Increasing your sales revenue using social media marketing

Kyiv, Ukraine – September 5, 2019: A paper cubes collection with printed logos of world-
famous social networks and online messengers, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
Telegram and others.
It has been 24 years since the first social media platform, Andrew Weinreich’s Six Degrees,
came into our lives. There are now at least 20 platforms, individually boasting of over 300m
active users every month. According to a recent report by Statista, a German-based company that
specialises in global data analysis, there are over 4.2 billion active social media users. That is
more than half of the world’s population. 
The report states further that an average user spends almost 3 hours every day on social media.
Contrasting that fact to traditional marketing, where individuals are often interrupted for
advertisement. With social media marketing, you have “willing individuals”, particularly if you
have built large followership. It is interesting to note that only about 1% of social media users
create content. 99% are simply consuming, with just under 10% engaging. The pragmatic thing
for Sales Directors to do, therefore, is to play where the people are willing consumers.
Driving sales revenue using social media marketing appears obvious, therefore, businesses –
multinationals or sole proprietorships – can use also use it to launch recruitment campaigns,
provide customer service, engage customers, generate leads, guide followers to the website &
gain valuable insights. 
“Traditional marketing usually interrupts an enjoyable activity. With social media, however,
consumers love to be interrupted. Therefore, the pragmatic Commercial Director should play
hard where there are willing accomplices.”
There are, of course, challenges with using social media for driving sales, as you may attract
trolls, who consistently point out flaws, real or imaginary, to others. Wrong handling of the
account could result in corporate embarrassment or damaging the brand you are trying to build.
Social media marketing also takes time; you have to sign up for the long haul to have a
meaningful impact if using social media for branding or marketing.
However, when compared to traditional marketing, I believe that the benefits of social media
marketing outweigh the top challenges I have highlighted above:
1. Social media offers a fantastic reach. A business associate found out that buying a
piece of promotional equipment she saw on her Instagram feed from far away Turkey  is
cheaper (including door to door logistics cost) than buying an exact product (same
specification) from her favourite supplier, 30 minutes away, on Sam Houston Parkway
Texas US. 
Compared to traditional marketing, social media posts by businesses can be seen by followers
across geography within seconds. This offers a somewhat level playing field as you can then
have a global approach to your business. 
I may choose to locate my business in the most remote location, but with social media marketing,
I can compete with companies on the high streets of New York, London, or Tokyo. 
1. The cost outlay is more manageable. It is more cost-effective. Signing up, creating a
profile, organic contents/advertisement are all free. There is no restriction to the number
of adverts you run in a day. Printed expensive brochures, flyers or handbills are not
required.
You can avoid costly prime time slots on TV or bidding for billboards in strategic locations
within the city, newspaper advertorials or expensive media agencies to increase your sales
revenue. 
Suppose you use an agency for social media, which I suggest you do. In which case, the service
usually comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing support, with generally more
benefits. It is inexpensive to run promotions or advertise on social media platforms, unlike
conventional marketing platforms.
Social media advertising may get expensive when you begin to use influencers to drive traffic.
Still, the impact on sales is usually more significant when compared to the same amount spent on
traditional marketing platforms.
1. Your marketing investment performance and other key performance metrics are
more transparently tracked and reported. You can track how your content is
performing by review metrics such as Impression, Click & Conversion rates and likes.
Social media platforms offer you insights that can be deep dived to understand the
 consuming public’s behaviour and adjust accordingly. You can track your return on
investment (ROI) based on your goals which should be agreed upon before the campaign.
You can match that with growth in sales figures to be sure that the investment is worth it.
Businesses can also track the pipeline their customers flowed in from easier than when an advert
is on the billboard, for example. 
Based on each platform’s performance, or advertisement or content, businesses can improve their
strategy to reinforce such pipelines or content, thereby improving sales figures and profitability.
More than 80% of developed economies adult population are active on social media. The number
of users from developing nations, though lagged, is rising daily. Over 90% of millennials
globally routinely use social media. You are most likely reading this article, not from the
traditional newspaper but from a mobile device or a desktop. Therefore, businesses that ignore
this easily accessible platform lack the strategic view needed to be relevant in today’s business
world – not even tomorrow’s!