increasing sales through social media

[CASE STUDY] How Social Media Increase Sales

Today you’re going to discover how we helped an online brand drive over 152 online sales with only a $500 ad budget.

(Preview)

sneakpeak

In addition, you are going to discover the exact process we use when creating a social media sales strategy.

But to prove our strategies really works…

We will reveal screenshots & results for two other client campaigns (So, keep reading).  

But first, let’s answer the #1 question of every reader right now: “Does social media increase sales? (TRUTHFULLY?!)”

The short answer is yes. However, it really does take the right strategy (and time) to truly make it work.

In this case study, we’re going to show you step-by-step how to use social media to increase sales for our new clients.

Watch the short video (3 min.) below for a brief overview of the results and continue reading for the full, in-depth, review.

Now lets dive in.


 

Case Study 1: Social Media Increase Sales by 714% for an Online Brand

A few weeks ago, LYFE received this email from the owner of an eCommerce candle company, Nidhi.

The email said: “I’m interested in learning about your digital marketing solutions”

Needless to say, we’re always thrilled to help another company grow so we jumped at the opportunity.

Once she agreed to terms and our management fee, our process began.

The first step in our process is for our client to complete a social media questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed of about 20 questions. This helps our team develop a strong understanding about our client.

Although all questions are important, there are two critical ones that help us develop a strategy.

  • What are your short-term goals? (3 months)
  • What are your long-term goals? (12 months)

For this client, it was simple. They wanted people to understand their product and buy it. 

EasyDiya Goals

We like to think of this simple formula when it comes to using social media for sales.

Social Media Drives Sales When = Product is Great + Target Audience is Reached + Content is Engaging.

Now let’s break this down a bit further. Starting with, how do you know if you have a great product?

Start by asking yourself these questions:

Does the product solve a problem (better)?
Does the product offer an extreme benefit?
Does the product have a big market?
Can the product be explained easily? (1-2 sentences)

Luckily for us, Nidhi had a really great product.

The product gives people an easy way to burn pure ghee wick (completely organic) for meditation/prayer.

Here’s a video example of the problem they solve:

Now it was up to our team to create engaging content. Then reach the right audience.

Our team went the extra mile to develop a completely measurable sales driven campaign.

Take a look at this screenshot below from Nidhi’s campaign. 

increase sales through social media

Here are the results:

Period: of October 1, 2016 – November 1, 2016 (30 days)
Reach: 63,884
Clicks: 2,745
Cost Per Click: $.19
Click Through Rate: 2.32%
# of Purchases/Sales: 152
Cost Per Purchase/Sale: $3.42
Purchase Conversion Value: $1,557.50 (This is the revenue generated strictly from our ad campaign)

Through Facebook’s pixel we were able to successful track everything that truly matters. From the cost per sale to the total revenue.

Learn more about Facebook’s pixel and advance tracking here: http://www.facebook.com/business/help/651294705016616

Take a look at the performance of sales over a 3 month period from September to November. 

increasing sales with social media

As you see, when we optimized our Facebook ad campaign on October 1st, we saw a huge increase in sales. 

It can take multiple A/B split tests of audience and ads before finding the winning combinations. On average it takes our team roughly 3-6 months to find the sweet spot. 

Sounds good so far? Well it gets even better (Keep reading). 


 

Case Study 2: Social Media Sales Strategy for a High Dollar Product

Here’s the truth:

Social media impact on sales has NOTHING to do with “keeping your social media channels updated with posts”.

(Yes, really)

Instead, social media marketing increase sales when:

You create really engaging content.
You reach the “right” audience.

The question is:

What steps are necessary to do this as quickly as possible and most cost effective?

The answer: a proven strategy for social media advertising

Here at LYFE Marketing, we have tested and tried hundreds of social media tactics.

After learning from many mistakes and having enough historical data to understand what works, we are able to develop proven social media strategies that focus marketing objectives that matter.

A big part of a social media sales strategy is leveraging sponsored ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels.

Maybe you are curious if you can generate social media sales for a product that sales for over $500?

Take a look at the screenshot below from one of our other clients selling used DSLR cameras:social media increase sales

Facebook Retargeting campaigns:

Period: July 11, 2016 – July 14, 2016 (3 days!!)
Reach: 17,311
Purchase: 14
Amount Spent: $968.08
Purchase Value: $6,785.97
Cost Per Purchase: $69.15

Notice that we aren’t tracking the number of total fans or engagement levels, but the main KPIs.

In other words, we are tracking numbers that really impact a business’s success or failure  

But the first step towards generating these types of results is putting together a plan of attack or..


 

A proven social media sales strategy.

Here’s a look at one of our slides from our social media strategy decks: 

Phase 1: Research of Competitors and Customers
Phase 2: Development of Ads and Growth Strategy
Phase 3: Implementation of Ads Strategy
Phase 4: Measurement and Reporting
Phase 5: Optimization Lifecycle

For the first time, we are revealing to the public more details on each phase of our strategy.

Why?

We want to showcase what truly makes us different and answer our prospects deepest questions on how we work. For true transparency, we want to show you exactly how our company can help you grow. 

Phase 1: Research of Competitors and Customers.

More than likely at this stage, your competitors (primary or secondary) are already on social media. Why not learn from what they are doing before you start? What is working for them? What is not?

That’s why the first thing we do is develop a competitor analysis.

