Top 4 Ways to Grow Your Business with Social Media
Lindsey Root - Wednesday, December 16, 2009
1. From “Trying to Sell” to “Making Connections”
In order for businesses to succeed, they need to change their current business model from “selling” to “engaging” the consumer. The most successful businesses are captivating customers through social networks like Facebook and Twitter to “post less about their products and services and more about things that help their customers get to know the people and personality of a company.”
2. From “Large Campaigns” to “Small Acts”
In the past if a customer had a bad experience with a company it could take days or even weeks to spread the bad feedback to their friends and family. Now with networks like Facebook and Twitter, feedback can be viral in a matter of seconds. Smart businesses will reach out to their customers on social networks to fix a bad experience by addressing customer concerns and realize “it pays for companies to pay attention to the one-on-one customer relationships forged via social media.
3. From “Controlling Our Image” to “Being Ourselves”
Businesses need to learn to let their staff be human. Customers don’t want to connect with a company representative; they want to connect with a real person. Of course businesses need to be professional and polite, but people still need to be unique individuals who can build relationships that will benefit the company, not robots with no personality.
4. From “Hard to Reach” to “Available Everywhere”
Before companies used to only be able to engage with customers through email blasts and customer service numbers, but now customers are able to directly interact with you everywhere through different network channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, discussion forums, and blogs. Customers now feel more comfortable buying specific online-marketed brands because they have a direct one-on-one relationship with the company.
“Of course, traditional advertising and press releases will still have their place, but social sites such as Twitter and Facebook allow a whole new type of communication to take place that has previously been unknown to most businesses. The businesses that choose to only stick with traditional forms of marketing will lose business from competitors who are engaging their customers through social media.
“We are now in the age of open communication, engaged dialogue, and transparency, and business success may now have less to do with the size of ad budgets, but more to do with the quality of interactions with customers.”
In order for businesses to succeed, they need to change their current business model from “selling” to “engaging” the consumer. The most successful businesses are captivating customers through social networks like Facebook and Twitter to “post less about their products and services and more about things that help their customers get to know the people and personality of a company.”
2. From “Large Campaigns” to “Small Acts”
In the past if a customer had a bad experience with a company it could take days or even weeks to spread the bad feedback to their friends and family. Now with networks like Facebook and Twitter, feedback can be viral in a matter of seconds. Smart businesses will reach out to their customers on social networks to fix a bad experience by addressing customer concerns and realize “it pays for companies to pay attention to the one-on-one customer relationships forged via social media.
3. From “Controlling Our Image” to “Being Ourselves”
Businesses need to learn to let their staff be human. Customers don’t want to connect with a company representative; they want to connect with a real person. Of course businesses need to be professional and polite, but people still need to be unique individuals who can build relationships that will benefit the company, not robots with no personality.
4. From “Hard to Reach” to “Available Everywhere”
Before companies used to only be able to engage with customers through email blasts and customer service numbers, but now customers are able to directly interact with you everywhere through different network channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, discussion forums, and blogs. Customers now feel more comfortable buying specific online-marketed brands because they have a direct one-on-one relationship with the company.
“Of course, traditional advertising and press releases will still have their place, but social sites such as Twitter and Facebook allow a whole new type of communication to take place that has previously been unknown to most businesses. The businesses that choose to only stick with traditional forms of marketing will lose business from competitors who are engaging their customers through social media.
“We are now in the age of open communication, engaged dialogue, and transparency, and business success may now have less to do with the size of ad budgets, but more to do with the quality of interactions with customers.”
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