Have you ever wished you could just ask an expert, “How the heck do I do this…in simple terms?”

In this new episode format called “Coaching Calls,” a small business owner/entrepreneur is given an opportunity to submit a question they would like me to answer. Sometimes it’s about marketing, or business growth, personal development, or anything that’s on their mind!

Today’s submission is from an Iowa friend who asked, “How can I create more compelling social media content that converts into sales?”

This is a layered question, but it’s one I think we all of us should ask from time to time as we develop our marketing strategy and assess its ROI.

Tips for making your social media content stand out for product-based businesses

• Use multiple images on posts: when viewers see that there are more photos available than they can see from the preview, curiosity takes over and they click through all the images in the post. Each image is logged as one engagement by the social media platforms, and every engagement tells that algorithm that your post is something more people want to see. More clicks = more engagement = more reach.
• Prioritize candid, real-life images, not just the pretty, curated ones: yes, we live in a world of FaceTune and Photoshop, but what really compels viewers to stop their scroll is something relatable. Think photos that are a little imperfect, backgrounds they recognize from their own community, vignettes that they could picture in their own homes. 
• Incorporate Video: Using video to share new product arrivals, whether in a post, Reel, or Story, will help your viewers get the full effect. Don’t feel pressured to do trendy dance moves or spend hours editing and clipping your videos. Just prioritize being helpful and informative as you display your newest items in your shop via video.
• Include photos of people enjoying your products: ask shoppers if you can get their photo with their shopping bag. Have a VIP guest take a selfie with their favorite in-store item. Have the girls’ day shopping group get a photo in front of your store so you can post it online. People stop their scroll when they see images of other people, and incorporating your real customers is a great way to provide social proof that people love the goods you’re selling.
• Link to individual items: make it easy to shop! In the caption of your posts, don’t just direct people to your website homepage. Dropping the customer here is a good way for them to get lost and click out of your site before finding the item they wanted from your social media photo. Use specific links where possible, or use the in-app shopping features on IG, Facebook, or TikTok. Third-party apps like Many Chat and LinkTree can also help you guide followers to their specific product of choice.
• One item, three ways: help viewers envision your products in their home. Don’t highlight an item once and think you can’t use it again. Demonstrate various ways to use or style a single item or product to not only inspire customers, but also to use repetition to make your business more memorable.
• Front of House v. Back of House: treat Instagram posts and stories differently. Think of your Instagram posts as the front of a restaurant: cleaned up, professional, orderly, running like a machine, everyone wearing a smile and saying “sure, I’ll be right back with that.” Your Stories are the kitchen area: people are laughing, you can see all the work that goes into the beautifully-plated dishes, and sometimes the errant swear word eeks out. In our posts, we want to be polished and demonstrative of our customer experience when they shop with us. In Stories, we can show what it looks like to receive shipments, tag products, place orders, and all the unpretty but essential parts of running a product-based store.

Don’t forget to measure results

If you want to create compelling content that converts people from viewers to customers, then you really need to keep an eye on where visitors are clicking or not clicking.

As you’ll hear in today’s episode with Kimberly, she was watching the link clicks on Facebook and noticing that those numbers didn’t add up with her website traffic and purchases. She was doing something I want you all to do: watching her customer’s online journey and noticing that something was amiss.

If you want to make compelling content that converts, then you need to be noting where your customers are clicking online and where you are losing them along the way to making a purchase.

If you notice people are clicking on Facebook, but not making it to the website, maybe we need to look at the load speed of your website or share more direct links.

AND, if they are landing on the homepage of the website but not clicking into your collections, maybe we need to make the collections more prominent on the homepage. 

It’s normal to see fall off as the customer clicks through from awareness to purchase. That’s why we want to make that journey as short, simple, and easy-to-understand as possible. So utilize direct links, ManyChat, and LinkTree to help you get your customer directly where you want him/her to go. Be sure to check your social media insights and website analytics regularly to watch that customer journey in action and notice if any adjustments need to be addressed. 

Your data tells you the story of your customer’s journey. So pay attention to it.

A little more about our guest today…

Kimberly Kollasch is the founder and owner of 400 RS Home & Design in Whittemore, Iowa. She is passionate about making homes beautiful and cozy, so through her storefront (both a brick-and-mortar shopping experience and an online store) Kimberly offers seasonal decor and giftables. Not only does she offer brand-new items, but she also has a talent for breathing new life into vintage furniture so it looks modern and perfectly at home in 2024.

Learn more about 400 RS Home & Design

To find out more about Kimberly and what her business offers, visit https://400-rs-home-design.myshopify.com/ or give them a follow over on Instagram or Facebook

If you want to be a guest on an upcoming coaching call

Click here to submit your question for Molly: https://forms.gle/LfZzFZgWiDwwehZD7