Social Media is the big buzz word in the marketing world right now. Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and use Social Media Marketing in their business. As a business owner Social Media Marketing should be a piece of your marketing mix. It's a great tool and it's not going anywhere. As a matter of fact, it's just going to keep getting stronger as faster and more cool apps come in to connect people even more.
Notice one word in that last statement … "Connect".
See the thing with Social Media is that it's all about connecting people. It's about relationships.
This is why having a Social Media Marketing company run the show for your business is really a bad idea. Think about it.
Your prospects and customers want to have a connection with you
Your company. Your employees. Not a third party company that is not part of the company. They are paid to say what they THINK is the right thing. They are going to do research with facts and figures and a bunch of other numbers to impress you with what you think is really important stuff.
But, the connection you have with your customers and prospects is worth much more than a bunch of facts and figures.
You do not have any clue what's really going on. You need to keep your pulse on your business and it's connecting with your customers.
Your customers and prospects want to know YOU
I will tell you from personal experience that I get a lot more interaction with my connections in the Social Media world when I post actual life events and what's going on in my world than I do if I post promotions, articles and just basic business stuff. You need to be real. Show your personality in your Social Media Marketing. Let people know that they are really connecting with someone that is a real person AND that cares.
There is not anything wrong with promoting your company as well, but be sure to make a connection as well. It needs to be real.
Your customers are smarter than you think
Today, people are smarter than we give them credit for when it comes to dealing with anything fake. They can see a scam a mile away and a fake "done for you" Social Media profile is just the same. If they do not feel a connection they will see right through it and drop you in a heartbeat. Not only will they stop following you but they will also feel insulted and stop buying.
I've seen it from a ton of businesses where what I see online looks like polished script written by a robot and not something that a real person thought about.
It's a huge turn off and does not make me feel at ease with them at all.
Social Media Marketing is a great tool to add to any business but you really have to pay attention to what you are doing and build a relationship with your followers. It's fine to have someone help get you started but you need to have the one that really makes the connections with your followers. They want to hear from you, not some nameless, faceless geek with a computer on your behalf.
