getting started – dipping your toe into the social media arena
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Before you can begin using social media or any other form media for that matter, as a
means for marketing your business, you must be absolutely clear about what you are
selling and why people will want what you have to sell them.
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Getting Started – Dipping Your Toe Into the Social MediaArena
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If you are in the business of selling earth moving equipment for example, you must
know exactly what you are selling. I know the answer seems really obvious, when you
imagine those huge yellow coloured machines that you see on mines or construction
sites. The questions you must answer, is not defined by the features of the physical
product or service you sell, but rather by the benefit or utility, which comes from the
product or service you sell.
The person, who buys a front end loader is not buying the machine, they are buying
what the machine will give them, namely a hole in the ground. When exploring your
product or service, ask yourself a similar question. What need or benefit will my product
offer my prospective client? Anyone buying a drilling machine is buying a hole, someone
who buys a camera is buying a way of storing memories and a professional speaker or
business consultant, is selling, specific organisational solutions, which provide people and
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businesses with HOPE. (See explanation below)
Understanding a simple concept like buying a drilling machine, when your need is really a
hole, is easy to understand. More complex products or services, such as professional
speaking or business consulting, require more study and understanding. To help you
understand these more complex concepts, I will use professional speaking as an example
to show you the process.
I love analogies and the one that I feel best describes the role of a professional speaker,
as a person, who provides HOPE, is based on an experiment, which was conducted using
rats. In this really brutal and cruel experiment, rats were placed in a dark box filled with
water. The rats had no way of climbing out of the water and if they stopped swimming
they would drown. On average the rats placed in the dark box, survived for around three
hours before they stopped swimming and drowned. When the researchers made one
small pin hole in the box and allowed a single ray of light to shine into the box. The same
rat would survive for between 36 and 48 hours. This really brutal and cruel experiment
showed that, when even the smallest ray of hope was present, the rat would keep
swimming, ever hopeful of the possibility of getting out of the water.
The HOPE I am referring to, which professional speakers or business consultants provide
to their clients, is that ray of light that comes from that tiny hole, which is poked into
the box, that tiny ray of light, which allows the rat to survive for more than 10 times
longer, than was the case, when no light was present. The astute professional speaker
becomes that ray of light to business professionals, providing specific organisational
solutions, which provide people and businesses with HOPE, by expounding on-going
expansion and growth, which will promote profit and/or development in human capital.
This clarity about the solution or benefit you sell, makes identifying your ideal client and
how to differentiate yourself and your products or services (Unique Selling Proposition) a
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how to differentiate yourself and your products or services (Unique Selling Proposition) a
cinch. Identifying who your ideal clients are is the next crucial step in the process of
starting your social media marketing and networking campaign. As you know success
with any networking or marketing strategy is about utilising your limited resources to
leverage the best possible result. The best way to do this is to avoid the “SPRAY AND
PRAY” strategy adopted by most businesses, where they create a marketing campaign,
spray the message out into the market and hope that someone, who needs what they
are selling will get to know, like and trust them enough to buy their product or service.
If the “SPRAY AND PRAY STRATEGY” does not work, what strategy does work? Success
in marketing your business comes from knowing who your ideal client is, where you can
find them and then using the marketing channels available to you to communicate with
them, so that they will get to know, like and trust you enough to buy your product or
service.
This is where social media really begins to shine as an effective marketing tool. There are
conversations going on all over the social media platforms, via Twitter, LinkedIn,
Facebook, etc. When you want to start making your mark in the social media arena, it is
best to start out by listening to conversations that are going on about similar companies
to your own or about the market you want to enter. This will give you an understanding
of what people are thinking about your company, products and the trends within your
target market.
There are a number of different forums and blogs available. Use twitter, LinkedIn and
Facebook to search keywords related to your business. Once you have located
interesting conversations, which you feel are aligned with your strategy. You should
leave your virtual handshake by leaving pertinent comments and offering feedback. This
is the best way to enter the conversation and to begin dipping your toe into the social
media arena.
It is prudent to arrive slowly and to become part of the conversation on the various
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social media forums. When thinking about building a social media marketing strategy, try
to visualise yourself attending a really high powered networking event, filled to the brim
with the perfect prospects, who want what you are selling. Would you go blazing into
that event with a megaphone, proclaiming how wonderful you are and how amazing your
product or service is? If that strategy would not work at any networking event, it will
most certainly fail on any social media forum.
Once you are certain that you have found the right forums where your ideal client hangs
out and you have dipped your toe into relevant conversations going on those social
media platforms, by providing feedback and meaningful comment on people’s posts or
blogs. It is time to become a value contributor to the community and for you to start
providing valuable content to the various forums.
The secret to make a success out of your social media strategy is to create good
content and then to locate all the possible places, where the right targeted individuals,
would enjoy what you have to offer. Spend as much time as possible in these forums.
Contributing ideas and commenting on as many articles as possible. Over time you will
become an integral part of these communities and be regarded as an expert contributor,
someone to go to, if you have a need for a specific product or service.
Social media is not instant or an event, it is a process. Becoming successful with any
social media strategy is about commitment and patience. Understand that the work only
starts after you have posted the blog or comment. You must promote your blog by
connecting with the right people on the right forums. This takes effort and commitment.
Do not think that succeeding in social media is just posting great content. It is about
listening, contributing and becoming an integral part of the conversation.
There is a real time commitment to become successful with your social media strategy.
You must be consistent and post relevant and useful content. You are in effect in a
leadership role when you have a significant following via your various social media
outlets. You are taking on a great responsibility and must meet your commitment to
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provide quality content and to always operate with the highest level of integrity.
Becoming successful in the social media arena is not about simply stepping into the
conversation and then just fading away, every day. It must be an integral part of your
marketing and networking daily activity strategy. Social media is about participation and
contribution; it is not about taking and offering nothing in return.
When you are contributing to the conversation always be authentic and allow your
passion to shine through. Your passion and consistency are two of the key factors
required for you to become successful with social media. When you consistently offer
authentic and meaningful content, people will soon realize that they can trust you and
that your content is of value.
The old school hard selling tactics from the past will most certainly not work in the social
media arena. In fact they will probably hurt your business in the long run. Social media is
not about pitching for business it is a strategy whereby you listen and contribute value.
When you listen to the conversation that is going on and you understand the needs
within your market. You are able to offer pertinent advice and will eventually be viewed as
the expert on that subject. People buy from people they know, like trust and add value
to their lives. Build trust, become liked and offer great value and social media will become
a fantastic marketing tool for your business.
Share your knowledge and skill with the right people in the right target market and you
will not only have an audience. But you will also have a tool for building real connection
with the right people and an opportunity to build trust with potential customers. Social
media is merely an additional tool, which we can use to grow our businesses. It should
be used in conjunction with a number of other strategies to market our businesses.
Study social media and assess how it can be used in your business. The time to enter
the social media arena is now. Any social media strategy takes time to develop and
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implement. Do not wait until it is too late to wake up and start using this incredible to
marketing and networking tool.
By Richard Lewin
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