Posts Tagged ‘Social Networking’

What are social networks? They are, in their simplest form, places where people keep contact information and then communicate with those contacts. They are communication platforms.

While social networks like Facebook and Twitter make communication easy, they don’t make you good at it. If you want to grow your contacts and get business via social networks, you need to learn how to effectively use them to communicate.

Make it Past the Threshold

Before you can become the Cicero of social media, you first need to learn the tools. Each new social network has a learning curve. Some, like Twitter, have easy entry but still take lots of use to master. Others, such as LinkedIn, are a little more difficult to get going on.

It is essential that you learn how to use your social network(s) of choice. Without knowledge of how the tool works, you won’t be able to use it properly. A tool misused can cause more damage than good. So, before you try to use social networks to get sales, use them for fun. Play around in the sandbox until you have the feel of things.

Remember, each social network is a little different. What is appropriate on one may not be appropriate on another. As communicator, it is up to you to figure out what is accepted where. If you are talking in a crowded bar, it is perfectly fine to raise your voice and even shout. In fact, this is probably necessary just so the person next to you can hear you. But you wouldn’t use that same voice in the library. Social networks are different venues with different rules as well. The best way to learn them is to get active on the network, primarily as a listener at first.

Get a Focus

Once you find a social network of choice and get a feel for how it works, you can start using it to communicate with potential customers. In order to cultivate a group of appropriate listeners, you need to gain a focus.

There are two main things to focus on. The first is what you are going to talk about. If you want to sell washing machines, you should spend the larger percentage of your time talking about washing machines. This will attract people who are also interested in washing machines, and you can start to build a focused audience.

The second area of focus is who you are going to talk to. When you first get started, you will probably be happy add anyone to your network. But as you start to think about how to communicate effectively, you’ll realize that you need a group of active listeners. These are the people who will be interested in what you have to say.

You can attract some of these listeners just by talking about your focus subject. Others, you will have to go out and find. Use tools likes Search.Twitter.com and Twellow.com to find people on Twitter who are interested in your topic. On other social networks, you can join groups and forums to find people with an interest in your topic.

Once you start to develop a group, you need to learn to focus on them. Its not just having them that is important. You need to talk to them.

Engage the Audience

Social communication is two-way communication. If you think its just about pushing out your message and hoping it will be heard, you didn’t spend enough time learning the platform. The beauty of social networks are that they make personal communication possible on a large scale.

If you want to communicate effectively on social networks, you need to learn the importance of listening and responding. In fact, you should spend as much time responding as you do starting conversations. You can do this whether or not you have people asking you direct questions. On LinkedIn, for example, there is a whole section devoted to questions and answers. On a feed oriented network, like Facebook and Twitter, just pay attention to what people are saying and asking, and then respond.

When you do put out content, try to word it in such a way that it will start conversations. For instance, I see a lot of quotes on Twitter. Why not add a “what do you think about that?” type of question at the end of the quote. The goal when you push content is to get people to respond in some way. Sometimes, you’ll want them to visit your site and buy your product. Other times, you’ll just want to start conversations by asking questions.

Conversations

The beauty of social networks is that they make conversations easy. Conversations can lead to many things. You can have a conversation with a customer in which you solve an issue they are having. They can then have a conversation with a friend about how helpful you were. That friend could have a conversation with her spouse about how they should hire you. And then it comes back to you in the form of a sale and a new relationship.

The power of social networks is that these conversations are happening on an expansive scale. Its not one on one anymore. Instead, many people can listen in and hear what a good job you did. You can engage with a large number of customers and future customers all at once. The word can spread faster and farther than ever. Don’t doubt the power of conversation in helping you get and keep customers.

It all starts with you learning how to effectively communicate on social networks. Have any questions?

As a small business owner, you probably have your head buried in the details. You interact with customers to get sales and solve problems. Maybe you even think of customers as a means to an end. That would be a mistake.

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Therefore, the importance of customers should not be undervalued. I’m not talking about the importance of having customers. We can all agree on that. I am referring to the importance of the individual customer. What makes him tic, what needs and wants does she have, what interests do they share? You need to know more about your customer than their phone number.

As you market via conversation techniques such as blogging, social networking, and more, you need to learn about what is important to your customers. The good news is, the more you interact and involve yourself with them, the easier it will be for you.

Think of your customers as an audience. This audience includes future customers, of course. An audience gathers to listen and sometimes to interact. They look up to the person or people that they listen to. An audience also usually shares common tastes, needs, or wants.

