How to Make Sales Without Social Media
Is it possible to make sales without social media? Of course it is! It’s easier than you think as well.
When it come to marketing your business or blog, you know you need to leverage the power of social media, right? Social media marketing can be a super powerful tool to help spread the word about your business and get your message out there.
Social media marketing should only be one part of your marketing approach though – don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Recent outages on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have brought this issue to the fore and shown that a reliance on one form of marketing isn’t the wisest thing to do. Social media is only rented space on the Internet, totally at the whim of the companies involved. If there is a glitch or outage, your content isn’t seen. Your account can be deleted without warning. Imagine spending hours and hours growing an Instagram account to tens of thousands of followers and having your account hacked or suspended? If this happens you often don’t get it back. So, how can you still make sales without social media?
You know who’s still there when social media isn’t? Your website. Your blog. Your email list. These guys are working away in the background, keeping in touch with clients, helping you make sales without lifting a finger. Barring any hosting issues, your website is your shop front, available 24/7. This is a part of the internet you control and it will be there forever.
This blog post gives you 6 reasons why you should start a blog, but I think a blog is an essential marketing tool. Having a blog:
- helps to bring in organic traffic
- is great for SEO purposes
- lets you share your opinions
- helps you show your expertise
- lets you showcase your personality
- means you can build a brand story
You can also use your blog as a content bank. You can create one central blog post and repurpose the blog post into social media posts, create video content from this or use part of the blog in your email newsletter as a teaser. Create pins leading back to this and use Pinterest to drive organic traffic to your website. Create shareable infographics and add them to your blog posts. Post email sign ups boxes on your blog posts too. Think of your blog as your content hub!
Your email list is one of your most valuable marketing tools. A recent survey from Mailerlite has shown that the average open rate of an email is 25.35%. Roughly a quarter of everyone on your email list will open your emails, compared to the 1% of your Instagram followers who may or may not see your Instagram posts and your Auntie Mary on Facebook, who might see your post but isn’t your target audience. The subscribers on your email list are actively interested in what you have to say, and your offers or message are going straight into their inbox, not getting lost in a sea of other posts on a newsfeed.
Email marketing is a lot less labour intensive than social media too – no more engaging for hours at a time, creating Reels after Reels to try and being at the mercy of the latest algorithm.
Growing your email list is a whole other challenge though. A great way to grow your email list is to offer an opt in freebie. This could be a free download, an e-book, some templates, a check list – something that your ideal client will find useful and they’re happy to give you their email address to access.
Using Pinterest, you can create pins that link to a landing page on your website or blog with the email sign up on. These pins will bring organic traffic back to your sign up page, helping you grow your email list on autopilot. Amazing, right?
Pinterest has over 450 million monthly active users and according to Pinterest “People aren’t here to fend off FOMO or doomscroll. They’re here to try new things, save new ideas and often, make their next purchase.” In other words, Pinterest isn’t a social media platform. It’s a visual search engine, where users are actively searching for your content, and your content can live forever as opposed to 24-48 hours per Instagram post.
Having a blog is also great for Pinterest. Pinterest is all about freshness at the moment so new pin images linking to a new blog URL will help your account to grow.
Pinterest can be overwhelming to start with, and that’s where a Pinterest VA like me (hi!) can come in. I offer a range of Pinterest marketing services, such as monthly Pinterest account management, Pinterest account set up and Pinterest account audits to get your account in tip top shape to drive organic traffic to your website.
The Facebook and Instagram shitshow of 2021 showed that some businesses are too reliant on social media marketing and need to diversify their offerings a bit to avoid being affected by a further social media blackout. Are you one of them? By making sure your website and email list are as good as they can be, with a clear funnel for your client to journey through to get to your offers or products, you can make sales without social media. If you need a hand with your Pinterest account, get in touch!
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