Social Media is great for building community but it isn’t great for selling products. People just don’t buy straight from social media.
Of course, there are a few exceptions, but on the whole it just simply doesn’t happen. (I am going to add a caveat here, that since the explosion of live streaming there has been an increase in people making purchases from watching a live stream event.)
But, on the whole, people are not clicking on your link in Facebook and buying your $497 coaching program, or even your $97 course.
If people aren’t buying through social media, what should you be using it for?
Building Your List.
People that say email marketing is dead, are off their rockers.
Not starting to build their email list straight away is one of the biggest regrets of business owners.
You’ve probably heard it before – we don’t own our social media sites. We do, however, own our email subscriber list and no one can take it from us (if we have it backed up).
Social Media is a great resource for building your list. You can show yourself as someone that knows what they are talking about and then people what to learn more from you.
So – where do you start with building your list?
You need to offer something people want – for free – that they are willing to part with their email address for.
I was always taught that you need to create this massive free offer that is so amazing that people would pay for it. I created some of those – they took me weeks to put together. I can also tell you I have about 6 of them still sitting on my computer, never finished.
I no longer believe that your free offer has to be as big as a paid product. People barely finish products they pay for, let alone ones they get for free.
There's another problem with putting together a big product as your free offer – it is so overwhelming for the person starting out, that they never actually get started creating anything.
Years go by and they never build their list because, they didn’t know where to start.
I don’t want that to happen to you.
My new belief is: One problem – One Solution.
Your free offer shouldn’t be big enough to solve World Peace. It should solve one problem that someone is having.
Ideally with your free offer you want the receiver to learn something, be able to implement it, and see a result with it. That way people know you are someone that can help them get the results they want.
Here are a few examples of free offers I have:
The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make on Twitter and How to Avoid Them
Problem: 3 of the biggest mistakes I see people make on Twitter.
Solution: 5 videos that show you what to do instead.
Problem: Too much noise in your Twitter Feed.
Solution: A list of ways to reduce the noise by using Twitter lists.
How to Create a Social Media Posting Schedule
Problem: No strategy for posting on Social Media.
Solution: 1 hour webinar taking you through how to create a posting strategy.
One Problem – One Solution
Have a think about one problem that people in your community are having, and what you can teach them that will solve their problem.
Still not sure what to offer? Start having a look at what other people in your niche are offering. Of course, don’t steal exactly what they are doing, but you can use it to spark some other ideas.
For example – my free offer – The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make On Twitter and How to Avoid Them.
This could be turned into:
The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Training Your Dog and How to Avoid Them
The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Decluttering Your House and How to Avoid Them
Spend some time thinking about a problem people in your community are having and the solution you could offer.
Thanks, Stacey. Great advice.
Thanks so much!
Great article helps disseminate lots of confusion, thank you
Thanks, Alison!
Social media is great for a world of things. Creating relationships has been my biggest Plus whilst building a community, not just a page.
I agree! Creating relationships is a big one.
Thanks! Your solution offers still seem to be pretty significant. Have you ever had any success with something like a checklist?
The 23 Ways to Use Twitter Lists is mostly just a list with added explation of each one. Checklists are also a great idea.
Great advice! That's exactly what got me started!
I recently had someone ask me how I do social media for real estate agents. I wrote her a long email (she isn't in any of my niches) and realized I had just written a course and was going to use the entire email to do the free offer. After reading here, I'm thinking maybe I was going to be giving away too much. Thanks, Stacey!
Becky, before I used to spend a lot of time creating these massive opt ins. I then started looking at what other people were doing and what I was doing with what I opted in for. The short, sweet and actionable ones won the day every time.
Truth! I opt in to the 5 – 10 day ones and they sit in my inbox untouched. I think I know my direction 🙂 Thanks!
I have a 7 day challenge which I am looking at rebranding as something else so that it all goes out at once. I may even cut it up into more that one opt in. You have helped to me to confirm this is probably a good idea.
This has been a struggle of mine. I love how you break it down here. I agree you've got to solve one problem at a time. I'm thinking about how my freebies stand up to this. I'll go through the exercise above and map it out and come back here and post for feedback:)
Yes, I would love to hear how you get on – you can always catch me on Twitter also @staceylmyers.
I love how you point out that social media is for list building. I hear so many people talk about how they want to make a post or two on Facebook and then they expect the sales to start pouring in. It's naive at best to come from that point and I'm glad to see you're setting the record straight.
Thanks so much, Jennifer. Yes, it definitey takes more than just posting once or twice to build your list.
so many great ideas here. I agree that Social Media is about building our relationship- the first phase. Plus it can be fun. I have ‘met’ so many new business contacts and ultimately friends through Social Media.
I love the One Problem. One Solution aspect. Simple and it should get better results
Yes, social media is great for building relationships, but at the end of the day we are running a business and we wants those relationships to lead to something.
Great tips about list building here. I love your examples – how you took your suggested opt-in related to Twitter and moved it to other niches.
Thank you, Vickie!
Good, sound, practical advice.
Thank you for sharing.
I need to share this article with one of my clients who complains about not getting leads for his business. I adviced him that we should create offers that will attract people to give us their information in exchange for it. Thanks for sharing this.
My pleasure and share away! Yes, a free opt in is necessary for all businesses these days.
I love the idea of ONE problem and ONE solution. Keeping it simple has to be so much more effective and too much to do, or think about!
Yes, it has made a big difference to me. Not trying to make massive opt ins for people, that they never get through.
Love the title of your article – very thought provoking! Great tips of which I need to implement several!
Thanks for stopping by. I am pleased you found it useful!
This got me thinking. My current offer is probably too big (it's 29 pages). How about The 3 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Starting to Eat Clean and How to Avoid Them?
LOVE IT!! I think that would be a great idea!
Great ideas Stacey. I have been building my list with 4 Ways to Develop your Clairvoyance, a PDF and the audio. I too have several projects that I either began to create or created and have yet to use them. I like your idea of simplicity.
Thank you, Candess. I have these great ideas, get started on them and then get distracted with something else. It is so easily done.
These are indeed great information. People like freebies so it makes sense to have a free offer. If people do not buy from you immediately, you can always gt back to them through the email you have collected.
This is very true, Lorii!
Love these tips Stacey and you are right.. too many folks thing social media is.. get on and sell, but it's for building your list and creating and keeping the relationships.. for sure.
Loved the twitter tips too.. working on list building as well and wish there were better recipes on IFTTT, that had like two pieces.. like if this AND this, then that.. lmao
Great points here. Trust is an important factor online and engagement helps establish that. Social media is a great tool but it’s really just the beginning. Love the idea of simplifying the free offer. Thank you!