Listeners

Your audience of customers is made up of listeners. Its important to note that not all customers are listeners. The portion of customers who are listeners are more engaged and more plugged in. They are likely to take action on your advice. They are also more likely to be focused on their needs, the ones that your business fulfills. The listeners a likely to be potential repeat customers who have an ongoing need for your product and services.

Listeners are looking for specific information. Your job is to provide the information that they need. The more directly this relates to what you are selling, the better. A dentist’s listeners may be people with chronic tooth aches. They need to learn how to alleviate their pain. The job of the dentist in this case is to become the expert on tooth aches and provide useful information to her audience.

You can talk about the things that interest you, or you can talk about the things that interest your customers. Spend time getting to know your customers and the needs and wants that are not being filled. Then fill in the blanks.

Respect

When you provide pertinent information to your audience, you will gain their respect. This is the dynamic of the expert. That respect will lead to sales in the end. However, before it can, you need to earn and nurture the respect.

Be there for your audience. Interact with it and provide helpful information on a regular basis. This isn’t giving away stuff unnecessarily. This is marketing, and its usually far cheaper and far more effective than many of your other marketing efforts. But like all good marketing, it only works if you continue doing it.

Once you prove yourself worthy by being there and giving good advice and information, you will create a fan base for yourself and your business. Once there is a fan base in place, you just need to keep focusing on the content, and the fan base will grow. Keep earning respect by respecting your audience.

Type

Here’s the thing you might not like about an audience. Once you start to build one, you may find that some people don’t want to be a part of it. Every celebrity has detractors. Yes, you will become a celebrity, albeit a very minor one. But to the people who listen to and respect you, you will be very important and appreciated. Others might lampoon you. Thats okay, they aren’t your audience.

A much larger segment of people will just not fit in to your audience. This might even include current customers. These are people who don’t actively want or need your input. They may be people who have bought or will buy from you, but who will never engage with you on a deeper level because what you provide is only a small part of their life. Its like a customer who buys a wheelchair ramp for his van so he can move his heavy band equipment in and out more easily. This customer buys, but he will not become part of the audience, which is made up of people whose lives are made better by the technology of the wheelchair ramp.

I talk a lot about the ideal customer, and this dynamic comes into play with your audience. Don’t try to get everyone to like you. Also, don’t expect to get every customer to care about and read your newsletter or blog. Instead, focus on the area of most importance and speak to the audience that cares about that.

To figure out what to talk about, find your best customers and then find out what makes them tick. Speak to their needs, and you will make them happy and attract many more ideal customers.

Whether you know it or not, you have an audience. If you want to be a rockstar, you need to provide content for that audience. An anemic showing here and there is not going to build you a fan base, which means you won’t benefit from the leads and sales that will come out of that fan base. Start talking with and getting to know your audience.

–

Bradford Shimp helps small businesses succeed in their online marketing efforts at BroadRiverCreative.com.

I hear this question a lot. When a small business starts getting involved in social networks, such as Twitter, the owner wants to know if they should allow any personality to show or not. The question is a valid one, and my opinion comes down pretty heavily on one side. However, before I give that to you, I want to walk through the process that a small business goes through when its first dipping its foot into social media.

Why Do You Get Involved?

As a small business owner, there is really only one reason to get involved in social media. You want to get sales. If you are moving into social media for this, congratulations, you are still ahead of the curve.

Its possible that you were involved in social media on a personal level before you decided to bring your business into the mix. Most of us have Facebook pages and LinkedIn accounts. However, you probably didn’t spend that much of your personal time on these sites. As a small business owner, you simply don’t have all that much personal time.

So when you decided to bring your business into social networks, you probably didn’t already have a huge personal presence. You have to build something from scratch for your business. You think, and rightly so, that social networking can drive sales to your business. But you may be mistaken in how you think that will happen. Lets look at where most small businesses are coming from in terms of marketing driven sales.

Where Are You Coming From?

As a small business, the truth is, you probably don’t do a whole lot of marketing. You are probably considering social media because you have heard its effective and, just as importantly, its free. There is no shame in this. Free marketing can be just as effective as paid.

When a small business does market in the offline world, it is usually in the form of newspaper ads, yellow pages, and post cards. And because all of these things get expensive, you probably don’t do these as consistently as you would like. With social networks, you will be able to be very consistent. In fact, it is a necessity.

When you market now, you probably spend a fair amount of time talking about your business and hoping your message will reach people who are ready to buy. This traditional form of marketing could also be called interruption marketing.

So, it would make sense if you tried the same tactics on social media. You may think that the best thing you can do on Twitter and in your newsletter is to provide deals and advertisements for your business. When you first start out, you will likely want to talk about your business all of the time. That is what you are used to doing. You get sales by telling people what you do.

