How can I go about converting Facebook “Likes” into actual sales?

This article first appeared on December 9th, 2011.

Although there’s no instant formula for turning Facebook “Likes” into sales (if there were, we’d all be rich), there are certainly ways that you can prompt those who “Like” your product into taking action.

For the sake of being thorough, let’s take the art of making Facebook sales back to its very foundation – growing likes.

This is without a doubt the hardest step of generating sales through social media. Attaining a following of genuinely interested customers is not easy, but the following tips certainly help:

• Post high quality, engaging content. Think to yourself: Would I share this? If not, it’s not worth posting.

• Constantly engage with those who leave messages.

• Reward your followers and make this reward obvious to others.

• Remind those that do follow you that they can share posts – and prompt them to.

But I digress. Growing “Likes” on a Facebook page does not necessarily make you a successful company or generate any extra sales. To turn your “Likes” into actual sales you must be extremely savvy and proactive about how you speak and deal with your “Likees”.

The good news is that they already like your product – so that’s at least one hurdle cleared. Treat these people as if they’re customers browsing your store – the last thing you want to do is scare them off after you’ve managed to get them through the door.

• Don’t irritate your “Likees” with too much information. In other words, don’t continuously upload post after post – they will get fed up with this, very quickly.

• Offer them something unique – after all, who doesn’t get bored in a shop that has nothing worth buying on offer?

• Be personal! Start conversations with your “Likees” and don’t be afraid to show some personality – people do business with people.

• Go one step further – if someone makes an enquiry about a product, instead of just leaving a one-line comment or a link, post images and tell them as much as possible about the item.

• Make your “Likees” aware that buying from you is a quick and easy process. It helps if you can get some kind of consumer feedback about this, in order to promote yourself.

On top of all of these customer-focused tips, there are two other almighty factors – the sales platform and the product display.

Again, think of your page as a shop – post albums of your latest collections and prompt people to leave their comments. People shop with their eyes, so make your products as appealing as possible.

Most importantly, integrate a sales platform into your Facebook page. This may take some time but essentially it will turn your page into an ecommerce solution. This is new to Facebook pages and we predict it will soon be the bee’s knees of social ecommerce.