A simple theory of social media sales success

I’ve been immersed in the world of digital marketing since the earliest days and one of the biggest challenge has always been connecting the dots to create social media sales success.

Of course there are many paths to get there depending on the channel, the audience and whether you have an advertising budget or not, but when it comes to truly building an organic presence that leads to sales success, I do think there is a formula — and it might even be a little surprising to you.

Let’s get into that today.

A social media audience is different

In my classes, I explain that a social media audience represents “weak relational links.” What I mean by this is that a “like” or even a “follow” correlates to almost zero actual emotional connection to a brand or a business.

When somebody “likes” you on social media, it’s like they’re waving at you. By liking or following you, consumers are acknowledging you or saying “hello,” but that doesn’t mean they would ever open a wallet and give you their money.

I have nearly 200,000 followers on Twitter. If I sent out a tweet that said, “Hey everybody, buy my new book!” I would expect to sell zero books. Weak relational links.