Let me intervene right here. If there was a television station that was all commercials, all of the time, would you watch it? No, you would not. Likewise, people will not pay attention to you online if you are a 24/7 commercial. Its okay to make some mistakes when you get started. But in order to make social media worthwhile for your business, you need to get a feel for what it is all about.

How Long Does it Take to Get Comfortable?

Getting comfortable with social media tools is an important aspect of your success. If you don’t “get it”, you will never make a dime and will be wasting your time.

“Getting it” involves more than learning the technology. You also need to learn the people. Your prospective customers don’t log in to Facebook with the hopes that they will see a promotion from your business. People aren’t interacting looking to buy. Instead, they are looking for entertainment, education, and answers to their problems.

What you need to do is take enough time building relationships so that you can get a feel for your prospects and how they use social media. Then you can position yourself to be an entertainer, and educator, or a problem-solver.

This takes buying in to the power of online relationships. If you think its all a gimmick, please feel free to stay away. If you don’t spend time on social networks yourself, you aren’t going to be able to find the perfect voice for your business. If you learn how to interact, on the other hand, you will be turning up all kinds of new opportunities for your business.

Should You Be Yourself or Not?

Making the decision about whether you should let your personality shine through on social networks needs to be informed by your own usage of these tools. The  question is whether  your business is interesting without your personality. Also, you need to recognize how important you are to your business’s brand.

Think about this. The most popular people on Twitter are, well, people.  Businesses get follows, but there is less of a personal connection. If you are going to be interacting and building relationships on social networks, it is much easier to do it as a person. And as a person, you can build trust and point people back to your business.

My answer to whether you should be yourself on social networks is a resounding yes. It starts with you taking a different view of social media than you take with your traditional marketing. In a way, social media is more about sales than marketing. This is because its about personal connections. When you are on Twitter or Facebook, your big goal should be to build a network. It is only later that you can tap that network to drive sales. And when you are ready to, you will already have a good understanding of what your prospects will respond to.

In the end, it does all come down to sales. But its not a numbers game. Social media allows you to build a group of qualified prospects that respect you first, and then buy from you second. It is hard to build this kind of network as a faceless business.

Don’t be afraid to be a person. You are a person when you make a sales call, or when you talk to a customer on the phone. Be the same person online. Join social networks as yourself and contribute to the conversations. You will have plenty of opportunities to talk about your business. And if you do decide to send out a special offer, at least there will be people listening.

photo credit: We-Present: Travel-UggBoy-The-Photographer!

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The All Biz Answers Insider Newsletter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

As we move back toward a more personal approach to business, thanks to trends in social networking, I believe that the customer relationship is growing more and more important. The goal of your business should not be just to get the sale, but to develop a relationship with each customer that will lead to more sales, testimonials, referrals, and mutual gratification.

Its time to treat customers as friends, and perhaps even discover a few amazing new relationships in the process.

Friends Communicate

In order to start and maintain friendships, you need to communicate. You can’t build a friendship by calling someone once or twice a year to ask them to do something for you. Yet, that is all the communication many small businesses offer, the sales call. Likewise, a card every year on Christmas will not a friendship make.

To make friends with your customers, you need to communicate personally with them. Now, since you will not be building deep relationships with most of these customers, it is okay to use a tool of mass communication such as an email newsletter or blog. Even then, commit to breaking out with a few personal notes or phones calls each year.

I believe you should offer some kind of communication at least once a week. This is ideal because it will keep the conversation alive with the customer and also force you to talk about deeper things than your latest sales push. Customers will appreciate the constant stream of communication if it is valuable to them in some way. Make your customers feel like insiders, teach them about something, offer them something, etc.

Friends Stick By Each Other

The nice thing about friends is that they are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Really good friends will slap you around a little when you screw up, but they will never leave your side. By developing friendships with your customers, you will be increasing their loyalty factor greatly and you will benefit from more honest communication from them.

A customer will be far less likely to leave you if he or she feels a deeper connection with your company. It is your job to make this connection happen. There are lots of ways to do it. It starts with the communication. From there, it moves into being personable and caring for your customers. Be a giver, and you will be appreciated.

Here are a few things I suggest that will help you make that deeper connection with customers. Consider organizing customers into focus or advisory groups. Ask them for their opinions on things related to your business. You can do this on the small scale and formally meet, or on the large scale and sign up customers to receive emails surveys throughout the year.

Another thing you can do is to throw a party for all of your customers. A good, cheap, way to do this is by having a family picnic. Invite your customers and their families. Depending on your budget, you can even ask them to pitch in on the food.

