The secret to sales on social platforms?

It’s not:

Spamming your contacts with DMs
Sending the same message to all your “targets.”
Using sleazy or out-dated sales tactics to “land the deal.”

No, building a pipeline of leads from social platforms is about being “genuine” and “offering value” over DMs.

Now, you’ve heard that hundreds of times, right? And I’m willing to bet you don’t know actually what that entails (don’t worry, I didn’t either when I first started using this strategy). So that’s why I’ve put together this 5-step process to help you break down these “fuzzy” terms and get clear on exactly what you need to do to build relationships with your potential clients in the DMs (and land your next sale!).

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Share Something Thoughtful.

It’s a cliché but it’s true:

People buy from who they know, like, and trust.

So how do you get someone you’ve never met in real life to trust you?

Well, the first part is engaging with them thoughtfully with their content. Don’t just leave generic messages like “Great post!” or “Love this!”. Everyone can leave comments like that. Don’t be like everyone else.

If you’ve followed the previous step, you’ll be leaving thoughtful comments on accounts in two areas:

Accounts in your ghostwriting niche (e.g. Productivity Tech, Health & Wellness)—this will help you spot people or companies who might need your services (and means you get spotted in return!).
Choose a “group” of people you want to target in your niche, like big names in the industry or up and coming creators, entrepreneurs, and business owners.

I recommend you do both as it helps to a) find people in your niche you don’t know about (by seeing who else comments on big accounts) and b) target specific people in your niche.

After engaging with their content for about a week, it’s time to send them a message that demonstrates you’re paying attention to their work.

Here are some examples of thoughtful messages:

Template 1 (Compliment on recent work): "Hi [Name]! I saw your [post/article/video] about [topic]. It was really good! I liked the part where you said [specific thing]. Can’t wait to hear more about [topic/specific thing]."