Why the Social Media Buying Journey Is Not a Straight Line
Founder and Head of Growth, White Label Comedy
The buying journey on social media is not a straight line, and treating it like one is why so many brands struggle to get customers there. In a traditional funnel, people opt in and move through a set sequence. On social, they arrive at every stage at once, so the answer is not to force everyone down one path. It is to meet them where they actually are.
Why the classic funnel breaks on social
A traditional online funnel is tidy. Someone opts in, gets a planned sequence of emails, and moves step by step towards a purchase. You know exactly where each person is, so you know what to send them next.
Social does not work like that. The people seeing your content are scattered across every stage of the buying cycle simultaneously, and they did not enter through a single door. That mismatch is what trips brands up: they try to run a linear playbook on an audience that is anything but linear.
Everyone arrives at a different point
Think about who sees a single post. One person just read your sales page and is now checking you out on social for the first time. Another was tagged by a friend and has never heard of you at all. A third has followed you loyally for years and already buys from you.
All three see the same post, and all three are at completely different points. There is no "start" to funnel them into, because they did not arrive in order. Some are cold, some are warm, some are customers, all mixed together in the same feed.
Meet them where they are
So the winning move is not to force everyone into one email sequence. It is to adapt the journey to the platform and post a spread of content that serves people at every stage at once: content that introduces you to newcomers, content that builds trust with the undecided, and content that prompts action from those who are ready.
The brands that do this well get customers from social almost by default, because whatever stage someone is at when they find you, there is a piece of content ready to move them one step closer. Stop building a straight line, and start covering the whole map.
Meet Brian
Creating the spread of content that meets people at every stage of a messy, non-linear journey is exactly what Brian is for. He is our AI-powered comedy marketing machine, built for how people actually buy on social.
Take Brian for a spin and meet your audience where they are.
Adam Hunt
Founder and Head of Growth at White Label Comedy. He spends his days convincing serious brands that funny is the most profitable thing they're not doing.
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