You could also use social networks to connect more with your customers. Engage with them on Facebook and Twitter. Consider setting up a Tweetchat just for your customers. Build community with the people who buy from you. From community comes loyalty.

Friends Share a Common Story

The hallmark of friendships are shared experiences. By building communication and connection into your customer relationships, you are allowing for the creation of a shared story line. Customers want to be part of a bigger story. They don’t care about being a number on your financial report. They don’t care nearly as much as you do about the ins and outs of your business. Your job is to find something that they do care about, and work to make them a part of that story with you by their side.

Sweetriot is a candy maker with a story. They have built their whole business around fixing the world with chocolate. A customer doesn’t just buy from them, they join the story of saving the world. The same is true of Tom’s Shoes, where one pair of shoes is given to the poor for every pair that is bought.

You don’t have to make your story about charity. Companies like Apple and Google have a narrative that customers feel they are a part of. You just need a singular focus. You need to make your customers feel like they are part of something when they buy from you. Whether they are helping save the world, joining an elite club, or bettering their lives, the story needs to impact them.

When your customers buy in to a story, and not just a product, they are much more likely to share that story with others. This leads to more customers and more friends, and soon, your business is growing in ways you never thought possible.

Before you get overwhelmed about how to create a unique story, I want tell you about MemberHub and Matt Harrell. Matt and his dad created MemberHub with a team of people. They have designed what I think is a pretty sharp group collaboration and communication tool, which is perfect for large organizations like churches. I know a lot about Matt and MemberHub and feel like I am part of their story. Why? Because they share their story openly. They have a blog, use Twitter, and are happy to talk to customers on the phone. They haven’t invented an elaborate story. They have just been open and committed to communication.

You can do this. You don’t need to have the best hook in the world. Just be yourself and let it show. The right kind of people will be attracted to that. Before you know it, your business will have a narrative that others can plug in to.

So, what action should you take now? First of all, create a regular communication outlet. I suggest a blog and email newsletter combination. The blog can feed the email. Don’t like to write? Then record video or voice. Just make it happen. Until you start opening up this stream of communication, you will not understand how much it can impact your business and life for the better.

photo credit: constantly_Jair

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The Letter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

Twitter is very easy to get started on. Publishing your content is a no-brainer. You just write some words and send it to the stream. But this is not what makes Twitter so special. What does make Twitter special is the amount of interaction you can have with other people. Twitter is, more than anything else, a networking tool.

As you use Twitter for your business, you will want to build and nurture a two-fold network. First, you want to meet, interact, and learn from people who are doing the same thing you are doing. This is both generally, as in they run their own business, and specifically, as in you are both karate instructors. Secondly, you want to meet and interact with people who live within your ideal customer demographic.

Finding the Right People

Finding the right people to interact with is key to having success on Twitter. There are various ways to do this. Read about how to find people in your niche using Twellow in this article. Also, use Mr. Tweet to get good recommendations based on who others in your network are following.

Twitter chats are a great way to meet new people. Check out this growing list of Twitter chats to find out if there is one that appeals to you.

You also want to include searches for specific key words as part of your strategy to find the right people.

But don’t take all of your time searching for people and neglect your primary job on Twitter. That job is to keep posting interesting and pertinent information. If you do this on a regular basis, the right people will begin to find you.

Reach Out

Once you are following interesting people, you need to reach out to them. Take some time every day to respond to people’s tweets. Also, be generous in retweeting good information. The goal is to strike up some conversations and to start building some relationships. You have to put any shyness aside. You are only sending 140 characters or less, so don’t feel bad about interrupting anyone’s day. On the other hand, never send ads directly or anything like that. When you reach out to someone, do it to be helpful, to ask a question, or to engage in conversation.

Nurture

You may follow and be followed by a lot of people on Twitter. However, you will only be able to maintain an active relationship with a handful at a time. Your ongoing network will be made up of people that you respect as friends and mentors. Your potential customers will move in and out of your communication zone. Always be ready to reach out to a potential to answer a question or to lend a helping hand.

For the ongoing friendships with people who are in a similar position as you, you should have a plan. Use a tool like TweetDeck to organize your tweets, and devote a group column just to these people. That way, you can read more of their Tweets and get more active as a networker. Take time to reach out on a regular basis. Take an interest in them.

If you are committed to it, you can build a dynamic and useful network over Twitter that will open up new opportunities.

Have a Small Business Question? Ask me and I will answer it here – email me with your question now.

Get Unique Content Weekly with The Letter

–

Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com