Social Media Strategies

Customer centricity always works. Putting on the customer hat is a great discipline, particularly for those of us in the service business. Jonathan was right 2 months ago when he wrote about social media being a license for interruption. That isn't what it is about at all. It is about the READER, not the one writing!

I think one of the big reasons that traditional marketers have trouble with Social Marketing is that they don't understand that you need to develop the relationship first. They go running into a community and blast out their links and their ads and then say "social marketing doesn't work" and move on.

Doug

Interesting!

I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Social Media Optimization.

Simon, the recurring theme is relationship. Without relationship there is no credibility until you can build reputation. Reputation takes much longer than relationship. Without relationship there is one word to describe online communication - NOISE, otherwise known as SPAM.

In the years being online, my reputation and how I conduct myself I thought could be the ruining of me. One occassion proved this to me. It is fantastic you share you thoughts on this as people think they can write whatever, wherever but do not realise their can be implications that can severely catch up with them. If you conduct yourself with esteem always you will always have respect. You are watched, researched and checked up on its a fact.

Back before I knew any better
I thought it was all about being a go-getter
the problem with that I have since found
centers on relationships, solid and profound
Noise in the marketplace is simply that
and provides the reason many go splat
Know and live on both sides of the counter
to thrive as a well-received problem surmounter!

Peace and Love,
DeeJay

This is a great review on how to social network for the benefit of your self and company. Everyone should take this into mind, give us solid information and we will follow however, give us nothing and you receive nothing.

Excellent article Simon
Agree completely with what you have put forth here
My clients are my community and my credibility with them allows me to serve them
For me it's all about the relationship- if there is no relationship i have to work hard and if there is a relationship everything flows
With love and gratitude
karen

Credibility based marketing is a very old concept that applies in many areas. Not just social marketing. We all know how irritating it can be to walk into a store and not be left alone by the sales person who works on commission. If he does not sell, he does not make money. So, his/her primary focus is to sell you a product at all cost. There oftentimes is no interest in answering questions and providing valuable information regarding the product of interest. It is ironical in my opinion that the sales person could have easily sold his/her product, if he/she had only listened and answered the questions.
Many would be much more successful if they would only keep this picture in mind when being online.

Being compassionate, thinking of oneself as an attendee when planning events is essential to guarantee success. Interaction is mandatory.
I agree that building trust and credibility is the foundation of any relationship personal or business, more so in the internet business where the body language element is absent.

The article is concise, clear and valuable. Thank you Simon.

Reading this article again and the comments, just came to me, not sure why, but hope it relevant, i think it was YOGI BHAJAN (kundalini yoga)who used to say that if you want to learn something study it. If you wanna master something, teach it.

The art of conversational engagement is one that needs to be understood before it can be mastered and to understand any conversation you have to partake in it. Provide answers, ask questions, offer insights and take whatever constructive feedback comes your way. 100 opinions are just that - opinions - but without them you have no way of knowing if you are on the right track or simply whistling in the wind.

Good advice as always.

To me it's all about adding value. If you add value everything else will fall into place.
Thanks for the article Simon.
OSB.EDBD

This is the same strategy as creating your sales funnel. You must provide good quality content to your people, then you will be able to gain credibility with your customers.
Getting your community involved is much more effective than one would think too. Your not asking to them to get involved, because you don't know what you are doing. You are asking them so that you can give them the content that they want (as long as it fits within your parameters of the business). This strategy will keep them coming back for more.

If you dont have credibility, you dont have anything. Credibility goes hand in hand with trust. It is through trust that we gain credibility. And through credibility we gain relationships.
When all of this is accomplished, it is at this time we must be at the top of our game. People at this point will trust you more than ever with a simple referral or by your image in the public eye you portray. If you don't attend to your customers and/or community, then it can implode in the blink of an eye.

Simon,
It’s actually no different than what we do in our everyday life. I live in a very small town and it’s ALL about reputation and trust. Without it you will get nowhere. Be ready to help your community.
enl.edbd

Too often I find myself hoping otherwise, but then I realize that without their trust, our friends and followers will simply not become our customers or clients. Before a foundation of trust is established, there isn't much point in pitching to them. After the foundation is in place, there isn't much need to pitch them.

It seems to me that building trust goes well past building rapport. I think you have to show them you put their interest before your own, which is something I know I can't do until I fully understand the problem they are trying to solve, and help them solve it.

DeeJay I really agree with you about getting face-to-face. Our business may not be booming yet, but my husband has always gone out of his way to meet every one of the players (he owns a paintball business) that attend each event. It's what he is known for and has created a loyal following by doing so.

Face-to-face vs Interface-to-interface leaves out a great many of the most important, signal carriers of human conversation. The internet still carries our conversations primarily via the written word, and unfortunately that leaves out eye-twinkles (so you know someone's kidding when something strange comes out of their mouths); neck twists and twirls and bobbles (so you know where the points of HIGH interests are as well as their precise degree of importance) and don't forget those all important lip-positions (Is a smile getting ready to pop out? Are the corners turned down? Is that a quiver I just saw?)

All these things are missing when we communicate online via text, and it is for this reason that relationships need to be given time to germinate. En fin, if what you end up creating with a small (or not so small) group of online connections that continues to feel (for-all-the-world) like a conversation in your back yard with your next door neighbor, then you KNOW you're on to something.

In the meantime, give, give, give value at your every turn AND do so with the deepest sincerity you're capable of feeling (if at first that feeling is not ALREADY live and well in YOUR heart of hearts). By BEING the friend you would want most to have, you WILL attract that type of person to you. With careful care and feeding, such relationships will be maintained even as you are blessed with still more of the same.

Peace and Love to ya,
DeeJay

This is a timely article Simon.

I can't tell you how many people just
don't get it. They think Social Media
is a place to interrupt peoples day.

If you're not actively engaging your
community, why should they listen to you?

The best marketing is when people don't
even realize they're being marketed to.

jrr.edbd