Social Media Sales: 5 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid

There are plenty of mistakes people make when using social media for sales.

Have you ever had an old high school friend message you out of nowhere saying they have a great opportunity?

Received a friend request from some random entrepreneur, who then invites you to their Facebook Group you know nothing about, and sends you an epic Facebook message about themselves?

Are you constantly getting unsolicited Linkedin requests with massive, repeated pitches that aren’t even relevant to you?

These are all terrible ways to social sell. But, organic social selling can and still does work, if you do it right! Keep reading to find out the biggest mistakes when using social media for sales, and how you can avoid them.

1. Only showing up when you are selling or launching an offer

This is a huge mistake people make when using their social media to try and gain sales, especially when they are not consistent with their business.

People will come on social media, whether that be Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, only for sales. The problem with showing up strictly for sales is that people know exactly what your agenda is. When people are only being sold to, it’s much harder to develop a relationship and gain any knowledge on your avatar.

Find a way to show up in your business consistently. This is also good in an algorithm perspective and bringing in consistent traffic to your page or site. Showing up once or twice a month for a launch is not optimizing your social media!

2. Unsolicited Invitations

Don’t send group invites, lead magnets or messages and info people haven’t asked for!

Social media sales should involve having your avatar “raise their hand” for more info on your offers.

Building a relationship with your avatar has to start somewhere, but you should never approach a new avatar with a “I want to sell something to you” attitude. To any relationship, even if you think this person wants to buy from you, approach the person as you would at a networking event. Be there as a connection, ready to genuinely connect to see if they can provide value to you and you to them, and to stay connected long-term.

Not many people appreciate a friend request from a random person, followed by a group invite and lengthy unsolicited message. I sure don’t.

A group should be private, and anyone interested should raise their hand to ask to be a part of the group, rather than invited to things they know nothing about!

There are many ways you can provide opportunities for people to raise their hands, like posting educational posts with a call-to-actions like “if you want to know more, join my group.” I also do free challenges every month, which includes posts of group events so people can become aware of what is offered in my group.

Another reason I am very strict on not inviting random folks into my group, is so that the quality of engagement is kept at a high. People who want to be there, who want to learn and bounce ideas off each other, keep the group lively.

3. Mass automation on social media

I once had a coach who used SmarterQ for her group. It brought her 3K members – but the engagement in the group was terrible.

I can’t imagine she received many sales from the group because no one was ever responding to her content.

Automating any kind of message sequence is not a good idea either. Anything automated removes genuinely building relationships. If you want to use social media for sales but take away such a vital part of the process, it just won’t work.

4. Having a lack of genuine interest

If you are on social media only on a hunt for a sale, not to get to know your avatar and making genuine connections, people can feel that energy. People will know if you care or not.

Caring about your avatar is an important part of the selling process.

Your avatar needs to know and trust you and your product or service, and they need to have the confidence that you can help them.

5. Having a lack of focus or a plan for your social media sales

If you are posting random all-over-the-place content, have multiple niches, and selling unrelated services all the time, people won’t know how to engage.

Your messaging and content needs to be consistent with your purpose. Decide not only what the purpose of your posts is, but what the purpose of posting is. If you lack focus, your energy is going to be going in multiple directions, which will then make it harder to get the results that you want.

Stay away from these 5 biggest mistakes people make when using social media to sell.

Avoid only showing up when you’re selling something, unsolicited invitations, mass automation messages or posting, having a lack of interest and not having a focus or plan.

Keep in mind, if you don’t like sales, you just have bad thoughts on how you’ve been sold to previously. Think about how you would’ve wanted to be sold to, and use those strategies to sell your stuff!

If you’re interested and want more, you need to get on the waitlist for the Small Audience Sales System, opening in November. Click here: Alisonreeves.co/SASS-Waitlist