Most people fail miserably at Social Media Marketing! Why? Because they don't really get what it's all about. They think it's about promoting their companies. It's not; it's about MAKING FRIENDS.
"Really? Making friends?"
"Yes, really."
Don't you like doing business with your friends?
If your toilet breaks and one of your friends is a plumber, you'll ask him to fix it. If you don't have a plumber friend, then you might ask your friends if they know a plumber they trust.
People do business with their friends for two reasons:
- They get a better service, price, deal, etc.
- They give money to people they care about.
So, how can you apply this principle to Social Media Marketing?
- Make sure your social media profiles say what you do and have links to your site.
- Make friends. Discover your target market and start talking to those people. Don't sell them anything; just make friends with them and check out their status updates. What are they doing? Is there anything you can help with? Are they asking questions you can answer or looking for something you can give them?
- After a few interactions, something very interesting will happen. They're going to ask you the BIG QUESTION: "so, what do you do for a living?". Just tell them what you do but don't make it sound like you're trying to sell them something. This is where your elevator speech will come into play. If you don't know what an elevator speech looks like, this is mine: "I help companies get thousands of qualified visitors for their websites." Create an elevator speech and be ready to share it when people ask you what you do for a living.
- People will add you to their "mental Rolodex". It works something like this: "James D. - High-end catering services", "Lisa S. - Real estate agent", etc.
- When they need a real estate agent, they'll call Lisa. And, they'll also recommend Lisa to anyone who needs a real estate agent (assuming that Lisa took the time to build strong relationships with her contacts instead of trying to sell them her services).
I can't emphasize this enough: Social Media Marketing is about MAKING FRIENDS, not about selling your stuff. But remember: making friends is a great way to sell your stuff!
So, make some friends and spread the word. Thank you!
I have been in sales and marketing for years out in the real world, and it was always about personal relationships. The account may have begun with a cold call, but over time a friendship built up, and both parties knew to what extent they could count on the other.
Social Media is the new buzz for the old methods. Even on the Internet, I was selling my software years ago thru IRC live chat, USENET Newsgroups, Bulletin Boards, making friends and developing relationships all along the way.
Twitter and Facebook are simply the current tools of choice for what us old timers have always been doing.
Rick
.-= Rick LaPoint recently posted: The Only Business Model that Works =-.
I couldn’t agree more Rick … great point. In fact, we at SEP define social media as “word of mouth enabled by technology”.
What a cute post! Definitely agree. And with online marketing it is easier than ever to make friends! I’m sure everyone can crop out a little bit of time to try to engage with other people and it works wonders for your business in the future.
Social media is bigger than search is what I have been hearing. But I still don’t think people buy things from social media sites the way they purchase items after doing an Internet search.
.-= Steve @ Ohio State Football recently posted: Ohio State routs Minnesota 52-10 =-.