4 Tips to a Successful Social Media Strategy

By now most of us have figured out that social media is not a fad but a fun mental shift in the way we communicate. Buying mailing lists to target potential prospects will soon be a thing of the past.

Your social media contacts and their connections have now become your interactive database. Interactive because now you can engage in 2 way communication with the people you are connected to.

But remember, people don’t use social media because they want to be sold something. Hector Cisneros discusses in his blog Six Cardinal Rules for Success in Social Media Marketing that there are 4 reasons why people use social media. They want useful information, interesting facts, to be entertained, and to connect with other.

In building any relationship you need to understand the other person’s needs and wants. Continuing to ask friends for favors and giving nothing in return is a quick way to lose friends.  With social media the BNI motto of givers gain really holds true.

If you are trying to build your business through social media there are 4 basic rules to follow in order to successfully communicate with your new interactive database.

1. Be Human – As Jeffery Gitomer says, people buy from people they like. Don’t join a LinkedIn group discussion and start spamming the discussion about your next seminar. It would me like walking up to a group of people in conversation and you start selling them on your business. That’s plain rude.
   
2. Add Value – Sales is about building relationships. What can you do to provide value to your social media contacts and their connections? Provide interesting facts or useful information that your connections are looking for.
   
3. Interact – Create a dialog to build trusts and a relationship with your contacts. What’s nice is that with social media, your conversation can go viral reaching out to your contacts connections that you are not currently connected to.
   
4. Promote – Don’t hard sell. Use soft promotion to communicate how you can help your contacts get what they want. Promote your business in a way that you provide value to your contacts.

Most importantly, remember tip #1 Be Human. You communicating with a live human being and not a computer or a smart phone.

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