How do you create a social media content funnel that converts followers into customers?
To turn social media followers into customers, create content for three stages of the marketing funnel: discovery, education, and relationship-building. Use attention-grabbing content to attract relevant new audiences, educational content to build trust, and customer stories, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content to help interested followers become buyers.
Everyone talks about going viral, but I’d way rather have 1,000 views that attract 10 right-fit people than one million views that do absolutely nothing.
So if you’re a business owner, content creator, or marketer who’s spending hours creating content, chasing “viral trends”, and trying to crack the social media algorithm.
But you’re still not seeing those views turn into actual followers, leads and customers, and you’re exhausted from the content creation hamster wheel.
Bestie, we need to talk.
In this post, I’m going to show you how to create a strategic social media funnel that attracts the right people and turns them into paying customers.
We’ll break down the three types of content you need, how to use short-form and long-form video strategically, and the three metrics you should actually be paying attention to if you want to know whether your content is working.
And if you’re new here, hey! I’m Alex. Award-winning marketer, copywriter, and founder of the Copy Posse, where I teach hundreds of thousands of rad humans how to turn words into dollars, monetize their message, and build businesses they love.
Now, let’s get into it.
VIEWS ARE NOT THE ULTIMATE GOAL
Every single business owner and content creator needs to hear this.
More views does not automatically mean more money.
Or even any money at all.
We’ve become so conditioned to measure the success of our content by how many people see it that we’ve almost completely forgotten to ask a much more important question.
Are these the type of people I want to attract?
Because there is a big difference between creating content that gets attention.
Versus creating content that attracts potential customers.
I learned this lesson the hard way years ago, and it completely changed the way I create content.
I had a post go viral on Instagram in 2022. And yes, I was following the “viral trends” of the time. This reel got over 3 million views, 124k likes, 6,500 comments, 26,000 shares, over 100k saves.
And gained me about 60,000 followers in less than a week.
It was a post talking about how copywriting was one of the most underrated side hustles out there. I talked about the freedom it provides, being able to travel, work from anywhere, and still be able to make money.
All true. But the problem is that it attracted the wrong type of people to my page. It attracted people who were looking for an “easy button” to making money online.
These were not the kind of people who were going to put in the time and effort required to actually learn a high-paying skill and cultivate it.
So despite going viral, with a video that sits squarely at the top of my funnel, this post didn’t actually make me any money. Worse, it completely diluted my Instagram engagement with non-committed followers, which impacted my future reach.
Needless to say, this taught me an important lesson.
No, not that viral content is bad. Getting discovered by new people is an incredibly important part of growing your audience, but it’s only one part.
My content looks a lot different these days, and that’s because I’m optimizing for a different metric.
And make sure you stick around, because I’m also going to tell you the metrics you should actually pay attention to if you want to attract real customers, versus just a bunch of random people who will never engage, follow or buy from you.
This is where I think a lot of the social media advice out there gets it wrong.
“Use this trending audio.”
“Try this new format.”
“Use these visual hooks.”
And yes, this stuff does work, but if the content itself isn’t moving the needle in your business, none of it matters.
And that brings me to the biggest shift I want you to make in your content strategy.
Stop thinking about your social media as a collection of individual posts.
And start thinking about it as a funnel.
YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IS A FREE MARKETING FUNNEL
Most people don’t realize that you don’t need to run paid ads or create a complicated email sequence to start using a funnel strategy in your marketing.
Your content is already a funnel. Or at least, it should be.
When someone discovers your business for the very first time, what do they do?
Do they immediately whip out their credit card and buy your $2,000 program?
99% of the time, no.
They’re going to do a little digging first.
They’re going to check out your profile, watch a few videos, maybe scroll through your Instagram, read some of your captions.
They might do this for months. They’re lurking. As I like to say “lurking is the new networking.”
Before they do anything, follow, comment or even like a post, they’re often trying to answer a few very important questions:
- Who is this person?
