What kinds of conversations dominate your Brand presence on social media?
Do they feature and focus on your brand, business, niche, products or services??
If not you might be missing out on valuable opportunities to create more business, more awareness about you in business and your brand, more sales, more profits….
I read a post on Forbes entitled “To Increase Revenue Stop Selling” and combined with my own observations and a couple of conversations I have had with clients and other entrepreneurs lately about social media and the kinds of conversations we see on brand pages and profiles it is time to speak out.
This paragraph is the most relevant in the article:
“Engage me, communicate with me, add value to my business, solve my problems, create opportunity for me, educate me, inform me, but don’t try and sell me – it won’t work. An attempt to sell me insults my intelligence and wastes my time. Think about it; do you like to be sold? News flash – nobody does. Now ask yourself this question, do you like to be helped? Most reasonable people do. The difference between the two positions while subtle, is very meaningful.” Mike Myatt
Now reading this paragraph you might be tempted to think we are advocating that your conversations are more social rather than advertorial and you would be correct. However, and yes there is a however, they still need to be relevant about your brand, business, products and services.
I see too many social conversations on business pages and profiles completely off topic, and yes I do understand why this is happening, you may have found that it’s really slow to get conversations going around your business, and feel lonely and ignored and this has sent you scrambling for more off topic conversation starters… This might get more conversations happening, however it won’t help you sell anything!
Let’s face it, sales are why you have a brand presence on social media in the first place, aren’t they? I can tell you that this is just a lack of practice at the art of having branded conversations, the truth is there is so much you could be chatting about that is relevant to your brand and niche.
Notice what Mike is saying here..
brand conversations need to:
- add value to their business and them – how do you add value? Once you have answered this and written a list of ways you add value to your audience and clientele start telling them.
- create opportunities for them – do you find ways to create opportunities for your audience? make a list and… then tell them.
- educate your audience about why they need what you have to sell them – make a list of reasons your audience need what you have from their point of view – now tell them.
- and inform them about what you can offer them to solve their current challenges, inform them of the best tips and tricks you know to help your audience and do it on your social media profiles – don’t be stingy give it away.
I would also add in a couple of extra conversations I believe need to be had regularly:
- motivate and inspire them – as their is nothing more charismatic than a person who makes you feel great about being you.
- acknowledge and validate your audience – treating your clientele and prospects as friends helps to deepen the relationship you have with them and they with your brand.
- show yourself – yes be there as a person, let them see who you are, allow them to know you are real, human and have opinions, a family life and love chocolate covered coffee beans..
- give them opportunities to invest in your brand, feel they are part owners and are helping you grow.
Here are 5 questions you need to ask yourself at least once a year, if not more to stay relevant with trends and your audiences needs and conversations.
If you answer “Oh, I did that a few years ago, I have it here somewhere”, then you are a high risk candidate for getting blown out of the water by the next big trend. It doesn’t matter how successful you currently are, staying sharp and staying relevant are key to your survival and, as you’ll see, for the delivery of your powerful message.
1. Who’s your ideal client/audience? How do you know that?
2. Where is your ideal client? Are you there too?
3. What’s your MESSAGE? Not a tagline, not a marketing schtick. Your MESSAGE- the important thing you have to share with the world.
4. How is your MESSAGE standing out so people hear, see, experience it?
5. What is absolutely, positively, the most important thing that your business accomplish this year… besides making money?
The key to successful marketing is keeping your messages to your customers relevant. Relevance is driven by understanding your audience. The more intelligent your insights, the more relevant your message can be. Take another look at the image I have included in this post this is what your customers want to hear from your business presence.
One final tip from me is when in doubt – ask your audience what they need from a business like yours, you might be surprised by the answers!
AND it could lead to a whole new product, service or business venture for you which is far more successful that what you are currently doing. Now that’s more like it!
Great insights for conversation planning. Especially like your final tip “Ask your audience what they need from a business like yours” … (note to self) Thanks very much for sharing.