Shaun WhynachtBlue Cow Marketing Inc. · Founder of Blue Cow Marketing | Helping Small Businesses Clean Up Their Systems, Automate Their Marketing and Get Their Time Back

Rant - Direct vs Indirect Sales with Social Media

Name: Rant - Direct vs Indirect Sales with Social Media
Uploaded: 2013-02-04T16:41:36+00:00
Duration: 1 min 51 s
Channel: Shaun Whynacht
Description: In this solo social‑media rant, Shaun Whynacht of Blue Cow Creative argues that many businesses fail on social platforms because they mistake direct…

4 Feb 2013 · 2 min

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1:51

In this solo social‑media rant, Shaun Whynacht of Blue Cow Creative argues that many businesses fail on social platforms because they mistake direct sales tactics for effective social engagement. He defines direct sales as a straightforward product pitch (“here’s the product, here’s the price, buy it”), and contrasts it with indirect sales, which relies on encouraging existing customers and followers to talk about the product. By getting satisfied customers to share their experiences, brands tap into trusted personal networks, creating curiosity and ultimately driving sales without overt selling. Shaun emphasizes that mastering indirect sales—asking customers for opinions, highlighting daily usage, and fostering organic conversation—is the key to sustained social‑media growth. He concludes with a call to shift focus from hard‑selling to community‑driven advocacy.

Chapters

Hey everybody, it's Shaun Whynacht from Blue Cow Creative, back with another social media rant for you. This one here happens all the time, and it really bugs me when I see businesses take on their social media and they do this, and they do this a lot, and they wonder why they're not getting results and not getting that engagement that's really important to social media. That is because they have confused the difference between direct and and indirect sales. Social media, to be successful, you need to master indirect sales. What's the difference? Well, direct sales is, hey, here's my product, here's how much it is, buy it, here's how you buy it. That is a direct sales approach. Indirect sales is engaging those people who believe in what you do. Your current customers who are liking you on Facebook, who are following you on Twitter, getting them to talk about your product. When they are talking about your product, they are talking to the people who trust them— their friends, their family, their followers, their people that they see every day. They'll talk about your products. People, by curiosity, will want to know what it is that these people are talking about, and that will turn into a sale for you— an indirect sale. So it's not you talking to them saying, buy this product. It's you talking to them saying, what do you think about the product? How has it helped you? When you can master that indirect sales tactic, your social media strategy will do nothing but go up. So engage people indirectly in your sales. Get them talking about daily activities. Get them to talk about what it is that they like about what you do. That, my friend, is your key to success when it comes to using your social media. I'm Shaun Whynacht. It's been another social media rant. Check us out on Blue Cow Creative. .ca. See you around.