Social media have evolved into a vital tool for companies of all kinds in the current digital era. They let you reach the target audience and increase the bottom line. The opportunity to connect with potential customers is enormous, given the billions of active users on websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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And social media try to accommodate all businesses wishing to gain the maximum benefit from their posts, live streams, Reels, and other types of content. How? One of the notable examples is shoppable tags, enabling users to open the product information and purchase from the app. You can also launch paid ads or partner with influencers. The opportunities are endless!
Most social media focus on the visual part of interactions:
- appealing images
- engaging videos
- small texts
- catchy GIFs and stickers
According to Wyzowl’s research, 91% of businesses prioritize videos, an absolute maximum since 2016. With videos being so fast-growing in marketing, you need to understand how to combine video sales funnel with social media and make them work together. Let’s start!
Developing a Video Sales Funnel with Social Media: 6 Essential Steps
Building a video sales funnel involves using various videos to guide viewers from discovery to conversion. It may begin with an eye-catching piece to draw attention before transitioning to an e-book or sales page. The final stage is deciding whether to subscribe to a mailing list or buy something.
Of course, many factors influence people’s desire to purchase. You should optimize the website’s usability, such as eCommerce homepage UX or checkout page organization. We also advise you to go mobile-first and increase website loading speed. All these conversion rate optimization tips can strengthen your marketing efforts apart from leveraging video marketing.
One of the most popular ways to build up a video sales funnel is to employ a series of YouTube videos, followed by a landing page or lead capture form on your website. However, it’s possible to do on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Let’s go over six steps to creating a video marketing funnel on social media.
1. Determine Your Target Audience
Social media can boast the ability to unite a large audience. Your videos can become viral in hours, connecting people from various parts of the world under one topic. Yet, if your goal is to find the right customers through videos, you should sift through those users and send the needed message to your audience. That’s why the first step under discussion is to identify your ideal viewers and buyers.
Suppose you already have a detailed buyer persona or several. For you to understand how your product will benefit them, you should know information, such as:
- age
- profession
- interests
- marital status
- daily struggles
- short- and long-term goals, and more
Do your target demographic for your video and your product’s buyer persona intersect? What content will interest them, at what time, and on what platform?
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After identifying the target audience’s wants and needs, check what your competitors create. Competitor research may give answers to what content you should generate, how different videos perform, and what problems they solve. Choose the most popular social media platforms among your target audience and focus your efforts on those.
2. Create Valuable Video Content
Now you know what your audience is waiting for. You understand what your industry expects you to talk about. Now it’s time to shoot videos! There are several types of social media videos, including:
- product demos;
- how-to tutorials;
- behind-the-scenes footage;
- live streams, to name a few.
Each type of video serves a specific purpose and can be used to reach different audiences. That’s where you should determine your expectations from videos. Remember to provide value to your target audience and grab their attention by sharing educational, entertaining content, or a combination of both.
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The type of videos will range according to the customer’s place in the funnel:
#1 Awareness
Here, you need to appeal to as many users as possible. The most appropriate types of videos for getting noticed are explainers, short Instagram and TikTok clips, user-generated content, live streams, influencers’ reviews, and teasers.
Sephora launches live broadcasts and attaches links to the products mentioned in the video, simplifying the search process. Check it in the screenshot below.
#2 Intent
This audience segment is narrower than the previous one. You need to speak to viewers’ specific traits: interests, issues, background, etc. Distribute how-tos, webinars, and product demos at this stage. A case in point is Trello’s tour on the YouTube channel.
#3 Conversion
As people get closer to purchasing, you should nudge them by placing dedicated links to sales pages or contact information. That’s where customer testimonials, comparisons, and case studies can help. Take a glance at a screenshot below, illustrating a review on the Coco Reef Pinterest page.
#4 Loyalty
Creating an emotional bond with clients may require showcasing your brand personality, offering exclusive behind-the-scenes content, or customizing videos for individual customers. For example, you can develop tutorials and onboard new users to your platform.
Below you can see screenshots of the Maybelline New York Snapchat page. The company shares makeup tutorials to inspire customers to experiment with the products.
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3. Promote Your Videos
It is not enough to simply produce excellent content and wait for it to generate traffic. To reach the greatest number of customers, you should distribute videos widely. While many people believe that promotion is difficult, it’s not.
Utilize social media to spread material from your video sales funnel across all accounts. Encourage people to watch videos in emails, broadcasts, and podcasts and allocate some money to paid advertising. Also, consider collaborating with influencers in your niche to attract more traffic.
Endel leverages video as an Instagram ad. We can observe the “Sponsored” mark below the name and the “Install Now” button, taking us to the download page.
4. Drive Traffic to Your Landing Page
The next step in building a video marketing funnel is hooking viewers and encouraging them to proceed to your website. Implement these tricks to invite people to click the needed links in videos and video descriptions:
- Use a call-to-action (CTA), which can be as simple as a “Watch Now” button or something more descriptive like “Watch Now for Free.”
- Add subtitles to your videos, including the title, explanations, or keywords.
- If your videos are long, such as tutorials or webinars, include links in your video descriptions to take people directly to where they can take action.
For instance, ActiveCampaign leaves a link in the description, taking viewers to a landing page.
5. Convert Leads Into Customers
You’ve managed to drive visitors to the website. What’s next? You need a converting landing page where leads can learn more about your product or service. To get through the conversion process faster, use headers, titles, and descriptions throughout the site. They will make it easier for visitors to find the desired page. Provide simple navigation tools like buttons, links, and drop-down menus.
Offer a lead magnet on your landing page, such as an e-book or webinar, to encourage visitors to provide their contact information. You can then use email marketing to nurture these leads and convert them into customers.
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The link from the previous example from ActiveCampaign takes you to the page where you can sign up to get information about new episodes and watch them live. You need to leave some contact details, such as your name and email address, allowing the company to stay in touch with you.
6. Continuously Track and Optimize Your Funnel
Even if people start to flock to your website or place orders, your work doesn’t stop here. You should get back to your videos, measure their success, and optimize them if necessary.
The first indicator to look at is whether you’ve achieved the expected results. Maybe, you’ve outperformed yourself and gained lots of shares and buyers. Or, if not, when are you planning to meet your goals to see a decent return on investment (ROI)?
You can also use analytics to see if people watch the entire video or certain parts. Are they pausing at particular spots? If not, why not? Where in the video did they stop watching, and why? You may find it intriguing to have a few seconds of silence, but people don’t seem interested until you start talking again. Track these metrics and lead generation KPIs:
- social media: shares, comments, and views;
- landing page: views, average time spent on the page, click-through rate;
- average viewing time;
- percent of viewers responding to the call to action (to purchase).
That’s where brand monitoring software like Determ can help. You can save time googling conversations about your company and measure customer sentiment in one place thanks to this tool.
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Final Thoughts
Videos are becoming increasingly significant in attracting traffic and conversions for various products. As more people turn to social media and YouTube, it makes sense to use this trend to develop your sales funnel.
Social media may help you get your product or service in front of the right customers. You can increase traffic to your website. And if done right, people will be more likely to buy your products or services. Are you ready to leverage social media’s capacity to boost your sales? Implement tips from this article to craft an effective video sales funnel with social media.
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Kate Parish is the chief marketing officer at Onilab, a full-service eCommerce agency with a focus on Magento. Kate has been working on diverse marketing strategies and activities for more than 8 years. In her pursuit to bring up top-notch marketing solutions, Kate is constantly exploring the topics of SEO, branding, SMM, PPC, and Magento PWA development.
