Small Business Guide: Top 20 Resources on How to Sell on Social Media

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Do you sell products or services online? Are you getting the results you need?

To give your business the boost it deserves, I’ve compiled the best articles from the top social media leaders in the world. Many of these leaders are listed as Forbes’ top social media power influencers, and have achieved the wealth that goes with it.

Here are 20 top articles, podcasts and a webinar to help your small business sell on social media.

Selling on Facebook


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image source: 4 Easy Steps to Implement a Facebook Marketing Strategy

Successful selling is about relationship building. Successful selling on Facebook is about relationship building too.

Facebook is a place where people go to interact with their friends and family. For a business, Facebook provides an amazing platform to connect with your customer, build relationships, and ultimately gain sales with your clients and customers.

Here are 6 top articles from some of the world’s leading Facebook marketing experts:

1. 4 Steps to an Effective Facebook Sales Funnel by Jon Loomer of Jon Loomer

Jon Loomer walks you through four steps you need to build a quality and engaged audience. He shows you how to attract relevant fans, provide value, collect emails, and sell.

‘Getting the Like is easy. It’s a light action. Anything else requires trust’ Jon Loomer (click to tweet)

2. Selling Stuff On Facebook: Everything You Need To Know  by Joshua Lockhart of MakeUseOf

Joshua Lockhart takes you through practical tactics to selling on Facebook. His tips include knowing the right price, getting the great photo, and deciding on the right applications.

‘Snap some proper pics. Nobody’s going to buy something if it looks ugly’ Joshua Lockhart(click to tweet)

3. 15 Tips for Selling on Facebook by Jeff Bullas of Jeff Bullas

Jeff Bullas gives 15 actionable, practical tips to get to the sell on Facebook. His tips include provide a sense of community, offer exclusive deals, and soliciting feedback.

‘Promote your Facebook Store in your “Bricks and Mortar” Store’ Jeff Bullas (click to tweet)

4. 5 Ways to Attract Targeted Facebook Fans for Your Business  by Kristi Hines. Kristi Hines, freelance blogger

Kristi Hines gives you five simple, actionable steps to take to increase targeted, interested Facebook Fans. Her tips include adding a Like button to your website, invite your email contacts and customers, and investing in Facebook ads.

‘Participate on relevant Facebook pages’ Kristi Hines (click to tweet)

5. 4 Easy Steps to Implement a Facebook Marketing Strategy  by Andrea Vahl of Andrea Vahl

Andrea Vahl walks you through four simple steps to take to build an engaged community on your Facebook Page. Tips include setting goals, doing your market research, setting up a content calendar, and monitoring your results.

‘You can’t push your sales messages on your fans too often’ Andrea Vahl (click to tweet)

6. Tying Facebook Leads Directly to Revenue: An Example of Social Media Lead Generation From Marketo  by Jason Miller on Marketo

Jason Miller writes about how Marketo increased their Facebook leads, and successfully drove up sales. He shows how your business can do it too. Tips include improving your Facebook landing pages, increasing your lead nurture campaigns, and creating more shares with viral marketing campaigns.

‘We are turning the world’s largest social platform into a powerful lead generation tool’ Jason Miller (click to tweet)

Selling on Social Media


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image source: How To Sell Without Sounding Salesy on Social Media

Just as on Facebook, and just as in the offline sales world – you need to build relationships to get to that sale.

Selling on social media is not about pushing your products and just telling people to buy. You need to use your social sites to engage with your customers, hook them with your posts, and change behaviour, and then sell your stuff.

Here are 9 top articles from some of the world’s leaders in social media marketing:

1. Social Sales – Look for The New Hook  by Pam Moore of Pam Moore The Marketing Nut

Pam Moore takes a Glengarry Glen Ross approach to selling online, and off. She advises to ‘look for the hook’, and to find out how you can connect with your prospective buyer. Even on social media, people still buy from people. Make sure your LinkedIn profiles, Twitter handles, and all your social sites are up-to-date, and show you as a real person.

‘People still buy from people. You see, sales are all about relationships’ Pam Moore (click to tweet)

2. Scaling Social Media Selling – 7 Steps to Building Trust & Credibility by Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing Blog

Lee Odden shares insights on how companies – and their sales teams – need to build trust to build credibility through a personable social presence. His tips include developing personal brands for sales team members, knowing your industry’s social participation, and identifying the right social tools to use (such as a blog, or Facebook Page).

‘Being useful is the most valuable sales tactic on the social web, not explicit sales pitches’ Lee Odden (click to tweet)

3. How To Sell Without Sounding Salesy on Social Media  by Kim Garst of Kim Garst

Kim Garst takes a straightforward approach to sales on social media. In this article she makes selling sound easy with five ways to sell without being salesy. Her tips include serving others, listening, teaching and building relationships.

