You’ve got your business idea. You’re motivated to take your work life into your own hands and become the entrepreneur you’ve always been at heart. You’ve done your research on how to market your idea successfully by implementing and optimizing a sales funnel.
But you’re still new at this, and despite doing all of the recommended initial research and competitor analysis, it can be difficult to know what will best fit your unique business. Marketing and advertising can be a significant drain on your resources if you don’t know what to do, so knowing what type of content to use at each stage of the funnel is critical to your success as a new business owner.
A sales funnel is all about guiding your potential customers to a decision to purchase – ideally creating loyal, repeat buyers. But we all know that turning total strangers into paying customers doesn’t happen overnight.
Instead, you need to systematically guide your audience through the sales funnel.
Today we’re focusing on the top of the funnel (TOFU) with some helpful tips on creating meaningful and attention-grabbing content for what’s also known as the Awareness Stage. (Subscribe to our list in order to stay up to date with these posts to see more ideas for each stage of your sales funnel!)
Social Media Posts
One of the best ways to become a viral trend and quickly grow your business is through social media posts. You may be able to run a business without any social media following, but you’re probably missing out on a huge segment of people that simply haven’t heard of you before. The rise of Facebook, Instagram, and others means that your online presence (or lack thereof) can make or break your marketing campaign.
Attracting the right people is your primary goal at the top of the funnel, so your posts should be attention-grabbing and intriguing to potential customers. This can be accomplished with several simple strategies:
- Bright graphic design
- Catchy captions and taglines
- Movement: gifs, videos, and animation
- “Clickbait” questions, facts, and ideas
Your social media marketing should consist of more than a single post, think of it as a set of consistent messaging that will create awareness for your business and guide customers to the middle of the funnel. People are quickly desensitized to things they’ve seen before, and your social media ads are no exception to this rule.
That’s why it’s so important to create a collection of posts with complimentary design and imaging that work together to provide a clear presentation of your offer. For example, you may want to feature shorter text and more image-based posts for your Instagram Story while providing a little more detail in your Facebook News Feed posts.
The importance of maintaining a steady theme across your entire campaign cannot be understated. The last thing you want to do is confuse your audience with ads that are contradictory and inconsistent!
Maintaining your audience’s interest is what will lead them through the funnel to a final purchasing decision, so a one-time social media release just isn’t enough to keep people engaged.
You’ll want to create a clear plan for content release – a great way to do this is with a simple weekly or monthly calendar. Before the launch of any new campaign, strategically schedule your content posts so that your audience will be constantly reminded about your business with new and interesting posts.
If you don’t have the time to maintain an active social media presence, or if you don’t feel comfortable with the nuances of creating this type of content, you may want to look at outsourcing opportunities. Social media advertising is a rapidly growing career industry with many savvy professionals who can help your business become successful!
Even though the top of the funnel is the widest, that doesn’t mean you should be marketing to everybody.
Keep in mind your “Ideal Customer” and return to their wants, needs, and desires to help you stay focused on who you truly want to reach.
With a consistent message, attention-grabbing material, and selective targeting, your social media posts can draw people in and begin their journey through your marketing and sales funnel!