I meet a lot of social media virgins. Some are slightly interested but not enough to get involved, some are very interested but don’t know how to get involved and others who are outwardly hostile and think it’s a load of old bunkum and a passing fad. A constant refrain though is “I don’t have time for social media”.
Well, I’ve got news for you guys. The business relationships are changing and whilst, unlike what many “gurus” might think, social media hasn’t yet taken over the world, it sure ain’t going away.
Social media is networking on a large scale
I do a lot of offline networking, mainly breakfasts but other events as well. It involves me (slowly) building relationships with people who sometimes become clients, sometimes they become friends and sometimes they’re just people to pass the time of day with. I build trust in people by being natural and letting my personality shine through.
Does that sound familiar? Social media is online networking, no more, no less. Twitter, Facebook and all other networking sites are all about building relationships, making friends and (for us businesses) getting customers. You have time to network at breakfast lunch and dinner but not online then do you?
Social media helps other people sell you
Content marketing, where you use informative and authoritive content to build trust in what you do helps you leverage other people to do your selling for you. By contributing on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, making comments on selected blogs and writing your own blog posts, you’re slowly but surely building up your own fan base. Those advocates you gain will in turn become your own free sales force as they recommend you. Where else can you get a loyal band of followers that sell your product or services for nothing?
Social media is part of your overall marketing strategy
Too many, especially very small, businesses see social media as a new-fangled thing that they have to find extra time for. They continue printing thousands of brochures or sending direct mail on a wing and a prayer and they wonder why it doesn’t work.
The advantage (and the scary bit) of email marketing and social media is that you can measure the effect it’s having. You can know exactly who is interested in you and what you do, you can know exactly who has opened and read your email and what they’ve done with it.
So why should it be something extra to have to deal with? Integrate it into your current marketing plan and start building trust, you won’t look back.
And if you want a hand, contact me.
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