Create a Winning Content Strategy to Boost Your Sales on Socials

(Want to listen to this blog post instead? Check out Episode 7 of The Social Brain podcast.)

Does creating a content strategy for social media leave your head in a spin?!

So many business owners post on social media without having a clear content plan, which can lead them to not get the results they want (and deserve!).

When you’ve got a well thought out content strategy in place, you’re likely to see an increase in followers, engagement and most importantly, SALES!

If you follow me on Instagram and are part of my close friends’ crew, you’ll know I often pop up the little question box sticker to help you with your social media struggles.

I was recently asked to share some information on creating a winning social media content strategy so that’s exactly what I’ll be sharing with you in this blog post.

(Psst: Want to join my close friends so you can ask me a question? DM @thesocialbrainuk)

Before we get started, sign up to receive my FREE masterclass that walks you through the 7 Steps of Creating a Marketing Strategy.

The first thing to do before you create your social media content strategy

Small business owners are notorious for not taking time off. So, before you do anything, block out your holiday dates, your anniversaries, your birthdays, any time off you want to take. This will give you a clear overview of what you can sell and when.

From there, you can create your social media sales strategy to compliment the time that you're away, because you're not necessarily going to have as much time to squeeze in sales calls or to be posting on social platforms consistently to promote an offer.

How to choose your content pillars

As part of your sales and content strategy, I recommend focusing on one product or service per month. This will make it easier for you to create your content pillars, which are the topics that you're going to be talking about around that product or service. Your content pillars will then compliment the product or service you’re selling. You can showcase your expertise, get to know the customers that you’re targeting, and talk about the pain points that your product or service is solving for them.

For example, if I was a personal trainer and I wanted to focus on promoting one of my fitness and nutrition packages, I would choose three content pillars which might discuss fitness, nutrition and mindset.

5 different content types you can use on Instagram

The content type you create will very much depend on what sales phase you are in. Will you be creating content for awareness? To nurture your audience? To help potential customers make a decision? Or to simply sell your product or service?

Each content type contributes to you getting your sales by capturing the attention of prospects who are at different stages of the buying process.

Reels

Reels are really great for brand awareness and for reaching people who aren't following you just yet. If you’re looking to build your brand awareness and get your name in front of more people, focus on Reels for now.

Live Video

Lives help with nurturing the people who are already following you. When you go live on your own, you’re building that relationship with your current audience. Inviting a guest onto your live is another form of brand awareness because you’re getting yourself known in front of their followers and vice versa.

Carousels

Carousels are really great for brand awareness and they're excellent for educating your audience. In turn, this nurtures and builds trust, helping them to make their decision about whether or not to work with you.

Guides

Guides are an underused tool on Instagram. It’s where I put all my posts about particular topics.

For example, all my Lives are in a guide, which is helpful if I'm trying to direct people to a specific piece of content or if they want to get to know me better.

Stories

Stories are really great for nurturing your audience, and they're also really great for sales. You can use your Stories to show up so people can get to know you a little bit more. You can do market research with the poll and question box stickers. Or you could use the sliders, the polls, and the link stick to showcase exclusive offers. Not everybody who follows you watches your story so it’s a great place for sharing exclusive offers and segmenting your community as well.

There’s also the option to create a Close Friends list of your superfans.

How many content types should you use on Instagram?

When it comes to content types in your social media sales strategy with Instagram, I would recommend using just three. You don't have to use every single content type. At the time of writing this, my 3 content types are Lives, Stories, and Reels. This reduces the overwhelm that comes with creating content.   

I can film Reels quite quickly and still get a brilliant response from them. I enjoy going live and speaking to my community directly which helps me to nurture my audience and Stories are great because I share a little bit behind the scenes, and I also tell the people who watch the Stories any exclusive offers I have.

You can also cross post your content to other platforms - just make sure they're formatted correctly! You can cross post your Reels to Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube shorts.

It’s all about working smarter, not harder!

The easiest way to stay consistent with your social media marketing

Staying consistent on social media comes down to how much time you can commit to your social media marketing. Say to yourself: “I can commit to x amount of hours per week or per month to my social media marketing”, and work backwards from there to decide on your content types and how much you’ll be posting.

My final piece of advice? When it comes to creating a social media content strategy, always do what works best for you and for your business during the time that you have available.

Ready to sink your teeth into your content? Book in a Content Brainstorming Session and let's get your social media marketing working for you.