What Social Media Gurus Don’t Want You To Know

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?

1. Make sure your social media profiles say what you do and have links to your site.
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!