WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO MAKE SALES ONLINE?

Yesterday I came across a post by a vendor on Twitter. She complained about not making sales after spending so much on ads and branding. I have also this complaint amongst many online vendors, even those with a sizable following.

In this post, I want to use this as an opportunity to start a conversation about the challenges vendors encounter online and I would love to get different viewpoints on the issue. Below are some of my observations regarding poor sales despite having a sizable audience.

Your followers aren't your target market. Over the 4-5 years I have noticed a trend on Twitter where large accounts try to monetize their social influence. Depending on the type of product or service you render this might be profitable.

For new vendors who grew their accounts based on a specific type of content (before the development of their business), it will be difficult to sell a product or service that does not align with your digital identity.

For example, someone who grew their account on Twitter around conversations about sports will certainly find it difficult to sell tech products or services. This is because the people who view their content are mostly interested in sports, not tech.

There is a lot of blind marketing going on in the social sphere, especially by young entrepreneurs. For the big institutions and corporations, they are more precise in their approach.

Have you ever wondered why you're bombarded with ads about a product or service you recently searched online? This is a perfect example of how your data is used to tailor ads that align with your interest.

How does a vendor leverage social media to grow their business?

Be specific. The core of marketing is knowing your target market and the right channels to funnel your product or service. The best way to achieve this is by taking advantage of virtual communities by promoting your products/services which aligns with their interests.

For example, I am a content creator who creates crypto-related content. Now the chances of my followers on Twitter reading my posts are very slim because I did not build that following based on crypto content.

What I can do instead is find different crypto communities where people are genuinely interested in cryptocurrency and then share my links. This way I have a better chance of getting a click or two.

Another important aspect of selling products/services is finding the right platform for your business. GaryVee talks about this a lot. For some businesses getting to their target audience online is difficult based on their size on the platform and content format.

The best line of action is to leverage on platforms that can offer better visibility, especially for smaller accounts. For content creators like myself, decentralized platforms are ideal for me because I have unfiltered access to people who are invested in cryptocurrency.

In conclusion, If an online vendor can solve these two problems of identifying their target audience and finding the right medium to reach them, I believe it will significantly improve their sales. What do you think? Do you have any other observations not mentioned in this post? Please share in the comment section.