With the rise in popularity and usage of the various social media platforms, it’s not surprising that many businesses are interested in learning more about how to use these sites to aid their organizations. For those expecting a cookie-cutter, step-by-step guide, I’m sorry to say you’re out of luck. But what I will share with you right now is the most important thing you should know about using social media to help your business. I hope you sharpened those pencils to write this gem down because here it is:
It’s not about making the sale; it’s about building the relationship.
Yes, I know, this seems counter-intuitive; after all, the biggest reason why companies would want to get involved on any of these social media sites is in order to get more people to buy their products or services. But there’s something that we need to understand here before we proceed further – unlike eBay or Amazon, users are not using these sites because they are looking for something to buy. Instead, people view these sites as a place to create and nurture connections.
So, how can fostering a presence on social media sites help your business? Well, first we need to understand the goal here is not to develop yet another metric to measure. Instead, what companies can gain from being active participants in social media is gaining insights about your target audience, of what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how your products/services can fit into those experiences.
Also, creating a social media presence for your company sends the signal to your customers that you’re interest in them doesn’t stop after you make the sale; rather, you’re interested in what happens after the sale is made and how you can build on or improve the experiences they had with your company.
With that in mind, I want to offer the following points businesses should consider when starting a presence on social media sites – click here to read the rest of this piece on John Haydon’s website.