Social Media Sales Solutions is the topic for this month’s SiMar Small Business News. It’s a 4-part series on a specific business topic.  Most times, those topics are business services or our favorite business subjects.  We love to answer your most asked questions during our monthly talks.  Send your questions our way <<click here>>.

If you are the type of person who loves to learn, then you’re in the right place.  First things first, everyone knows social media boost sales, yes?  These days you can make purchases everywhere – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.  You can earn money from anywhere in the world with a digital device.   These free social media accounts are platforms for companies to connect with their target audience.  In addition to the revenue increase, image the relationship engagement with 1.8 billion users.  Either way, these free social media accounts can be made into a profitable e-commerce business.

Business owners are selling from social media accounts without websites.  Eventually, you should build your website (if you haven’t already)  Here are a few social media sales solutions that will lead you to business growth.

Business is the ultimate one-stop shop for an entrepreneur. It allows you to create your own business page via Facebook, buy ads, integrate your website and add a mobile app. It also comes with an easy to navigate Manager and Help section to assist in basic needs like creating new ads. This allows you to create a brand buzz and raise awareness.  It also helps build your customer base and increase revenue.  <<Read more>>.

 Pinterest for business, like Facebook, let’s you create a page to market your products, services, and brand.   Your Pinterest followers will have access to your shop’s name,  product details, pricing information, and availability.  Register and “Pin It”.  To set-up, <<click here>>.

With Shopial. your online store will be on Facebook in 3 clicks.  It’s an easy social app and Pinterest.  You will love the fully customizable templates.  All you need to do is install this app on the tab of your Facebook.  Then, import items from your online store.  It creates magic on your Pinterest page and turns your boards into the online catalog. This multilingual e-commerce platform also integrates well with Etsy, Magento, Amazon, Wix, and Shopify.  If you have an online store, check out the Shopial  Ultimate Facebook How-to Guide.

Time for conversions! Soldsie offers a free 30-day trial for you to get started.  Soldsie will create one link to your Instagram.  Once you place the link in your profile, fans will be able to view your photos and relevant content.  The upsell Have2Have.It (comes with a charge) allows fans to shop directly from your IG feed.  Soldsie also works with Facebook.  It turns your comments into conversions.  When a fan comments on your photo, it automatically places it in the customers shopping cart.

This website-mobile app-social platform works like Instagram only customers can directly get what they want via its “BUY” button. Make money while cleaning out your closet.  You take the photo and post your product.  The consumer purchases it and Poshmark will send you a mailing label.  And you take it the parking lot! Cha-ching!  You can market used and new products, designer, and non-designer fashion.  Make sure you have a good title, clear images and invite your friends.  This can be a hobby or a profession.   Try Poshmark and get ride of fashion that’s no longer for you, but perfect for someone else.  It’s a fun way to sell and shop online.

There are other social media sales solutions in the digital space.  These platforms offer salespoints for your business.  While you are focused on increasing your social sales, take time to review Olapic, Beetailer, inSelly, and Chirpify.  They are excellent avenues for revenue increase.  As social media progresses, you can guarantee an increase in leads, fans and conversions in no time.

There are certain steps business owners can take to minimize customer dissatisfaction and increase customer satisfaction.   Here are some customer retention strategies you may want to pursue first:

Simple put, own your mistakes and have empathy.  Humility is an elements that builds trust. Recognizing your faults and failures is not in any way giving up your control. Being one of the most important elements in business, there is nothing customers hate the most than brands that go defensive or go into the blame-game when something untoward happens to their product or the service they offer.  You cannot splat oil all over your stove and then, go on blaming the olive tree. As much as possible, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Customers want solutions not addition to their problems. They don’t need excuses or lengthy diatribes. What they want is for you to address the situation and deliver what they need as promised.

Reach out to your customers and solicit their recommendations. One of the most taken for granted actions in reputation management is quite straightforward—ask for their suggestions or recommendations Ask them what your company must do to satisfy their needs. What necessary steps or actions must be taken to keep their loyalty to your produce, service or brand? Asking for customer recommendations or suggestions are important in such a way that it takes the edge out of customer grievances and allowing you a glimpse on effective ideas you may not be aware or blind of. In short, make your customers part of the team and work alongside them to find a remedy.

Deliver the solutions as promised. Never consider backtracking or doing the unthinkable—not doing anything at all. Setting things straight allow you to ultimately take back your reputation and reliability. But instead of delivering just what’s expected, consider adding more. Going the extra mile will eventually make your customer feel more valued and cared for.

Bottom line is: When your business finds itself in an undesirable position, rebuilding customer trust and confidence must be on top of your priority list. Yes, walking away may be the easiest thing to do but it’s not worth it. When a campaign gives you lemons, it is high time that the above-mentioned tips be done so you can create tasty lemonade to appease the thirst of your loyal customers. Cheers!

Having a hard time grasping the full power of social media in your business? You are not alone as there is no stopping the force of business socials in this day and age. With the advent of new technology and growing improvements in the Internet, social media continue to propel forward as a leading platform in sustaining business development. To give you an idea on what’s been going around in social media, here’s a look back on some notable aspects that have happened (and are continually happening!) in the first quarter of 2017.

