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.
82% of small businesses say word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective way to market their business and find new customers.
Source: American Express Open and SEMPO, “Small Business Search Marketing Survey” March 23, 2011
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 MarketingProfs 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.
Bottom line: There’s no marketing cure for providing a poor customer experience.
“Rarely can you sprinkle magical branding dust to create an endearing and enduring brand from scratch.”
Marketing Strategist John Moore
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 marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually
want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is
the best way to earn their attention.
Best selling author and marketing strategist, Seth Godin
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.
[Social Media] is not a one-way broadcast channel. We are no longer broadcasters. We are not part of the community we wish to
inform, and therefore we must establish prominence and earn influence in order to amass attention, instill enthusiasm, empower
ambassadors, and create a community of loyal collaborators toward a more meaningful form of unmarketing and communications.
Social media expert and author of Engage, Brian Solis
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 marketer 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!)
seoexpertknowledge 