Seduce your customers with marketing funnel
How do you convert strangers into paying customers via social media? By incorporating marketing funnel into your social ads strategy.
But what is it - and how can you use it in your social media marketing? Find out in this post.
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What is a marketing funnel?
If you see your marketing as a funnel, where you fill the top with new traffic that comes out the other end as a result - for example, a booking, an order or a newsletter sign-up. Yes, you have the answer to what a marketing funnel is.
But what on earth can you do with that information?
Why work with marketing funnel?
Brands that work with ads often make the mistake of making direct sales ads to a target audience that has never heard of their brand. The consequence of using this strategy is that you will hit the target audience too early in their buying journey - with poor results.
That's why it's crucial to work with your funnel strategy and communicate the right messages at the right stages of your target audience's buying journey.
Why you need to work with marketing funnel:
- To avoid wasted advertising dollars
- To convert as many strangers into fans in your store
- To create as many customers in the most efficient way possible
The theory can and should be applied to all marketing efforts, but in this blog post I will focus on how to succeed with your social media funnel strategy.
The theory behind the marketing funnel
The simplified marketing funnel contains 3 layers:
Top funnel - Awareness
Mid funnel - Consideration
Lower funnel - Purchase/decision
Top funnel
Here you want to spread messages and create awareness about your brand or product. Therefore, you typically want to reach a very broad target group that may not have heard of your brand or product yet.
Mid funnel
Here you go one layer deeper in the buyer's journey, where you might get the target group one step closer to converting into customers. The target audience will probably start researching your product - or alternatives from competitors.
That's why it's important that your brand positions itself in the market with the USPs that set you apart from your competitors.
Lower funnel
In lower funnel, we work with a target group that has shown great interest in your product or service. They may have visited your webshop and added products to their basket without making a purchase, or they may have downloaded your whitepaper.
Here we work with the so-called retargeting target group, where we work with calls to action that encourage the target group to become your customers.
Marketing funnel with social ads in practice
Topfunnel
At the top funnel level, you work with "cold" leads. In practice, you will work with a broad target group based on demographics or interests that match your target audience - or look-a-likes if you already have data about your customers. This could be in the form of a customer database or newsletter subscribers.
In the early stage of the buyer journey, you want to educate and inform your target audience about products or services. It's important not to ask too much of your target audience at this stage.
Recommended campaign level objectives: Traffic, Interaction, Video views or Brand awareness.
Example:
If you sell skincare products, your campaign could include a video where you educate your target audience on how to take good care of their skin or what to avoid to keep it young and beautiful.
If your brand has knowledge that creates value for your target audience and can position you as an expert in the field, you are likely to gain their trust and make them curious. In this example, you could choose traffic as the campaign objective and direct the target audience to a more detailed blog post on your website.
Mid funnel
At this stage of the buyer's journey, you will be working with a target audience that already knows about your product. For example, this could be people like:
1. Have interacted with your Facebook or Instagram page.
2. Have visited your website.
3. Have watched e.g. 50% of your videos.
4. Have subscribed to your newsletter.
We are now working with so-called retargeting audiences.
At this stage, you can gently ask the target audience for more - for example, to provide their data in the form of email, phone number, etc. However, it's important to remember that you need to offer some kind of value if you're going to ask for data from the target audience. This could be in the form of a digital guide, whitepaper, access to a webinar, etc. You may also want to offer the target audience a free trial of your product or service before they decide to become your customer.
Recommended campaign-level objectives: Traffic, lead generation, conversion, messaging.
Lower funnel
In this stage of the buyer journey, you want to turn your warm leads into customers in your store.
For example, they could be people like:
- Visited your website or specific landing pages.
- Have downloaded whitepaper, e-book, guide etc.
Have signed up for your newsletter. - Added to cart (without completing the purchase).
- Previous customers
Now the target audience has had time to get to know your brand and product well, and they have had the opportunity to consider. Therefore, at this level, you can create campaigns that give the final push towards the goal: turning your leads into customers.
Here you can communicate your promotions and offers, make catalog sales or encourage the target audience to fill in their contact information so that your salespeople can contact them. If you have an online store, it would be obvious to use dynamic product ads, as this allows Facebook to show the products that the individual person has seen on your online store.
At this level, you should also work on campaigns targeting current customers to create loyalty and easy repeat purchases. For example, you might be launching a new product where you want to offer 10% to your loyal customers, or you might want to ask your customers to review their experience.
Recommended campaign-level objectives: Lead generation, conversion, sales from catalog
Get help with your social media strategy
A good start is half done. A bad start is.... well, not good. If you don't have the resources to create a well-thought-out SoMe strategy, you're always welcome to send me an email at seo@webamp.dk or contact one of my colleagues at info@amplify.dk.
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