Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel is the strategic framework that outlines the journey from the first instance of a potential customer knowing about a brand to the moment when they actually convert into a paying customer. On social media, the funnel is broken down into several steps. First is the awareness stage.

Here, the brand's job is to attract potential customers with content that is not only engaging but also highly shareable. This content should be working to boost the visibility of the brand. Next, we move on to consideration.

In the funnel model, this step is all about the potential customer showing interest in the brand. It's when the user potentially moves from the viral part of the content into the more personal and private setting of speaking directly with the brand, via comments or direct messages. At this step, the user also might be participating in conversation that is happening in the comment section of a post or has gone into a private group where the user is talking with other people about the brand.

At this stage, the user is not ready to follow the brand yet, but they are thinking about it. The next step is trust. The potential customer is definitely not shy when it comes to this next stage.

Most likely, they are following the brand on one or more platforms. They are seeing content being posted and are liking, commenting, or even just scrolling by to get a glimpse of what the user experience with the brand is really all about. At this stage, the content that is being put out has even more of a chance to go from the branded side of social media into a potential customer's home and private spaces.

Trust is something that is built and developed mainly on social media now. The next stage is when the funnel delivers the homeowner's manual for the service being offered or the product that is being sold. This is the intent stage.

The funnel has the potential to be quite conversion-heavy at this point. The final stage of the funnel is the action stage. This is when the potential customer is ready to buy, sign up, or do whatever it is that is desired on the other side of the screen for the user.

They are pressed for time, and now they want to get into the actual experience of the service or product that has been dangled in front of them for the last few steps of the funnel.