Just had a hardcore business conversation with my guest for this week. Warren Whitlock is an expert on the impact of Social Media in business…Here are some thoughts from that conversation.
The historical progression of business sounds a little like this:
- Get on your horse and travel from town to town letting people know you sell gun holsters.
- Paint a sign on your store front that you are a barber.
- Pick up the landline phone and call prospects.
- Send out a flyer in the mail and get .003% return.
- Create a promotional cassette recording.
You get the point….The way we promote business and products today is highly influenced by all aspects of social media, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Websites, YouTube, etc.
In order to get new clients in 2013, you MUST:
- Actually have a presence in social media. The basics include Facebook, Website, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn.
- Engage your friends and followers with meaningful content. Include tips, strategies, concepts that will actually benefit them in their business or life. Note: “Woke up this morning and discovered I was out of toilet paper”…is not meaningful content.
- Encourage them to interact with you by asking questions and communicating back with them.
- Empower them to share your thoughts with their friends and fans. Meaningful content accomplishes this. For example, if your restuarant has happy hour each evening, let followers know to bring a friend to share drinks.
- Follow up with personal messages, posts, tweets and emails. When a follower reaches out and takes advantage of your offer, he/she is a consumer wanting more of what you have. Business 101….follow up.
I find it interesting that business owners want to complicate their marketing with the latest greatest whiz bang social media tools. Tools are only as good as the way you use them. The fundamentals of business remain in tact.
- Communicate with prospects and build a trusting relationship.
- Offer something of value.
- Stay connected with them to foster the relationship.
- Follow up with good customer service.
What’s so difficult about that?
Listen to the show at www.PaulMontelongoLive.com on Friday April 26, at 2:00pm PDT.
To your success,
Paul
You get it.
No surprise.. most successful entrepreneurs have learned that customer purchases start at a point well in advance of someone becoming aware that they need the product and walking into your store. If we wait for that, we do a whole lot less business… And then start brainstorming ideas to force our product/message on whoever we can rope into listening.
With 5 billion people online, and thousands of messages creating a din in the marketplace, Yelling out our message is no longer the best idea. instead, we need to make sure we are ready for those who are actively looking for the solution we offer
Great to chat with you this morning. Looking forward to a continued conversation and the show next Friday.
Warren
Businesses need to understand and embrace that social media is a two-way conversation. You can’t just broadcast messages out there and hope that the right person will see it. Look forward to hearing the show.