Last week, I shared 5 Tips on Managing Social Media for Entrepreneurs. I really enjoy surfing through the comments section and seeing everyone’s point of view on the topic at hand. My good friend, Annie Sorensen, left this awesome comment,
“Whenever introducing someone new to social media, my advice is always: Care. Listen. Engage. Repeat. If they have the right mindset, the right purpose, and with your tips, the right action steps, their dedication to social media will be a success!”
She essentially outlined an action plan for being successful in maximizing social media for business. Lots of entrepreneurs jump on the Twitter bandwagon or the Facebook bandwagon with no idea where they’re going. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of new tools to help you market your business. However, that quickly wears off when you don’t get the results you want. So, today, let’s look at 4 steps to being successful with social media for your business.
Step 1 – Care and they will come
Sounds silly, but the whole idea of social media is to be SOCIAL . . . geez. Some people really don’t understand that. Time and time again the “good guys and gals” of a social network are bombarded by frequent requests, direct messages, and links to products and services by the “bad guys and gals.” These people send out blasts of advertisements and make sales pitches to any and everyone without actually getting to know anyone.
If you want to use social media as a marketing tool you have to go above and beyond the traditional marketer thinking. You have to actually care about people. Caring transforms people from being a part of your target audience and into your friend. How easy is it to pitch a product or service to your friend when they already know who you are, what you’re about, and what you have to offer?
How exactly do you show that you really care about people online?
- Take an interest into what they share – whether it’s family photos, links to their favorite blogs, or a video that they made. Comment on it and share it!
- Talk Back! – If you have 100,000 followers on Twitter and everyone is trying to instant message you on Facebook, you’re not obligated to talk to everyone all the time. However, you should make an effort to reach and make connections when it’s possible. This is the only way people get to know who you really are. Don’t just be another “ghost profile.” Show that there’s more to you than meets the eye. (Thanks, Transformers!)
- Be Genuine with your responses – I absolutely HATE it when someone gives me a canned response or message. Seriously! I asked a question to someone on Twitter and they sent me the same answer as they sent to someone else (Typical copy and paste move). That showed me that he was just responding to respond and could care less about the question I asked him. When you’re genuine with people you build a connecting bridge to their hearts. I’m not saying, people will love you, but you’ll definitely be received and perceived by them warmly than coldly.
Step 2 – Listening is the key to any successful relationship
Come on ladies, you know what I’m talking about here. Sometimes we have to exercise the power of “the shut up,” and allow those that we want to connect with to talk. I can remember when I started The Success Center and my articles were kind of all over the place. I was producing what I believed to be what my readers wanted. But what I thought they wanted turned out not to be what they needed. When I started to listen to them I begin to craft better quality articles that were meeting people’s needs and answering their questions. This has only deepened my relationship with readers here. How do you listen to your target market in social media?
- Polls – I run a new poll every week but each one gives me insight into the needs of my audience. Polls are also great ways to get feedback on certain issues and can increase your blog traffic and activity.
- Blog Comments – having anyone comment on your blog or website can be golden as I mentioned at the start of this article. I typically find that comments can help create expanded articles (like this one), jump start new discussions on other platforms, and again creates a deeper relationship with your readers.
- Ask questions on Social Networks – This kind of ties into running polls, but when you don’t have a poll on your website, try asking it on a social network like Facebook or Twitter. The responses you get are often super fast and can be discussed further in Facebook or Linkedin groups.
Step 3 – Engage and they’ll come with their friends
The whole “entrepreneurial idea” of social networking is to meet new people and have those people talk about you to their friends. To get people to talk about you follow Steps 1 & 2 above.
They’ll say, “Rod sure is a cool guy, he really cares about me and is always there to listen when I need him.”
To get them to talk about you to their friends you have to constantly engage with them on some level. Then they’ll say,
“Rod also tries to help me reach my goals. You should give him a call because I’m sure he can do the same for you.”
Engaging people on social networks is really going above and beyond what they’d expect from you. If we’re friends on Facebook, you would expect me to comment on your status update, pictures, and the such. What you might not expect from me is to share a link or information that could actually solve a problem you’re having. Here are a couple of other ways to engage with people across different social networks;
- Twitter – Retweet messages that you think people in your network will find valuable. Share links to articles, news, videos, podcasts, other forms of content that you find interesting or relative to your target market. Be a first responder to the questions people ask or deliver information to help out.
- Facebook – Share links to valuable articles or videos relative to your “friends’” interests. Share unique content with group members from your own website or blog. If someone’s new to the network give them a quick “how-to” and show them the ropes.
- Linkedin – Share articles or write specific articles for your groups. Answer questions related to your specific field of expertise in the Linkedin “Answers” tab.
Engagement, as you can clearly see, involves sharing and interacting with others. It’s a totally self-less act that can net you big props from your peers and potential clients. I mentioned showing new people the ropes when it comes to starting on a network. This is a great strategy to build a relationship early on and become the “go-to” guy or gal within your network.
Step 4 – Repeat
The last step is actually the most critical. Repeating doesn’t only mean to start over. To me it means to keep it consistent and do it over AND over. This is how you’ll build great relationships that will last over time. This is how you’ll win over new fans and maintain the ones you’ve built bridges with. This is how you’ll easily be able to market any new product or service you introduce and they’ll embrace you rather than turn you away. This is how you’ll be successful with social media as an entrepreneur.
Did I miss anything? How are you finding your own success with social media and social networking? What techniques do you use to build relationships within your network? I value everyone’s opinion so please feel free to sign in with your Twitter or Facebook accounts and leave a comment below.
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About the Author
Rod