- Do they actually know what they’re talking about?
- Can they help me? Entertain me? Inspire me?
- And most importantly, do I trust them?
Imagine if every single piece of content they encountered helped answer one of those questions.
Instead of randomly posting whatever you feel like that day based on whatever trend so-and-so told you to do, you’re intentionally creating content that moves people through three different stages of your customer journey.
And just like any other funnel, there’s a top, middle & bottom.
Now, of course, not every follower is going to watch or see your posts in exactly the right order.
That’s not how social media works.
The point is to make sure you’re creating content for people at every stage of that journey.
So let’s break down what that actually looks like. (If you want a refresher on the basics first, here’s the 3 phases of every funnel and why email marketing is the key to conversions.)
TOP OF FUNNEL: CREATE CONTENT THAT GETS YOU DISCOVERED
Your top-of-funnel content is the attention-grabbing, relatable content where your goal is to attract a broad audience.
The goal here is simple.
Get discovered by new people who have never heard of you before. And one of the most effective ways to do that is through short-form video.
Think Instagram Reels, TikToks, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels.
These formats are designed to make your content easy to discover, consume, and share.
And because people are scrolling through an endless stream of videos from creators they may have never heard of.
You don’t have much time to convince them to pay attention.
Which is why your hook is so important.
And I’m not going to go deep on hooks today, but stick around, because at the end I’ll show you where you can learn my exact process for writing them. (In the meantime, here are 3 video hooks that instantly stop the scroll.)
But here’s where I see a lot of business owners make a big mistake.
They assume that if the goal is to get discovered, they should create content that appeals to as many people as possible.
But remember. You don’t just want more eyeballs. You want the right eyeballs.
For example, in this post, I’m sharing some love for overwhelmed business owners just like me.
Or this post where I’m sharing 13 profitable niches writers can get paid to write in.
It’s helpful, based on real data, but most importantly, it’s speaking directly to the kind of person I actually want to attract.
That’s very important.
Top-of-funnel content:
- Relatable POVs and industry-specific humor
- Hot takes and common myths
- Trending topics with a relevant niche-specific angle
- Common mistakes your ideal customers make
- Short videos calling out a specific problem or desire
Your primary goal with TOF content is to reach relevant new audiences and earn the next interaction: a save, a share, a follow.
That’s it. You don’t need every single video to go viral.
You need the right people to see your content, recognize themselves in what you’re saying, and think: “This is for me.”
But once they’ve discovered you, you have to give them a reason to stick around.
And that’s where the next stage of your funnel comes in.
MIDDLE OF FUNNEL: GIVE PEOPLE A REASON TO STAY
Okay, so someone watched your Reel.
They laughed, they cried, they related, and they hit that follow button.
Now what? Well, if all you ever post is content designed to attract new followers.
You’re missing a huge opportunity to nurture the audience you’ve already built.
They followed you because something about your content made them think you might have something valuable to offer.
So now you need to deliver.
And this is where your middle-of-funnel content comes in.
The goal here is to move people from “I like this person’s content.”
To “This person’s content is useful and helpful for me.”
Your MOF content is where we get tactical.
This is your educational, problem-solving content.
Middle-of-funnel content:
- Tutorials.
- Frameworks.
- Step-by-step walkthroughs.
- Case studies.
- In-depth explanations.
The kind of content that helps your audience get small wins.
And guess what happens when someone implements something you teach and gets a good result?
They trust you more.
Now, short-form video can absolutely still play a role here, like this Reel where I share 5 psychological triggers you can use in your copywriting.
But this is also where long-form content becomes incredibly valuable.
Think about your own behavior for a second.
You might discover a creator through a 30-second Reel.
But when you actually want to learn something from them, where do you go?
Chances are, you’re going to look for something a little more substantial.
Maybe you watch their YouTube videos, listen to their podcast, or start reading their Substack.
Long-form content gives you more time.
