So here’s the thing, it’s the end of the first quarter for the year and with it another round of coaching and training courses and I am struck by a startling albeit simple realisation.
Some people are just not cut out to be a “Seriously Social” business.
I talk all the time in my classes about the three pillars of a Seriously Social Business and the fact that two of them are often completely missed.
Here is the thing, if you are looking at Social Media as a marketing tool instead of a relationship building tool then you’re just playing at “being social” and you are not going to get very far. Marketing is a successful by product of being seriously social. You achieve things like brand awareness and the like without really trying if you start the right way.
So back to my original point, a good social media strategy needs to align with top line business goals and I am not talking about fluffy moving targets here. The clearer you are about what success looks like in your business, the easier social media becomes.
Those goals are going to drive the types of people you want to talk to in order to achieve them (often where a buyer persona exercise comes in) LinkedIn then becomes a really powerful tool to then engage those people in a way that is genuine and authentic and builds on relationships over time.
But guess what – you are still ultimately going to have to pick up the phone. “Seriously Social Businesses” are social in real life, they understand that the really power of social media is the beginnings of conversations and relationships – not an end point
They don’t connect and immediately follow up with a two page well scripted sales email. I am sure we have all received one of those…… just made you feel all warm and fuzzy didn’t it?
So the point of this missive is really just to remind you that business people who are successful at building relationships on social media tend to remember that it comes down to relationships first and sales second.
If you are not sure where to start or how to maximise your success by all means tap me on the shoulder for a coffee and if you are one of those business owners that knows it is important but doesn’t have time to manage it all on your own remember we are here to help.