‘Sell-sell-sell sales methods simply do not work on social media’ Kim Garst (click to tweet)

4. 3 Social Media Tools That Improve the Sales Cycle  by Ian Cleary of Razor Social

Ian Cleary gives three tools for your social media sales cycle. The tools help you to nurture your relationships, find leads, and get your content to go viral.

‘there are great social media tools that make the sales process easier’ Ian Cleary(click to tweet)

5. Fish Where the Fish Are: Mapping Social Media to the Buying Cycle  by Chris Brogan of Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan gives you straightforward advice on the six steps in social media sales. His tips include how to find your niche customer, how to empower your consumer, how to shift their behaviour and how to make and then measure the sales.

‘Social media offers tools…into buying cycle…ties into your traditional marketing plans’ Chris Brogan (click to tweet)

6. 7 Steps You Need Now to Get Your Social Media Selling  by Heidi Cohen of Heidi Cohen

Heidi Cohen gives her trademark actionable advice by outlining seven clear steps to take to sell on social media. Her steps include finding and targeting your market, developing customer friendly content, including calls to action, selling, and measuring with trackable results.

‘as social media grows and matures, showing a return becomes critical’ Heidi Cohen (click to tweet)

7. Three questions to ask your marketing team  by Seth Godin of Seth Godin

Seth Godin brings his quick and simple, but hugely insightful, tips in this article. He asks “Who are you trying to reach?” “Why do they decide to support us?” and What do you need in order to make this happen more often?”

‘Who are you trying to reach? Why do they decide to support us? What do you need…to make this happen?’ Seth Godin (click to tweet)

8. Five Tips for Creating Relationships That Drive Sales  by Tom Cates of Marketing Profs

In Marketing Profs, Tom Cates gives advice on creating the all important relationship in sales. His tips include engaging your customer, becoming the trusted advisor, thinking individuals (not numbers), and keeping communication channels open.

‘Strong customer relationships drive sales, sustainability, and growth’ Tom Cates (click to tweet)

9. The Hoop Theory: How Getting Your Visitors to Invest a Little Will Turn Them Into Customers  by Neil Patel of Quick Sprout, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics

Neil Patel is a self-professed big deal in social media. He knows his stuff, and is able to easily communicate it. In this article, he suggests getting your customers to give you ‘micro-commitments’, to ‘hoop’ them into making bigger connections and purchases from you. Some of his ‘hoops’ include asking for a tweet, asking for an email, and asking for customer goals.

‘You can’t just place a few “Buy” buttons on your website and expect your visitors to buy’ Neil Patel (click to tweet)

Webinar: How to Sell on Facebook


Do you prefer to learn with a human face? Watch this content-rich, free webinar.

Check out these 7 actionable steps to sell and make money on the world’s largest social networking site. The “Queen of Facebook”, Mari Smith, shares her money making tips for Facebook marketing.

7 Steps To Facebook Success: How To Make Money on the World’s #1 Social Network  by Mari Smith of Mari Smith

‘Can you really sell directly on Facebook? Is it okay to ask directly for the sale?’ Mari Smith (click to tweet)

Podcasts on How to Sell on Social Media


Do you prefer to listen to learn? Check out these informative, insightful top podcasts on how to sell with social media:

1. Selling With Social Media: A New Direction for Businesses  by Michael Stelzner (with Tom Martin) of Social Media Examiner

Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner, and “King of podcasts” interviews Tom Martin. Tom gives tips on how to thrive in prospecting for new leads in social media, and how your business can fully embrace new methods to gain success in the changing landscape of social media.

‘You have to stop thinking about how you sell because you don’t really sell anymore’ Tom Martin (click to tweet)

2. How to Use Social Strategies to Drive Business Goals  by Jay Bear (with Brian Solis ) of Convince and Convert

Jay Baer, founder of Convince and Convert, interviews Brian Solis, of Altimeter Group. They discuss ”The Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy”, and the social strategic tactics businesses must use to stay competitive in today’s always changing socially connected world.

‘The culture of the organization is what prevents or accelerates innovation’ Brian Solis (click to tweet)

3. How to Use Facebook to Sell  by Amy Porterfield of Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield continues her three part series on Facebook marketing mini-training. In this third episode, she talks about selling to your customer, after you’ve developed relationships through Facebook contests and other relationship developing tools. She tells you how to put your email leads from Facebook into action, to gain the results you need.

‘how to incorporate easy email marketing strategies with your Facebook efforts to see bigger results (aka profits!)’ Amy Porterfield (click to tweet)

Conclusion


Facebook and other social media platforms can be incredibly successful tools to find, build relationships with, and sell to customers. Use these tips from the world’s most successful sellers on social media today. Put them into action for your business. Watch your profits grow.

To get your customers engaged, here’s a few more resources you’ll want to read:

What do you think? What sales successes have you had on Facebook and other social sites? Do you have a favourite article? Let us know!

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

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