What to Talk about on Social Media (in order to Sell your Product!)

Many people get stuck in one area – WHAT exactly to be posting on social media for their business? Here’s an outline of what to talk about on social media (in order to sell your product!)

One of the tricks to marketing your business on social media is constantly reminding yourself of this question:

Why are people here?

People are on social media for a variety of reasons – to be entertained, to build relationships, to catch up on the news – to name a few.

But the overall, MAIN reason people are on social media is CONNECTION.

People have a social media page so that they can catch up with friends and family. They want to share their kids’ pictures with cousins. They want to be a part of funny discussion. Or they want to be controversial and encourage debate.

ALL of these things are – CONNECTION.

It is extremely important to keep this in mind when we post for our business on social media! Because, writing a sales pitch over and over in every single post just isn’t going to cut it.

Now, we CAN use social media to market well, it just looks a little bit different than marketing in other ways.

Gary Vaynerchuk refers to the art of Jabs versus Right Hooks in his book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.” (A GREAT read, by the way.)

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Using boxing lingo, he calls “Right Hooks” your moments of selling.

“Right Hooks” are where you are asking your customer to do something that benefits YOU.

Asking for their response, asking them to buy, asking them to visit your website, asking them to follow you on a different social media platform – these are all Right Hooks.

He then calls “Jabs” content that benefits your PEOPLE.

Something that entertains, a tip or trick, being inspiring, having conversation or banter – these are all Jabs.

Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about boxing, but apparently you need a LOT of jabs before you get to throw a right hook.

This is how the rhythm of effective social media marketing works.

Another way to put it is, “Give, Give, Give, Give, ASK.” Most of the time, your posts are “giving” to your customers.

Let’s look at some examples.

Say that you sew custom clothing.

You can do entire of series of posts on fashion trends and ideas. All of these are Gives (or Jabs) as long as you keep the focus on your PEOPLE.

Here are some example Social Media post ideas for your custom sewing business:

How to wear this season’s boots with skirts.
What clothing colors will be popular this Fall.
How to layer well.
Show your process (without giving away trade secrets, of course!)
Comment on the coming weather, and how to dress for it.
Post quizzes on what style people prefer.
Comment on dresses the day after awards shows.
Do giveaways.
Comment on what YOUR PEOPLE are talking about.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but you can see that in these examples you are “giving” something to your people.

Whether it’s advice, or a tip – or just asking them a question and being involved in their conversation – you are talking about something that benefits them.

Amy Porterfield calls this type of posting “Direct versus Indirect.” Direct posts would be the ones that are actually selling your product (benefitting YOU). Indirect posts are, according to her, “aligned with, but separate from your product.” The list above would be considered Indirect.

Here’s the question I know you are asking:

Why be on social media then, if I can’t just SELL my product??

Because….People generally only buy from brands that they have a connection with.

Every time you post a quippy remark that entertains, or share a tip, you are putting in the effort to build a relationship with your people.

And the difference with our social media world nowadays is this…

Building relationships is not something you do IN ADDITION to selling your product. It is HOW you sell your product.

Only after you have made some connection do you have the credibility to SELL. If you are already in a relationship with people, they won’t mind you selling your product now and then, or asking something of them.

Those moments of selling are HUGE and should be done very well!

However, they must be surrounded by lots of connection-building with your audience. Talking about what THEY want to talk about. Posting about things that benefit THEM.

As counterintuitive as is sounds – this is effective marketing through social media. Give it a try and watch your audience respond!