Customer acquisition channels and conversion strategies for foreign trade companies: the role and practice of social media

In the highly competitive foreign trade market, acquiring customers is the top priority for every company. This article will deeply explore the main customer acquisition channels for foreign trade companies and propose corresponding conversion strategies, hoping to provide some useful reference for foreign trade practitioners.

Paid B2B platform

Paid B2B platforms such as Alibaba and Made in China are one of the commonly used customer acquisition channels for foreign trade companies. These platforms provide foreign trade companies with a broad market space by virtue of their long-term accumulated customer resources and brand awareness. However, as more and more companies enter this field, competition has become increasingly fierce. Problems such as declining inquiry quality, high costs, and low efficiency have gradually become apparent. Therefore, foreign trade companies need to carefully evaluate their own strength and resources and invest rationally to obtain the best results.

Foreign trade exhibition

Foreign trade exhibitions are another important channel for acquiring customers. By participating in domestic and foreign industry exhibitions, foreign trade companies can communicate face-to-face with customers, demonstrate product advantages, and build trusting relationships. The order completion rate at the exhibition is relatively high, and a group of loyal customers can be accumulated. However, as the number of exhibitions and exhibitors increases, customer choices have become more picky. Therefore, foreign trade companies need to be fully prepared before the exhibition to ensure the best product display and publicity effects.

Paid foreign trade software

Paid foreign trade software has become the new favorite for foreign trade companies to acquire customers due to its efficient and convenient search functions. Through keyword searches, foreign trade companies can quickly find target customers and improve customer acquisition efficiency. However, software operation requires a certain degree of foreign trade business capabilities, and the effects require long-term persistence to appear. Therefore, foreign trade companies need to cultivate the foreign trade skills of their employees to ensure that the software can maximize its effectiveness.

Customer Testimonials and Social Media

Customer recommendations and social media are two other effective ways for foreign trade companies to acquire customers. Customer recommendations are based on trust and have a greater chance of closing a deal. However, this requires the foreign trade company to have certain personal connections and maintenance costs. Social media can help foreign trade companies expand their contacts and increase brand exposure. Enhance interaction and stickiness with customers by publishing product information, interactive comments, etc. However, it should be noted that the information on social media has a high repetition rate and requires long-term persistence and operation.

How to obtain foreign trade customers through social media?

1. Determine the target customer group: Before using social media, clarify the demographic information, interests and needs of the target customer group. This will help to use social media in a more targeted manner and improve customer conversion rates. .

2. Choose the right social media platform: Choose the right social media platform based on the characteristics and preferences of your target customer group. For example, for young people, picture and video sharing platforms such as Instagram and TikTok may be more attractive; while for business people, professional social networking platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook are more suitable.

3. Establish a professional social media account: Establish a professional account on the selected social media platform, including an introduction, avatar, background image and other information related to the company’s products or services, to better Meet the needs and preferences of your target customers.

4. Publish valuable content: Publish content related to the company’s products or services, such as articles, photos, and videos. You can also share information such as industry news and success stories. The content should be formatted and expressed in a way that is easy to understand and accept.

5. Interact with potential customers: Interact with potential customers through comments, private messages, etc., answer questions, resolve concerns, and share useful content and resources, thereby increasing customers’ trust and favorability of the company.

6. Use social media advertising: Reasonably choose social media advertising methods, select appropriate advertising content based on the characteristics and needs of target customers, conduct effective data analysis, and continuously optimize advertising strategies.

7. Build a community: Create a community through social media, such as WeChat group, QQ group, etc., invite target customers to join, provide valuable content and services, and promote communication and interaction between customers. , enhance user stickiness.

Self-built website and search engine

The combination of self-built websites and search engines is an effective way for foreign trade companies to obtain precise customers. Display the company image and product advantages through self-built websites, and use search engines to find target customers. Most of the customers found in this way are corporate buyers with professional needs and high conversion rates. However, the repetition rate and inefficiency of the searched customers are also high, which requires foreign trade companies to have precise market positioning and screening capabilities.

The value of social media customer acquisition

The value of social media marketing in customer acquisition is mainly reflected in the following aspects: (1) Because the user stickiness of social media mainly comes from “interest”, social media can provide a very detailed portrait of the marketing audience ;(2) Social media often allows merchants to create company homepages for posting updates, organizing activities, etc. Merchants have the opportunity to continuously influence potential customers, which is particularly valuable in a period when customer acquisition costs are high;(3) Some social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, are particularly suitable for cross-border B2B sellers to “actively” acquire customers; (4) the average conversion cycle of social media customer acquisition is shorter than other marketing forms, which benefits from the more efficient interactive functions of social media ; (5) In the long run, the outstanding advantages of social media in brand marketing will make the dilution cost of social media customer acquisition lower.

Conclusion

Foreign trade companies acquire customers through various channels, and each channel has its advantages and limitations. The key is to choose appropriate channels for deep cultivation based on your own actual situation and resource conditions. At the same time, we also need to focus on improving customer conversion rates, and we need to be hardworking. By continuously improving product quality, service level and brand influence, we can convert potential customers into actual orders and achieve sustainable development of foreign trade business.