Time to build a relationship.
Time to explain your ideas more deeply.
And time to share real examples, tell stories, demonstrate your expertise, and answer the questions your audience might have.
And the more time someone spends learning from you.
The more opportunities you have to build trust.
My YouTube channel is the #1 generator of qualified leads for my business.
People come there to learn something. And if they decide they like my teaching style and my content actually helps them, they join my email list and eventually, some of them become buyers.
Middle-of-funnel content:
- In-depth YouTube tutorials
- Tactical carousels and step-by-step guides
- Educational email newsletters
- Frameworks, templates and practical demonstrations
- Videos answering your audience’s most common questions
Your primary goal is to build expertise, deepen engagement and help people make meaningful progress.
And here’s where you can start intentionally guiding people toward the next step.
Because putting out great content that people find valuable is one thing.
But convincing them that you are the person who can best help them solve their problems?
That’s a whole different ball game.
BOTTOM OF FUNNEL: TURN FOLLOWERS INTO FANS AND BUYERS
This is the part of a content strategy that I think way too many creators completely overlook.
Relationship-building content.
Intentionally creating content that helps your audience feel connected to you, your brand, your mission, and the community you’re building.
Because people don’t just buy products.
They buy from people and brands they trust.
Your unique perspective, personality, experiences, and values are what make you different from anyone else on the internet selling the exact same thing as you.
Instagram stories and other micro content platforms are great for this.
Take people behind the scenes of your business.
Share wins, updates, and lessons learned.
Show them how you’re learning and leveling up.
And most importantly.
Show them what happens when people work with you.
This is where testimonials, case studies, customer stories, and product demonstrations become incredibly valuable.
This post is a perfect example of how this works.
I posted a handful of pictures from my Mastermind, I wrote a quick caption just thanking everyone who helped make it happen.
You can see this post does not have a ton of comments or likes.
But this person commented “I want in! Looks so fun!”
I sent her a private message and boom. She joined my mastermind. (If you want to see how I handle conversations like this, here’s my Instagram DM strategy.)
I made $10k from this post that at first glance, might seem like it’s not doing much for me.
Bottom-of-funnel content:
- Customer success stories and testimonials
- Behind-the-scenes content and personal stories
- Product demonstrations and offer walkthroughs
- Answers to common buying questions and objections
- Community spotlights and relevant invitations to work with you
Your goal with BOF content is to build confidence, strengthen community and help interested followers make a buying decision.
For example, I posted this very simple behind the scenes story saying I was reviewing REIGN applications.
Someone responded to it and after messaging back and forth.
They joined. It was that simple.
So let this be your reminder.
Building a community is about more than getting people to consume your content.
It’s about making people feel like they’re part of something.
And when people genuinely connect with your brand, they’re more likely to stick around, engage with your content, recommend you to other people, and consider buying when the time is right.
But here’s the catch.
You can create the most amazing content funnel in the world.
And still have absolutely no idea whether it’s working if you’re measuring the wrong things.
So how do you know whether you’re attracting potential buyers or just a bunch of people who like to view your content?
You need to stop judging the success of every post by the exact same metric.
A top-of-funnel video might be doing an incredible job of attracting new people, so you might see super high views, even if it doesn’t immediately generate sales.
A middle-of-funnel video might get fewer views but lead to more meaningful engagement, such as comments and shares.
And a bottom-of-funnel video might not reach that many people.
But if one, two, or five of those people become customers?
I’d call that a pretty effective piece of content.
Not every post should have the same metric goals.
But when you zoom out and look at these numbers together, you can start identifying where your content strategy is working and where people might be dropping off.
And that is how you make smarter marketing decisions.
(And if consistency is your sticking point, here are 7 simple tips for posting on social media consistently.)
If you want to learn my exact process for creating great video content at all three stages of the marketing funnel, including the hook, the body, and close, learn more about HOOKED, my Video Script Writing Course.
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
