Social media is everywhere today, and it isn’t just for communicating with your loved ones! With features such as Facebook Markets and Instagram Business Accounts, you can now sell your products and services in the most-used social networking sites.
You can practically sell anything, from baked goods to appliances, homes to furniture. And in my line of business, selling guns in social media has given my sales a ton of positive impact.
YES, gun stores like mine in Chesapeake have shown an increase in sales thanks to social media! How so?
Read on as I show you what social media has done for the best gun store in Chesapeake Virginia Beach Area.
Gun Store Sales With Social Media
Where I’m from, guns have always been seen as necessities. Not only are they great for hunts, but they can also be used as self-defense, an extra layer of protection for your home. These “survival tools” have experienced a huge increase in sales since the year began, and it’s seen to rise from here on out.
This can do wonders for a physical gun store. But why not take another step further and go online?
That’s what I realized! I decided to move some of my marketing efforts to social media and see where it takes me. After all, with millions of adult social media users, you’re bound to find at least a few dozen interested in purchasing a gun around your area.
However, there are a few points I want to share, which are helpful in driving up sales:
1. The Facebook Ban
Before dealing with social media for your gun store sales, you have to be aware of their policies first! One example is Facebook, which has a policy against selling weapons and ammunition. However, there are some ways around posting and selling your products, still adhering to their policies.
You just have to be a bit more creative and make sure that you are targeting the right people. But for me, I’m better off posting more about my shooting skills and the like rather than publishing sales posts on the Facebook Marketplace, just to be safe! It hasn’t affected my sales at all, and social media still drives it up and takes interested people to my website.
2. Pro-Tip: Use Influencers
YES, there are influencers that work on increasing sales for the gun industry. Even better, they show a ton of positive results and drive sales to your gun store, thanks to their use of social media!
With thousands of followers on their social media accounts, all of which are your target market, influencers can really drive up your sales and have you more “out there” on popular social media channels. That’s why I highly recommend that you look into influencers and contact them if you’re interested in a collaboration. Or, you can search these influencers’ pages to see what ideas you can get in terms of content creation for your own social media account to strike traffic.
3. Paid Social Media Ads
Free social media marketing isn’t exactly dead, but it’s still better to pay for ads as well. While the shooting sports industry is still fairly popular, not a lot of people will be able to see your account, especially if you just started. That’s where paid social media ads come along, which have been extremely helpful in my marketing efforts.
The reason why paid ads are great is that they provide the following benefits:
- Social media ads are inexpensive and controllable. You can edit the ads for only your target audience to see, based on demographics such as location, age, sex, gender, and interests.
- Your audience is already there and using social media, you just need to be seen more with ads.
- Shooting content is perfect for social ads, as long as it checks the ad policy list of your social media channel. You simply need to be more creative, and it will move people from inaction to more action.
Most business owners are able to gain more of a following than they already have, with prospective customers and more interested readers from their target market.
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4. Benefits of Selling Online
There are so many benefits I reaped as I sold my guns online and presented myself more on social media. I didn’t just get more prospective customers, but a huge following as well!
As a competition shooter, I have a page where I showcase my talent and even share tips with whoever is interested. It’s garnered quite a following, and even more, people have become invested in the advice I have to offer. In turn, they also became interested in what I sell from my gun store.
Social media doesn’t need to be all about paid ads and the like. With proper and unique content you create on your own, you can grow interested and have people check your product offerings. It was like being an influencer without the need to be a young model, which was surprisingly what made my following relate more with my page.
Today, my store in Chesapeake (near Virginia Beach!) is doing even better as I became social media savvy. The more I post, the more messages I get asking for tips and where I get my equipment (which is from my store). With more connections from social media, these connections can either spread the word or become my next customers visiting my store.
Wrapping It Up
Social media marketing is a popular way to gain results for a reason. In the gun industry, the proper use of social media can definitely garner results and prospect buyers. As long as you do it correctly and legally, then you can expect more followers and sales.
I hope that these points on how social media impacts gun store sales informed you of a thing or two. If you’re a gun store looking for better sales, or a customer looking for good guns, check out my website for more advice and check my products out!