My horrible back pain 😓

A few years ago, I turned 30 and my back started to hurt. Instead of going to a doctor, I turned to everyone's favourite health professional, Google. This proved to be a big mistake, because I had given the internet algorithm a reason to bombard me on all social channels with ads promoting gadgets & medicine to relieve back pain. After trying a few of those products, I was still suffering. Turns out, I have a hip problem which creates tension on my lower back. The cure is a daily 2-minute stretching of my hip. It's simple, fast and free! Moral of the story: Don't trust traditional advertising; it just wants to create problems you don't have.

The problem with traditional selling

Sales & marketing strategies are traditionally focused on creating problems that don't really exist. When you convince people that they have a problem, they are going to want to solve it. This can be seen on a regular basis in the beauty industry, when ads and promotional content tend to make people feel ugly, in order to push them towards plastic surgery or some product they don't need. How can we change this culture of problems, and turn it into a culture of desires?

What is social commerce?

The wheel of social commerce ⚙️

LISTEN

Social media allows you to listen to your customers, and get direct insights and feedback about their desires, wishes and problems. You can measure this for example, by completely disregarding how many likes an Instagram post has, and just focusing on how many comments. If you've just posted about a brand-new product, and all the comments say it's too expensive, you have your valuable insight. Just plan a show with a discount code, and look at how fast you will sell out your collection!

ANSWER

After listening to your customers, find a creator to host a live show or create clips, and it's time to answer the calls of your community. Promote your upcoming live show or share your clip on all your channels to let your shoppers know that you care. As they say, sharing is caring, and this also applies in the social world!

STIMULATE

When going live or creating a clip, it is very important that your creator understands that people watch content mostly for either entertainment or information. If your creator goes live and kicks off the show with hard sell tactics, there will be high chances that people just skip through the content. The strategy should be to have fun, interact and engage! Going for selling straight away will make people feel they are watching an ad, and that's not what they signed up for.

DEMONSTRATE

Now that your viewers are engaged, smiling, crying or cringing, it's time to present the product and convince them to buy it. Only after people have experienced a satisfying human moment, will their ears be open for the sell.

There you have it! Listen, answer, stimulate, demonstrate and repeat!