Over the course of last year, I have worked on two different CPG brands and one durable goods brand in social media, and one thing that I have learned right off the bat was that a “Like” on Facebook does NOT equal a purchase conversion. It just doesn’t. No matter how we as marketers apply value to a “Like” or a follow in social media, we must remain vigilant and not sell in the idea that they do. Product conversion or purchase in social is an arduous task. So, how does a brand sell or convert social followers?
Before diving marketing products on social, I want to make one point clear: social networks were created to link people together; not brands and certainly not products. From that, social networks evolved from linking people together to linking experiences and people together – still, no products. It wasn’t until a short time ago that we marketers entered the fray to market brands as people and products as experiences to consumers in a network that wasn’t created for that purpose. This idea, in my opinion, is the fundamental problem we’re dealing with. Social networks were not created to sell products, but we act as though they were.
Creating Product Awareness?
Targeting users on social platforms begins with the ever-present and at times, most overused term, awareness. However, what I have noticed while creating social strategies and being in the trenches of community moderation, is that creating awareness on social channels, whether it be brand or product awareness is near impossible without some sort of paid support. Digital marketers can add to or assist in generating awareness, but not create it purely from nothing.
Let’s speak about generating awareness from a product standpoint. Awareness in social is oftentimes linked with reach or audience growth–meaning the size of the brand’s fan base. From that, we associate our messaging and content tactics with the size of the audience and how many users see it. This can be considered awareness, but not the creation thereof. Paid support, promotions and proper traffic-driving techniques create that “awareness” or social reach. 57% of Facebook users become a fan of brands to receive exclusive deals and offers or to enter a sweepstakes (38%). Most increases in reach on social networks is done through some sort of incentive-based practice or tactic.
So, once you have an audience now is the time to start pumping out product promotions, right? I would argue that is wrong. One of the top reasons consumers unfollow a brand on social channels is they do not want to be bombarded with messages or ads. Product promotion in the form of Facebook updates and tweets is one sure way to alienate your new audience. So, now that you have created your audience and you want to market your product, what do you do instead?
More Awareness Through Engagement
Pure and simple, get your audience to interact with the messages and not the incentives. Incentives are not a sustainable practice on social and do not offer the type of valuable fans your product requires. However, we must be careful not to speak only about the product. What do I mean by this? I’m talking about posting a photo about a product and giving one cool fact about it. Or, telling the audience how cool they would be if they had one.
The best way to add to product awareness is to create engaging content that speaks to what your product is about–its essence, its lifestyle. For example, let’s say the product is hair spray. To generate more awareness around hair sprays, do not publish posts about your hair spray product; publish posts that discuss best ways to style hair or hair styling preference. Create content that speaks to the consumers’ lifestyle and interests. It has to be relevant and easy content. In turn you will make it easy and relevant for your followers to engage the post. 28% of Facebook fans expect a brand to provide fun and entertaining content. Lifestyle content, loosely based upon the product offering, will assist you in generating more engagement than simply posting about the product.
Take a look at these examples from Redken. Both posts were created and posted at roughly the same time, but one post got significantly more feedback than the other. Why is this? To put it simply, one post spoke to the product and their offering while the other post spoke to a consumer interest and was fun. Think about it, which one would you want to comment on?
Why Is This Important?
Product marketing on social networks isn’t about product conversions… right now. Keeping the product or brand top-of-mind with the consumer or audience is what we’re after when marketing products on social. We do this through engagement. Engagement through audience-relevant content that aligns to (rather than advertises) the product. When consumers and followers interact with the brand, even in the quickest of instances with a one-word answer, the followers retain a certain amount of brand or product affinity in their heads. The product may not be immediately top of mind, but surely they will think of the product when they are eventually in the market to purchase.
I challenge you to forget about marketing your product, but instead, focus on your product’s fundamentals and how that relates to your consumer on a personal level.
We Will Not Forget
We also cannot forget about consumer loyalty. Once the consumer has purchased a product from a brand, we as marketers now must be there for them for whatever they need. That, however, is a conversation for my next post.
