Expert Complete instructions for selling on social networks through the Hunt ladder

When we think about selling on social media, the picture is usually the same. A client comes to us, he has already realized the problem, is already looking at us, and it remains only beautifully closed for sale. We make a cool offer, shoot cases, collect reviews and rejoice in what we are salespeople.

But if you look at your crater, it turns out that such people are a minority. Most of the audience has no idea that they have a problem that we are solving. Or suspects, but very vaguely, and certainly does not know that somewhere nearby we exist with a ready-made solution. Selling to such people is useless, they are just not ready to buy yet.

In the article, we will analyze the Hunt ladder and how to use it to build content in social networks so that it works not only for a warm and hot audience, but also pulls cold people to buy.

What is Hunt's staircase?

Hunt's staircase It is a model that describes the path of the client from complete ignorance about his problem to readiness to buy a solution. It was invented by American copywriter Ben Hunt and has since become one of the basic tools in marketing and sales.

The bottom line is that a person goes through several stages of awareness, and each requires different content, different words, and different arguments. If you offer a purchase to a person who has not even realized the problem, he will simply close the tab. If we keep telling someone who is already comparing us to our competitors, we lose their time and their interest.

Classically five steps.

1. The person does not know about the problem, he is more or less normal.
2. He realizes that there is a problem, but does not think about the solution.
3. He learns that there are solutions and begins to compare them.
4. He chooses a specific solution and looks at those who propose it.
5. He is ready to act and buy here and now.

The fourth and fifth stages are often confused because they seem to be the same thing. In fact, there is a difference, on the fourth stage he still compares us with other similar experts, and on the fifth stage he has already made a decision in our favor and is waiting for a reason to press the button.

What it looks like in a living example

We will analyze the example of the master of beauty sphere, because it is so clearer than in theory.

There is a girl, a beautician who works in the salon and receives a percentage from each procedure. Her income is small, but she is used to it and does not think much, for her it is the norm. She is at zero level, she sees no problems for herself.

Next, she watches Reels on how masters with private practice earn three times more without a salon and a percentage of a check. Something clicks in her head, she begins to compare herself to the example from the video and realizes that she earns little. This is the transition to the first stage, she is now aware of the problem, although a minute ago she did not notice it for herself.

Then she comes to our page and sees that we are experts in promotion and help masters to go to private practice through social networks. But she's not ready yet. In my head there are several options, find a better salon, open your office, try to blog yourself. She does not yet think about us as a concrete solution, she chooses a way at all.

Here comes our content, which helps her to compare ways and lean towards what we offer. We show that promotion through social networks is faster than waiting for a promotion in the cabin, and more reliable than opening an office without a customer base. She looks at cases of other masters, reads the stories of students, and gradually formed sympathy for our niche. This is the third stage, she has chosen the way and knows about our existence.

She is now studying us specifically. Downloads a guide about the packaging of the master's blog, comes to the free air, reads the reviews of students. Here she looks at us as possible performers and compares us to other similar blogs and courses. This is step four.

And only when she has checked the prices, looked at a couple of similar experts and received the answer to the last question in the correspondence, she moves to the fifth level and is ready to pay. It is on this step that the discount for today, the bonus for quick payment, personal advice, everything that removes the last doubt works.

The main problem of most blogs and channels

And that's where the fun starts.

Most of the expert channels make content under the fourth and fifth levels. Cases, reviews, product reviews. It’s the right content, it’s needed, but it only works for those who’ve already come all the way. And if you look at the whole funnel, it turns out that there are very few such people at the entrance.

The task of content in social networks begins not with the sale, but with the fact that in general to lift a person from the zero level. This requires different content at different levels.

• Under the zero and the first stage is required contentWe have a big audience and are not directly linked to our product. Reels and short videos with a trigger hook work well, they raise the problem and make it noticeable to a person who has not noticed it before.
• The second and third levels require content that compare It is gradually moving towards our niche. Here, carousels with an analysis of options, posts with personal experience and an explanation of why one way is better than the other.
• The fourth and fifth levels require content that It shows us as a performer.. Cases, reviews, behind-the-scenes work, answers to frequent objections in Stories, webinars and guides with a direct offer.

Broad content tends to gain more reach because it is not designed for a narrow segment, but for a wide audience with similar pain. And this is normal, he has a different task, not to sell, but to attract. Selling content usually gives less reach, and that’s fine, too, because its job is different to get a warm person to buy.

The problem arises when a content plan has only one of these layers. If you make exclusively selling content, we turn to an empty room, because the cold audience just doesn’t get there. If we only make broad content, we gain reach and followers, but no one buys because there is no second and third layer that would heat up and lead to the product.

What's the bottom line?

Hunt’s ladder works in all sales, not only in social networks, and this is one of those tools that you should not just know, but actually apply when planning content. If you understand what level a person is on, it is easy to choose the right words and format for him.

Right now, you can look at the posts that have been posted over the past month and put the posts into three groups, broad content for the cold, content for those who choose the way, and content for those who are already looking at us. If two of the three posts were in the last group, it is likely that this is why the reach is growing slowly and followers do not turn into customers.

To build such a funnel of content from scratch and without chaos helps already ready strategy for a specific niche.