6 Mistakes We Make When Trying To Convert Our Social Followers Into Sales

The average person spends 2 and a half hours on social media every single day. So it’s no wonder that one of the main places we try to build up our businesses is on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. But what happens when your big number of followers doesn’t equate to a big number in sales?

Imagine what kind of revenue you could bring in if you could correctly harness the power and pockets of your social media followers. Jess Lenouvel, Founder and CEO of The Listings Lab, converted her 78k followers into a multiple 7-figure business that has sold over $300 million of property in the last five years alone. Now as head of The Listings Lab, Jess helps 6-figure Real Estate Agents overhaul their advertising so they can scale to 7-figures all by leveraging the power of online marketing.

If you can’t figure out why your social media followers are not converting to dollar signs, check out Jess’ top mistakes that could be keeping you from getting clients and making money.

Don’t Be an Influencer, Be an Entrepreneur

“The way you show up online and how you approach your social media and messaging has more to do with being an influencer or being an entrepreneur than anything else. As an influencer, your first and only objective is audience growth, money is a byproduct of your audience size,” says Lenoval. “An entrepreneur is the opposite. Money is first then audience growth happens as a result of what you’re doing to make money. When the overall intention is different, how you approach your content will also be different. Don’t dilute your message by buying followers to get your follower count up or by doing a collaboration and promoting a random product for a random brand. You can make great money as an influencer, but it’s not going to actually equate to money for you in your business. Be an entrepreneur. Sell and promote your own products and services, not someone else’s.”

The Number of Followers You Have is Not the Metric that Matters

“Follower count is what we like to call a vanity metric because at the end of the day, the number of followers you have doesn’t matter if the quality of the follower is poor. When you aren’t dealing with high quality people, you can’t convert them from followers into high quality business,” advises Lenoval. “Social media algorithms work in a way that puts your content out to a small amount of people and then what happens? Those people either engage with you or they don’t. And when they don’t, whatever social platform you’re using is going to make the assumption that your audience doesn’t like this content and it’s going to get buried. Now if your audience is incredibly engaged, even if it’s small, when your content is seen by the first 10%, because it’s relevant, they’re going to like it and share it and comment on it. The algorithm will pick up on that, assume your audience likes whatever you’re saying, and then they’re going to show it to the next 10% and then the next 10%. The gift that keeps on giving!”

Social Media Should Be More Like a Diary and Less Like a Billboard

“For example, in real estate, primarily posting just listed, just sold, just listed, just sold, over and over again isn’t going to get the job done. It’s not enough. And to be honest, it’s not interesting and won’t build any sort of relationship with anyone online,” notes Lenoval. “When you’re not providing value, you won’t get valuable followers, and it won’t turn into money in your pocket. Everything in your life is content. Does that mean you should post what you eat for breakfast everyday? Definitely not. But when posting, always remember to post from the three main buckets: your personal bucket, your authority bucket and your social proof bucket (case studies, testimonials, and PR). This helps to build up your know, like, and trust factor, which in turn builds relationships, which in turn creates business.”

“How Do I Get More Likes?” is Not the Question You Should Be Asking

“It’s no secret that we judge the success of our posts by how many likes and comments we get on it. But while likes and comments are extremely important, they aren’t as powerful as shares. If your content is not being shared, your audience is not growing. And one of the best ways to get shares? Sure, creating better, more shareable content is one solution but it’s not the most effective. The fastest way to grow your audience is actually through PR. If you get high quality media attention, you are able to leverage all these other different, untapped audiences and bring them back to your brand. Getting in front of the right audience is always more important than getting in front of a bigger one. So don’t buy some bot to get you followers, hire a publicist!” suggests Lenoval.

Hashtags Should Not Be the Most Important Part of Your Post

“When writing content, it’s not acceptable to just post a photo and a bunch of hashtags. When you take an image and throw it up on your page, especially if the image is some type of infographic, you’re assuming your audience is going to interpret it correctly,” says Lenoval. “Writing content takes time and effort but if you don’t do it you come across to your audience as lazy. Instead, actually take the time to interpret what you’re posting for your audience in order to build trust and authority. Make a video of what’s actually going on in the industry, walk your audience through updates and changes, and explain exactly what it’s going to mean for them.”

We Don’t Go on Social Media to Like Photos, We Go on To Like People

“If you take a picture of your house and post it, it won’t get nearly as much attention as if you take a picture of yourself standing in front of your house and post it. People don’t engage with photos that don’t have faces in them. That one little change, when you add yourself in, will up your engagement in a big way,” reminds Lenoval. “It’s important to remember how human beings buy and choose. We make decisions emotionally before we make them logically. Putting a friendly face in an otherwise empty picture, makes your audience feel connected to you on a personal level. In the end, turning followers into clients comes down to the relationships you are building.”

This article was written by Stephanie Burns from Forbes and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.