Sell your products and services on social media for Black Friday

Michelle is a digital content creator, influencer, and social media strategist who created her courses after realizing not many people had a solid understanding of social media strategy and the different components of it.

“I’ve seen pretty much everything when it comes to social media and the digital world,” she says. “It changes every day, so I really have to make sure that I stay on top of my game because there’s something constantly changing.”

Get this season social media expert’s best practices for selling on Black Friday below.

Stay current

The most important first step before launching a sales campaign on social media in advance of Black Friday is actually quite simple: update. This means make sure your social media networks are up to date.

“So, if you have old photos, old information—it’s time to switch that out,” Michelle explains. “It’s time to optimize your Instagram bio so that it says exactly what you do and who you help. I think sometimes, we forget about banners, especially on Facebook. If you’re using Facebook—which a lot of business owners are especially if you have digital products or physical products—you want to make sure that’s updated.”

This could be with the latest sale that you’re having for Black Friday, what your Black Friday sales are going to be, or even a tease to your audience. Just remember: Your social media presence is the first thing someone’s going to visit. Keep everything updated and easy to find with your sales, even in the pre-sale phase.

Stay calm and stand out

“Over-saturation is such a topic that is on everybody’s mind,” says Michelle. But she reminds the best way to overcome this fear is to remind your customers why they should buy from you and what makes you different from everybody else.

She says to showcase what is unique about your brand or business and to stay creative. Most importantly, she advises having an email list that you update and nurture often, as that’s the strategic way to break through all the noise.

Build buzz and urgency the right way

“The best way to create urgency and build buzz is to tease,” Michelle explains. “You want to tease and create all this build up and excitement that something big is coming and that you have something to offer that they shouldn’t miss out on.”

Bottom line: Scarcity works. Michelle reminds us that it’s OK to use scarcity and FOMO tactics during Black Friday—as long as you’re not overdoing it. And that means skipping sending 75 emails all saying, “Buy now!”

“It has to be a strategic process,” she says, stating that when you promote with such a sense of urgency, it encourages audiences to respond. Michelle also explains that people have to see things seven times or more to really buy into it. “So make sure you are using those scarcity tactics when the time is right, and you’re really building up that buzz,” she adds.

Stay sensitive and confident

As a social pro, Michelle notes she’s had to help her clients pivot in so many different directions during these sensitive times. Her best advice to creators selling on social media this Black Friday: Simply make sure that you are not tone deaf.

“You want to make sure that you’re just aware of what’s going on,” she says, noting this doesn’t mean you have to stop selling because people are still buying.

“People are still interested in leveling up their brands, growing their social media, buying new products and services. So, I would definitely say just make sure that you’re aware of what’s going on online first before you come up with a campaign,” she says.

This means test the waters, read the room, and always be open to pivoting when needed.

A seller’s tool kit

In addition to her best Black Friday sales tactics, Michelle shared her favorite content creation and social media tools so you can be armed for success as well.

For scheduling: Later or Planoly

“I love Later for scheduling because I haven’t found another platform that has better analytics—they really break everything down and it’s easy to read. I think that their platform does a great job at scheduling; you can see everything laid out.”

For creating content: Canva

“You can do pretty much anything and everything with that tool. They have a ton of pre-made templates that you can use so you don’t have to spend a lot of time creating if you are in a time crunch. It’s definitely a great tool for content creation.”

For inspiration: Pinterest

“I use Pinterest as well to find different ideas to get inspiration, because sometimes you can get writers’ and content creation blocks, so it’s really important to use these different resources.”