We breakdown exactly what social channel they’re on, what content is resonating, what the weaknesses are and total fan base.

Next, we move into researching your ideal customer.

This is done by developing a customer avatar. A simple, yet very powerful analyzation.

customeravatar

Within a customer avatar, we break down who your ideal customer is by age, gender, location, marital status, job title, level of education and income. These characteristics are all possible within Facebook and Instagram ad targeting options.

There are 4 key elements of a customer avatar.

  • Goals and values: What does the customer want from himself? Family? Friends?
  • Pain points and challenges: What is the customer frustrated with? What prevents the customer from reaching their goals?
  • Sources of information: This is info about where your ideal customer is hanging out online. What blogs are they reading? What conferences do they attend?
  • Objections to the sale: Why would the target audience say no to your product? Is it time? Cost? Difficulty to use? Lack of perceived value?

The customer avatar is a critical step in our process because it helps us wind down who exactly we will target and what engaging content to create based on the goals/pain points.

Creating a customer avatar requires some critical thinking and very accurate research. We have a systematic approach to developing our avatars which we will uncover on our blog.

Phase 2: Development of Ads and Growth Strategy

Now that we have research, it’s time to start the campaign right?

Wrong.

It is time to take that research and turn it into an actionable strategy.

When drawing up a social media strategy, it’s important to keep your primary short-term goals and long-term goals at the forefront.

You’ve probably heard of all the benefits of social media like…

  1. Brand awareness
  2. Customer engagement
  3. Building email list
  4. More targeted
  5. Generating leads
  6. Driving sales
  7. Establishing credibility
  8. Brand Loyalty
    (Read our 75 benefits of social media for more)

benefits of social media

So, this means the strategy can vary based on hundreds of factors such as your goals, audience, budget, resources available (email list, existing customer base, partnerships) and more.

Here are just a few of many things we try to answer when developing a social media sales strategy:
What type of engaging content will we create?
What methods will we use to acquire fans/followers?
What will advertising funnels look like?
What lead magnets or giveaways can we employ?
What will we do to get website visitors and engage them?

While we can’t disclose our client’s exact strategy, you will soon see how our strategy led to predictable recurring online sales fast.

Phase 3: Implementation of Ads Strategy

This step is also the third step in our company process.

This is where LYFE Marketing takes over and implements your strategy. In this phase, we develop a timeline for execution, set benchmarks and do the work.

Our clients love having the peace of mind of knowing the marketing is working and having the time to focus on building their business.

Sit back and relax while our team helps the business grow. 

Phase 4: Measurement and Reporting (THE RESULTS)

There are two things traditional marketing and bad marketers have in common..

They’re both terrible at measuring ROI.

But the truth is..

Measuring ROI is hard. There are tons of technical tasks to perform to properly track a campaign.

A big part of figuring out how to use social media to increase sales is set up tracking the right way.

Phase 5: Optimization Lifecycle

This is the most overlooked, yet valuable step in the process. Here we critically think about the results generated and what should we do to improve.

Sometimes we uncover ways to decrease cost by breaking down what audience is responding the best or what ads work best.

Other times, we are trying to discover the best way to scale the campaign up to increase more sales. We usually do this when there is clear ROI and it’s time to increase the budget or audience size. This is currently where we are at with Nidhi’s campaign.

We like to think of the optimization lifecycle as a baby trying to walk for the first time.

It takes a good amount of time to get results, but after enough tests, you will be able to see clear ROI.


 

Case Study 3: Increasing Sales Through Social Media for T-Shirts

So far you’ve seen how we helped increase sales for two unique small businesses. 

Lastly, take a look at how we helped a company in a very competitive space with a commodity product, t-shirts.

Prior to signing on with LYFE, our client generated literally ZERO online sales.

Take a look at the screenshot below. You will find no sales from December 1, 2016 – December 28, 2016 then a spike from December 29, 2016 – January 31, 2017.  

HTA rev - 30 days

In only 1 month, our client was able to see a lift of $3,426.62 in online sales (from zero before).

Even better, our client was able to see nearly an initial 3x return on his marketing investment, with an ad budget of only $30/day.

Take a look: 

103 sales

Results (transcribed):

Period: December 31, 2016 – January 31, 2017 
Reach: 158,668
Purchase: 103
Amount Spent: $1,147.44 
Purchase Value: $2,943.91
Cost Per Purchase: $11.14

Again, we are not tracking fans or engagement, but what matters most to our client’s SALES and COST.

And these are just their initial costs to acquire a customer. On average, their customers return and make repeat purchases 4x a year. Meaning the lifetime value of their customer is around $114. Bringing the ROI to over 10x return!! Who wouldn’t like to spend $1,000 and make $10,000?  

Here’s 1 of 20 different ads that contributed to the success. 

social media ad

Now if this sounds good to you, then here’s our pitch.

If you’re looking for a turnkey solution and a team dedicated to helping you increase sales through social media.

Then we can help.

But if you are looking for sales to explode overnight or even within the next 60 days then we’re not for you. Increasing sales through social media truly takes time and a commitment to the strategy.

Now if that all sounds good and you’re ready to get started then follow these next steps:

  • Go to our contact page
  • Fill out all the basic information
  • Shortly after you will be prompted to schedule an appointment, pick a time/date that works for you
  • Show up for your “get to know you” call with one of our sales consultants. 

We’ve driven over 983,287 leads for clients through digital marketing.

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– David