Even though I’ve been in operation for four years as KentMcCormack Business Dynamics, I’ve rebranded the business as Be My Marketer only this year. This means I’m starting my social media platforms from scratch!
Actually that’s not the only reason my social media accounts have no followers. I’ve also been guilty of working in the business instead of on the business. I have a feeling there’s a few of you who might relate to this.
I read every day about the latest and greatest tricks to increase the number of fans and followers on social media. I will impart some of these to you that I consider the greatest value in future blogs. But for now I’m trialling something radical.
I am not going to use the trickiest tricks. I am going to use social media as it was intended; social media is a community of people staying in touch with like-minded interests. I will only be following truly authentic techniques. I’ll be liking posts that I actually like. I’ll be posting photos and videos that are really important messages I think my customers want. I’ll be retweeting truly useful or interesting information. I’ll also be sharing things that are important to me, that make me laugh or that give you a little window into my soul. I will only comment on posts that genuinely evoke engagement and trigger something for me.
I really want to do it this way to prove that social media doesn’t need to be tricky. You can get results by simply using common sense about the way people want to communicate together online. I will also have to use advertising because there’s no other way on Facebook, in particular. However, these ads will not be super salesy, but will speak in an honest and casual way about what I do and how I can help.
This type of thinking has always informed what I do on social media. It’s been logical for me from the start. I’ve been inspired to write this blog now because I recently joined a few Facebook groups all themed around social media marketing and the conversation just doesn’t move from competing on numbers of followers. I can’t stress enough how ridiculous this seems to me. What’s the point of having followers if they don’t convert into sales? I want to hear the stories about how people made connections with their customers and it turned into dollars, or about the businesses that trialled a new product on a new market and it made great gains because they tried such and such techniques. I don’t care about growing numbers. I care about growing connections. By the way, if you know of a group like this let me know in the comments.
Most customers (in fact, all, if I’m honest) have come to me with a certain bewilderment surrounding social media. It slightly terrifies them, often doesn’t interest them, but mostly just doesn’t make sense to them at all. When I explain to them the core basics of social media the pennies drop. It’s true marketing power comes from word-of-mouth. What you’re really trying to do is get people to talk about you in a positive way by providing positive testimonials, sharing your good stories and responding professionally to the critics.
So truly what I’m doing is not radical at all. It’s plain and simple good strategy. I’m using social media as a tool to talk to my customers in a wider and more unique way than I’ve ever been able to do before. I’m using strategies to capture their attention and keep them within my network so that I can continue to build on our relationship so that they feel enough trust to buy my services. It’s not trickery at all. It’s just having a chat and keeping the conversation going.
If you’re interested in my path and what it can show you about social media growth stay tuned. I’ll let you know how I get on.
