Pins a day - both video and image Pins - and you’ll see your Pinterest profile and views grow.
Join Pinterest group boards and share your content. Participate in Pinterest threads on websites like Bloggers Traffic Academy, where you can boost your Pinterest shares and views by Repinning and viewing other people’s content in return.
For more information on selling on Pinterest, read this article on Naaree - Pinterest Marketing Tips for Beginners, Bloggers and Entrepreneurs.
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3 Jan 2020
