The Social Media Conversion Funnel

Getting someone to pay for content or products online depends on:
—depth of relationship between creator & consumer
—relevance & expense of product

Usually, that requires multiple interactions to build trust & most likely....

1/8

...shifting consumers from shallow platforms to ones w/deeper loyalties (like dating—>cohabitating—>engaged—>married—>house—>kids)

Shallowest to deepest social networks:
TikTok
Pinterest
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
Podcast
Newsletter
Paid (Patreon/Substack)

2/8

Depth varies by creator, user & network + there are multiple connection types (eg friend vs follow)

Depth is driven by
—interaction duration/frequency
—uniqueness & utility of content
—attachment to creations vs creator
—availability of substitutes

Brands use other criteria
3/8

If every Instagrammer died & was replaced by similar-looking ones tomorrow, few would stop scrolling. Brands know that.

Pinterest fully devalues individuals for posts/objects & pinboards/collections. Creators are a conscious afterthought. It assures loyalty to the platform.

4/8

A typical content creator funnel might:
a) grab people on TikTok or Twitter w/clips or threads
b) transition them to Instagram or YouTube
c) then podcast or newsletter
d) finally, convert 5-10% of (c) to paid

This will vary by content type (art, text, video, audio, etc.)

5/8

Product purchases are a bit different.

Products that lend themselves to visual presentation, targeted properly (fun, compelling demo videos), can convert on shallow platforms. Many successes have appeared on @SharkTankABC. Instagram or Facebook work best, maybe Pinterest.

6/8