Business Buzz: Better profits via social media

PHUKET: When trying to increase profitability it is best to ascertain a company’s sales funnel, break it down into a process map and then analyze each of the sales procedures to see where the good and bad results are, as this will help in working out the changes needed to increase revenue in each area.

Even a small tweak improving only 1 or 2 per cent at each process point could lead to a massive increase in profitability, even doubling a company’s success.

To put this into a simple to understand situation, say 1,000 people see an advertisement placed in a newspaper. Imagine that a hundred people take action and go to the website, then 60 people enter their details on a contact form, 30 of them respond to our email, 20 people schedule a sales call, 10 people make the call and finally three people buy.

Now imagine if results could be improved at each step. So instead of a hundred people visiting the website it was 120, then 70 enter their details, after that 35 respond, 25 schedule a call, 12 people make the call and four people buy – this means revenue has been increased by 33 per cent!

Take a simple post placed on Facebook. People either see it and interact, or just ignore it. Now if the interaction rate is increased so will success improve.

So how should this be done? It is actually much easier than you think. By designing a post with the outcome in mind, it can help reach our goal. So, if we want people to like our page, ask them to. Everything we do should have a call to action.

If we want them to comment, make it clear and ask a question. If we want them to visit our website, encourage them to click on the link to receive a benefit.

This is all very basic, but 90 per cent of people fail to do it, thinking people know what to do. News flash – they often don’t! Also, people are often lazy and do not think in the manner we want them to, so they need a gentle push in the right direction.

Another example is making the subject of an email campaign more compelling. If we can increase the open rate, then every other subsequent step will be more successful.

So try it for yourself. Every step of the way, make your desired outcome clear. Spell it out! And then measure it.

If you do it right, I bet you can make a huge difference to your business. I will even bet you 100 per cent I am right! So leave a comment with your thoughts.

Simon Wetherell is a social media expert, lawyer, best-selling author and an international speaker. He now resides in Phuket where he trains businesses and individuals on how to profit from the use of social media. For more information go to https://PhuketOnlineMarketing.com or call him on 095 085 3355. Follow him on social media – Twitter @SimonWetherell or @PhuketMarketing Facebook: SAWetherell or PhuketOnlineMarketing LinkedIn th.linkedin.com/in/simonwetherell/en

— Siomon Wetherell