By Brad Tornberg
Now that we all understand the importance of business participation in Social Media the next obvious question becomes now that they know you how do you covert them to eventually become a customer?
A prospect who knows you somehow found you – a job well done! Now once they see your fresh content that adds value they will begin to like you and your message follow you or even give you permission to email them important information.
Once they begin to see your core differentiator (what makes you different form the competition) and follow your message and marketing cycle they will begin to see how you stand out as the expert and look to you for answers because they trust you. They read the testimonials and recommendations that position you as the expert who can solve their problem. This is why you need to continually educate your customers and position your business as the authority by offering valuable usable content.
The next step is for them to get a taste of what it’s like to do business with you. They want to try what you are offering before they buy your product or service. An offer of a free assessment, a free consultation or giving an opportunity to participate in a webinar, seminar or other venue where you educate them and provide valuable tips and information gives them a taste of things to come.
Social Media is a marketing tactic like many others including traditional methods (direct mail, networking, etc.) that helps generate leads. Once generated the lead needs to be nurtured and put into a systematic method for follow up and eventual conversion to a customer.
Social media like traditional media must continually put the message in front of the prospect so that when they are ready to buy you will be who they buy for. The key here is being in front just enough times to become the brand of choice but not too much that they feel overwhelmed and are being sold to. For social media to be successful you still need a “call to action”. It can be as simple as gaining a follower to an offer for a free whitepaper or webinar or even a drawing for a free Ipad.
Social media is one spoke tactic that should echo the message of what makes us different and why people buy from us and like us. Duct Tape Marketing Teaches to us to first build a marketing strategy and then build a marketing system. People need to know you, like you and trust you before they try what you have to offer, buy from you, repeat the cycle and refer you to others. Do you have a marketing strategy? Do you have a systematic approach to marketing? If not how’s the social media thing going?
