Businesses often face two major challenges with social media. The first is getting started. Once a business passes that challenge by gaining some momentum and attracting followers, the next challenge that often comes up is converting those followers into customers.

While having a lot of followers is a great ego boost and can provide some benefits like credibility, that’s generally not enough for a business. Instead, a business needs social media to drive revenue in order for this channel to be worthwhile. So if your business is in the position of having some traction on social media but you’ve yet to see that traction translate into followers, here’s how to start seeing the results you really want:

Don’t Be Afraid to Promote

Although it seems simple, businesses are sometimes hesitant to share promotions through social media. Social media can drive some followers to your site who then buy without ever needing to mention a specific promotion. However, you’ll get far more conversions if you give your social media followers a compelling reason to buy. When it comes to concerns about seeming overly self-promotional, as long as you provide a mix of content and don’t simply bombard your followers to buy in every single post, you won’t have anything to worry about.

Get Creative with Promotions

There’s a good chance that even the simplest promotion will get some of your followers to buy. But if you get a little creative with your promotions, you’ll find that the results you’re able to drive are even more significant. In terms of what makes a promotion creative, there isn’t a certain rulebook you have to follow. Instead, you should think about your specific followers and the things they like. By coming up with promotion ideas that make them feel special and engaged, you’ll be able to maximize your social media conversion rates.

Pay Attention to What Works (And What Doesn’t)

As with most aspects of social media, converting followers into customers is all about applying a handful of best practices and then refining your efforts based on what works, as well as what falls short. It’s great to have lots of ideas about what you want to do with your social media followers. But until you actually put them to the test, you won’t know what’s actually going to work. The good news is it’s easier than ever to collect lots of useful data from both social media platforms and your website, so you should be able to pinpoint exactly what’s driving the best results for your business.

By following the tips we covered above and taking advantage of my social media management services, you’ll be able to maximize the positive impact that social media has on your business!

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day.

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location, and more. Just let her know how she can help!