1. What Your
Customers Say about You Matters
Let’s face it. We live in a world full of advertisements and
we just don’t trust what brands say about themselves.
However, we do trust what our friends say.
That is why so many people are willing to try something new
based on what their friends say on social media.
Some call this word-of-mouth; some call it peer-to-peer
recommendations. No matter what you call it, getting people to recommend you
can go a long way to driving both new and repeat business.
2. Online
Recommendations Translate into Purchases
Good or bad, people are influenced by their friends. So
friend recommendations have a significant impact on purchasing decisions.
How big is that impact? According to a Marketing Profs
survey, 73% of the U.S. participants had learned about a product online and 51%
had purchased a product based on an online recommendation.
3. You Must Provide a
Great Customer Experience
Social media provides every person with a stage to share
their thoughts and opinions with friends and other consumers.
If you provide them with a great customer experience, social
media will reward you with positive reviews and endorsements that attract new
business.
If a customer has a less than perfect experience, social
media will let you know. But that's not such a bad thing so long as you take
the opportunity to respond to them and use that feedback constructively to
improve the way you serve your customers.
4. Permission is Key
In a world full of interruptive marketing noise,
permission-based marketing is a powerful tool for fighting through the clutter.
Simply put, by obtaining consent from your customers and
prospects to contact them with marketing messages they are more likely to
respond to your offers, more likely to share with their friends, and less
likely to ignore you or consider your messages spam.
Permission comes in many forms:
- Opt-in with an email address
- Facebook "Like"
- Twitter Follow
- LinkedIn Connection
- Attendance at an Event
That permission is part of what makes both email and social
media marketing so powerful.
Permission is good for Business
People, who like a brand on Facebook, follow a brand on
Twitter or subscribe to a brand’s email newsletter, are more likely to buy and
recommend.
5. You Must Listen
and Respond
To be a good conversationalist, you need to be a great
listener.
Social media marketing is more about listening and
responding than it is about broadcasting a message.
It's critical that you monitor what people are saying to you
and about you, your industry, your areas of expertise and your competitors.
(Don’t worry, we'll show you how easy it is to monitor the online
conversations.)
You've also got to be responsive—whether it's to respond
directly to a customer’s question or suggestion or join a discussion where you
can share your knowledge.
Remember: To build relationships you don’t need to speak
“social media,” you just need to be yourself.
Talk on social media the same way you do in real life.
6. Social Media
Marketing is a Commitment
Don’t worry, you don’t have to put a ring on it, but just
like in real life, it takes time and effort to build relationships. And
unfortunately, sometimes that effort doesn’t generate immediate results.
With social media marketing, you need to be consistent and
patient. Those relationships you build will pay off over time through increased
customer loyalty and advocacy.
To be an effective social media marketing you need to:
- Invest time in both talking and listening (Even just 10-20 minutes/day)
- Have a plan for creating engaging content
- Find the right tools that will help you save time (We can help you with that!)
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