MARKETING EXPOSED

Imagine this scenario: You’ve just signed up with Match.com. You send a couple of emails back and forth with your first “prospect” and a casual meeting for coffee is arranged.  On the date, you greet, sit down with your coffees, and your new acquaintance stirs a packet of Splenda into the cup.  Before the spoon is done clinking against the inside of the coffee cup you lean across the table and PROPOSE MARRIAGE!

Idiotic, right?  Yet the use of social media is “violated” in similar manner so often.  Hey, the “first word” in social media is “SOCIAL” - the very nature of which is building relationships.  Being social is NOT advertising and blatantly selling.  Or proposing marriage before the Splenda has even dissolved on a first date.

It’s a process. It takes time.  This is the essence of networking – the old fashioned way, or the new social media way.  Gradually getting to know people, who begin to find that they like you, and hopefully begin to believe they can trust you. 

Grasping that it is a process means breaking it down into 6 Patient Steps. 

1- IDENTIFY

Where are you most likely to find your targeted prospects?  Are they mostly using Twitter or do they prefer Facebook?  Which social media makes the best sense for communicating with the people you hope to build relationships with?  It’s not necessarily the social media you gravitate to, but that which your potential customers would. 

2- LISTEN

Once on board, listen to what sorts of things are being said.  (Or, perhaps you’re simply listening via several different media to identify where your potential customers are most often hanging out.)  It’s just like walking into a party in a room of mostly strangers. Just hold your drink and listen to the various conversations before engaging where you feel some comfort.  What are people talking about?  More importantly, what sorts of problems are being discussed for which you might eventually offer solutions!

3- INTRODUCE YOURSELF

Again, using the analogy of a party, find openings to introduce yourself.   In social media this can mean sharing links to articles or blog posts that are interesting to you and that might also be of interest to people coming into your network.  Over time you’ll begin to notice certain shared information generates more responses.  That means you’re becoming known and discovering what seems to matter most to these new acquaintances!

4- CONTRIBUTE

Now that you’re gaining an understanding about what people seem to care about, contribute more on those certain topics.  Maybe it’s what you are writing about on your own blog or other ways to communicate your own opinion.  But more often it’s finding compelling posts others have written and sharing them.  Social media means embracing the rule of reciprocity.  Always be far more willing to share thoughts and ideas and stuff from others than stuff that comes from yourself.  Think: “Social Karma”.

5- CONVERSE

As you get more comfortable in this “space” engage people directly with thoughts or responses.  If you’re beginning to blog then you need to be actively contributing to other people’s blog posts by commenting on what they’ve written.  In Twitter this means using the @ reply to “talk” directly to another Tweeter.  This is how you start opening new doors and discovering common grounds among people you wouldn’t ordinarily have had a chance to engage directly with.  Once into this stage you might set a goal of commenting on, or replying too, 3-5 new people each day, for example.

6- SOLVE

Finally, as you become a person who is consistently listening, contributing, and conversing, you begin to build a reputation as a resource.  Now you can take the final step, which is to offer specific ways to solve people’s specific problems.  In social media the most effective way, by far, is to offer solutions with no “sales strings” attached.  Be willing and fully transparent by giving specific ideas that help people, instead of trying to protect and sell those ideas.  This builds strong value and trust.  And the powerful notion that you’re a resource, not a salesperson.   That’s a strong foundation for the long run to cause people to seek out and WANT to buy from you!

Embrace the power of building your identity and your reputation in social media by understanding the process.  And the time required for it to begin to take hold!

You aren’t going to propose over that first sip of coffee are you?

- Steve

Credit – First Date: av_producer

Credit – Bandwagon:  Matt Hamm