Your “followers” and “fans” on the social web consists of your blog readers, Google+ followers, LinkedIn connections, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and even your Pinterest followers. For business growth, it is important to make your digital footprint trustworthy. An over advertised profile on the social web is really not what your audience prefers, because social media is transparent and it is a two-way communication medium.

On the social web, social networking is about connecting with your target audience and to maintain your current customers. Most of the social media channels such as the ones mentioned above can be used to provide your audience with value in a fast and reliant way. If you are already using a social media marketing strategy to increase your “followers” or “fans” on the social web, how are you going to convert them into sales?

Find below a couple of tips that can help you converting your network into sales.

Be active and engage with your audience

With your social media campaign, it is important to interact, engage, and be active with your audience. It is about maintaining a level of healthy communication between yourself and your network. Answer questions, and keep your network involved in a meaningful way. This will keep your audience involved, and help you to build brand awareness around your campaign. People like to do business with real people that they trust – not the logo behind the brand.

Offer your network incentives

Offer your network incentives in the form of discounted or free goods. When people join your network, award them with discounts on the services or products your provide. Who doesn’t like a discount coupon?

A few months ago I posted a blog post explaining Gamification and social media marketing. This is an excellent method you can use to keep your audience involved, motivated, and to provide them value. Using gamification in your social media campaign can help you keep your current network interested, and help you to bring in new customers.

Use social networking platforms for business

Use some of your social networking platforms directly to do business. For example; allow interested buyers to buy, and select your products directly from the community page such as a dedicated Facebook Fan page that you have created for your services or products. This approach is easy for the interested buyer to follow because they don’t have to leave the social media channel and profile when they are ready to part with their money.

Using your current customer base

Maintaining the trust of your current customers is equally important as to gaining new ones. Always keep your social media profiles, blog, and website up to date with your latest information. Always respond to customer queries and never ignore any comments you receive with your social media strategy. Ignoring the problems of your customers might end up doing you more harm than good.

Email marketing

Email marketing is still a very profitable digital marketing method. Collecting the email address from your network and then updating them on a regular basis can help you to keep them in the loop and to increase your overall chance of converting them into customers.

There are many other ways you can use to convert your followers and fans into sales. With social media, even though it is mostly free – be innovative and authentic with your approach to increase your ROI and customer growth on the social web.