Social Marketing

Personal recommendations are still the number one way to grow your business. The only change? More often than not, it’s now our fingers that do the talking.

If there’s one thing all people share in common, it’s that we all have an opinion. True, some of us express our opinions more loudly than others. But we all decide whether we like or dislike almost everything we come across – and when it comes to a new service, product or brand, we quickly form opinions that are informed by what others tell us.

That’s why Twitter and Facebook have become so popular: people love to share their opinions. Why else do social networks buzz 24 hours a day with photos of our latest holidays, details on our new purchases and updates on what we’re doing right now?

Good news for growing businesses

Here’s an even more interesting question: Why are the rest of us listening?

It’s because we value others’ opinions. It’s because we love to communicate and interact with one another, and social networking is the latest and most exciting way to do it. And it’s because we like to have our own opinions validated by other people.

In terms of human behaviour, it’s nothing new. But technology now allows word of mouth to spread further and more quickly than ever before – let’s call it the “wildfire” effect. The good news for growing businesses is that in the era of social media, you can start your own word-of-mouth “wildfire” that informs customer opinions about your products and services.

As online marketing expert Tamar Weinberg puts it: “Social media is simply utilizing technology and the Internet to connect people’s inherent need to be communicative with others [...] But in the online world, you can nurture perceptions. Most consumers are a lot more forgiving to companies that ‘get it’ and put customers first.”

Start your own word-of-mouth “wildfire”

So how can you start to “nurture the perceptions” of your own customers? Here are a few fundamentals to get right when using social media to promote your business:

• Research your market audience, get to know them and engage with them on their level.
• Keep it fun and interesting, but always think twice about what you say online – does it convey the friendly but professional image you need?
• Don’t just self-promote. Build the trust of your customers by sharing your expert knowledge with them.
• Listen to your community. Don’t worry about getting negative feedback from customers – use it to improve what you do.
• Don’t be fooled into thinking social media can become your core business. It’s extremely useful, but it’s still just a communication tool.
• Focus on your core niche and unique selling points – you can’t please everyone!
• Test, implement, review, adjust. You won’t get it right first time, but this process will help you find what works for you.
• Manage and meet your community’s expectations, by being regular and consistent in all your online activities.

We all have opinions, and we’re all influenced by the views of other people. By engaging with your audience, you can get more referrals and positively influence word of mouth about your business – and thanks to social media, it could spread like wildfire.

We all know about it, but very few small business owners use it to it’s full potential…

What am I talking about..? YouTube, of course…

I found this fascinating quote today:

If you are an owner of a small business, you definitely have heard of the power of online video marketing and you know that entrepreneurs around the world are rushing to make marketing videos for YouTube.videolane.com, Make Better YouTube Videos for Business with 7 Things | VideoLane.com, Jun 2010

You should read the whole article.