In all these, social media marketing for the first quarter of 2017 continue to point to a more personalized approach. Online audiences are more keen on putting their trust in ads and promotional campaigns that have a hint of “sincerity” and “trustworthiness” in them. With these, creating social campaigns must be custom-fit to a targeted audience

Whether for brand awareness or for increasing followers on Instagram, hashtags play a crucial role. In 2017, some of the most popular hashtags on Instagram are #love, #instagood, #photooftheday, #tbt, #followme, #picoftheday, #summer, #tagforlikes, #food, #art, #family, #nofilter, #style, #life, #fitness, #OOTD, #music, #travel, #foodporn, #makeup, #iphoneonly, #wedding, and so on. These hashtags, among others, seem to show up on your tablets, smartphones, TV screens– all to promote some sort of running conversation.

Keep in mind that most social media networks particularly Instagram, Facebook and Twitter rely heavily on hashtags to connect to a targeted market. While it is essential to go with the flow on your maiden voyage with Instagram, the need to create your own unique brand-specific hashtags must be also taken into mind. To give you an idea, here are 4 secrets to building your own arsenal of power hashtags on Instagram.

Bottom line is: Hashtags are part and parcel of Instagram campaigns. Wise play of hashtags will make your product, service or brand gain extra mileage earning added followers, traffic and sales potential to your business. Next time, try to create a hashtag contest to seek out your audience’s participation. Give it a try. It’s going to be fun!

All in all, cultivating a good Instagram following starts in your bio. One look and potential followers-cum-customers will either follow or reject you for another else. By keeping these important points in mind, your chances of garnering excellent first impressions will be high leading to online visitors click on the “follow” button in no time.

So, what to do to rock your Instagram campaign? When thinking of generating more engagement to your Instagram posts, here are some posting secrets to remember this 2017:

Indeed, timing is everything when it comes to business– social media notwithstanding. When trying to optimize your campaign’s engagement, it is of utmost importance to use analytic tools that can help you a head’s up on various aspects directly affecting your posts. Aside from pinpointing geographical location, age, gender, and buying habits, it is also best to check the time they are most active on Instagram and start your campaign rolling from there. Find an airtight scheduler and keep track of its progress. As always, your dedication and commitment will matter a lot on making your posts a success.

When thinking of “InstaLead” or leading the troop in terms of following the organic way, the following points can come handy.

Have you grown your Instagram following lately? Allow Allison Todd and her social team help you gain organic followers. Schedule a consultation now.

When it comes to hashtag use, experts strongly standby its efficacy in growing an Instagram account. However, this comes with a caveat– using the “right” ones. It’s not just forming two or three words. It is more like showcasing your interest, relevance of your brand, your company core values and that of your potential followers. When done accordingly, it can initiate exposure of your brand, product or service to your targeted markets or niche audience.

Hashtags amplify your chances of acquiring new followers. It also increases awareness to your brand and marketing campaign. It also helps increase your traffic engagement which may result to more conversion. You see, hashtags are used to organize/categorize both photos and video content materials. This process helps enhance optimization of your account’s content.

Now, here comes another challenge– finding the right hashtags for your brand. Like ice cream is for summer and hot cocoa for winter, so does framing of your hashtags correspond effectively to the audiences you wish to capture. There are two main types of Instagram hashtags– branded and community-based. Knowing how to use both will help greatly in expanding your account’s point of interest vis-a-vis that of your targeted niche.

Branded hashtags are those uniquely made for your business. This could be the name of your company, products or services. It could be a slogan or tagline used. It could be a representation of your brand’s identity or the core values of the business. These hashtags have one solid design– to connect themes between you and your target audience. It appeals largely on a more personal level.

Community hashtags, on the other hand, is like a string that binds the rest of flower petals to create a beautiful lei. It is designed to connect people on their common interest or around specific subjects. These hashtags are used to penetrate deep into the very lair where people thrive together allowing you access to them thereby gaining more followers and growing alongside them in the said community.

Without a doubt, Instagram hashtags is one of the best way to grow your clout in this powerful social media platform. But finding or creating the best hashtags can be a bit tricky. To be effective, you need to do some in-depth research through your audience, industry leaders, and last but not least, competitors. Find out what relevant ones are being used by followers and influencers and shape up your hashtags to follow their lead. Look for loopholes on your competitors and use such weakness to work in your own hashtag creative process’ favor. Piggybacking on top influencers is great but do make sure to do your own when connections have been established. All in all, identifying and learning how to properly manage hashtags will help your business greatly.

Need help creating powerful Instagram campaign? Schedule a consultation with Allison Todd now!

For businesses and career-oriented individuals who have never tried using Instagram as a marketing or personal branding platform, it is high time to know some effective hacks in making this avenue work to your favor.

With more updates coming in, there will be more insta-hacks to discover. Wait for other updates on this page. To do so,  SIGN-UP!