If you’ve ever sat staring at your screen, logged in to a social media platform, and tried to find a new way to share the same thing to your followers, you’re in luck! This list may help inspire you to view your social posts differently and give you fresh ideas for connecting with your clients.
The hard sell post
This is usually the easiest type of social post to craft. It’s a straight-forward promotion of your product or service, often used to share word of a sale. The call to action is explicit: buy now! Examples of the hard sell social post include:
- Door-crasher deals
- Holiday sales
- BOGO offers
Because it’s easy, it’s often over-used, and that’s important to keep in mind because it can turn your customers off! Remember that your followers have invited you into their feeds because they are interested in you; pushing them too hard to buy can cause them to mute or unfollow you. Hard sell posts should comprise a small percentage of your overall social content.
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— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) October 5, 2018
If you’re getting to the end of your day without getting to the end of your to-do list, contact One Day Web Group for assistance with your website, social media and digital marketing! https://t.co/ylvK4A1OkX #yyc #yycsmallbusiness #yycbusiness pic.twitter.com/kzzoXOxKHL
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) November 1, 2018
That doesn’t mean you aren’t still promoting your products or services, just that you’re going to go about it differently.
The soft sell post
The soft sell is a bit more complex and requires more effort to create, but it can be a great way to demonstrate the value of your product. Where a hard sell focuses on you selling, the soft sell demonstrates how someone’s life is improved by using your product or service. The focus shifts from selling to consuming. Examples of the soft sell post include:
- First-person customer testimonials
- Case studies of your product’s usefulness to customers
- Third-person customer stories
By shifting the post’s focus to tell someone else’s story, with your product or service as the key to happiness, your sales pitch is much more subtle but the message is clear: potential customers can see the implied improvement in their own lives if they buy. Depending on the platform, the happy customer whose story you tell can be tagged in the post, encouraging them to share and thus promote your services to a completely new audience. Score!
Congratulations on your successful campaign. We were honoured to help. https://t.co/1JUp0rsTY1
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) February 5, 2021
What a great @MacsTournament! We were pleased to provide website support for the event, which wrapped up yesterday. Congratulations to all the teams taking part! #yyc #hockeycalgary pic.twitter.com/3bu87XsUGy
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) January 2, 2020
The value-add post
This is another subtle sales technique on social: adding value to your followers lives by giving them something. What you’re giving in this case is your expertise, and it helps to demonstrate your authority and talent as a business.
Value-add post examples include:
- Secrets, tips and techniques
- Demonstrations of expertise (e.g. a video of you decorating a cookie)
- Relevant news, with your expert commentary explaining why it’s important
Client love: we’re excited to work with the Cochrane Ecological Institute, aiding them in their long-standing mission of wildlife rehab, education & conservation, Check them out & please donate if you can! https://t.co/9QSRV37umt #yyc #wildlife #nonprofit pic.twitter.com/g0Cvb7sUAo
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) April 17, 2020
Goodbye, Google+! Will you miss it when it’s gone? Did you ever use it? Learn more about the cool-sounding Project Strobe & how it lead to the demise of the who-used-it-anyway app. https://t.co/q80meX1Hc5 #yyc pic.twitter.com/Uie1wr9hgo
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) October 15, 2018
Say you own a photography studio. You have plenty of experience in finding the right shot – capturing a moment perfectly. Sharing those tips and techniques with your audience doesn’t cost you anything and may inspire them to trust you with capturing their perfect shot. Your tips may improve their selfie game but won’t prevent customers from hiring you. It allows you to sell your experience and talent without ever mentioning price, product or service.
The behind the scenes post
Behind the scenes posts are an excellent way to invite your followers into your business and meet the people who work there. It helps you put a face on your brand – your team are real people, working hard, doing things they love, and making customers happy. More importantly, behind the scenes posts tend to feel real, not staged like more formal posts. Examples of this kind of post include:
- “Take your kid to work” day
- Team building activities like volunteering
- Outtakes of formal videos
Use this type of post to demonstrate the good that your team does. Be silly, be authentic, be human! Social audiences enjoy following brands that don’t take themselves too seriously. These posts are about connecting with an audience, and selling the culture of your organization, rather than its products or services.
Behind the scenes examples:
Getting ready to shoot some video at the new Central @calgarylibrary – great space and great results! Get to know us: https://t.co/ylvK4A1OkX #yyc #yycbusiness pic.twitter.com/pf60MtEbUN
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) November 12, 2018
We recently had a very unhappy customer – nothing we did was right! The experience taught us so much, and we responded by improving processes. We turned a negative experience into a positive one. How have you responded to unhappy customers? #yyc #yycbusiness #businessquotes pic.twitter.com/KUNfMDXYFB
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) August 20, 2019
The fun and inspirational post
For some organizations, this is the easiest type of post to create (for others, it’s the most difficult!). Fun posts are the least sales-y of everything you post, and yet are the ones that often resonate the most with your followers. Like the behind the scenes posts, this is about humanizing your brand, demonstrating that you’re made up of real people who laugh and have a good time. Inspirational posts, on the other hand, are more serious, but still align with your brand and culture. Examples of these kinds of posts include:
- Celebrations of relevant silly days (like National Doughnut Day, if you’re a bakery)
- Quotations about business or life that align with your brand
- Lighthearted questions, comments or observations about the news of the day
Fun & inspirational examples:
It’s #FunnyFriday, so we wanted to share this classic text from our Founder Blair: “I’m so awesome, a hash tag is following me!” 😆😆😆 #dadjoke #yyc pic.twitter.com/SIYYKxY1UH
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) March 22, 2019
Paws up if you’ve had this kind of week… 🐾 #justsaying #killingit #yyc pic.twitter.com/A1bCouwlvh
— One Day Web Group (@OneDayWebGroup) April 26, 2019
While humanizing your brand, you want to be careful not to court controversy. Steer clear of making comments about politics, religion, and similar topics. If you’re being ironic, you may need to add a #irony hashtag (not everyone gets irony – or humour for that matter!). Whether you weigh in on the colour of a dress or cheer on the local team, these kinds of posts draw engagement! And engaged followers are more likely to see your more overt sales posts and convert.
Have you tried these kinds of posts? What resonates best with your audience? If you’ve been hitting the sell-sell-sell button too frequently on social, give these ideas a try to diversify your posts and see what your audience responds to. If you’ve been overwhelmed with social, give us call and we can help you create a custom social media marketing strategy!
