The Marketing Toolbox

What's your social media strategy?

By Stacey Ackerman, MA

 

When social media came out a few years ago, it was thought of as a distraction or something that teens did to constantly update friends on their whereabouts.

 

While social media still has its “social” place in our society, it has become a major component to most companies’ marketing departments. But the good news is that it’s a medium that small business owners can be just as comprehensive and sophisticated with as large companies.

 

To be effective at using social media, you must define what you are trying to accomplish. Social media is an effective tool for personal branding, finding sales leads, promoting an event, engaging existing customers and searching for employees or business partners.

 

Personal branding

If you are a consultant or service business, personal branding can significantly boost your credibility. Join groups on LinkedIn whose members make up your target market. Then utilize the news articles sections of these groups to post articles that you have either written or that demonstrate your knowledge in your industry. It only takes a few minutes to upload your articles. Better yet, post your articles to your web site so prospects have to visit your site and learn about your company to read more. You can also share your expertise by posting PowerPoint presentations on your LinkedIn profile.

 

Sales leads

While social media doesn’t replace in-person networking, it does open up your access to far more people than you could physically meet. Before even jumping into social media for sales leads, take some time to write your “top 10” prospect list. If you know the top 10 companies you are trying to do business with you will eventually find them. Once you know who you are looking for, use LinkedIn to search your contacts. Do you know anyone who works at the company you are seeking? If not, check out your second and third tier connections. When you run across someone who has an affiliation, use the “introduction” feature to get connected with that prospect. Your sales leads will be much stronger when you can pro-actively identify who you are seeking, rather than waiting for someone to find you.

 

Promoting an event

All social media sites are great for promoting an event. Facebook works best for a business-to-consumer event, while LinkedIn is great for business-to-business events. Twitter can work well in both situations, depending on whether your target audience is utilizing that medium.

 

Engaging existing customers

For consumer-oriented businesses, Facebook can be a great place to get your loyal customers to become “fans”. Create a group page for your business and keep it not only active, but interactive. Allow customers to comment about your business and share stories with their “friends”.

 

Searching for employees or business partners

By looking at your network, you can often seek out the type of people you want to hire or that will make great strategic partners to complement your business. Be noteworthy of the type of person you are looking for and carefully read profiles to find a match. If your immediate network doesn’t produce results, ask people in your network if they have someone in mind. I recently found a food photographer for a client through my LinkedIn network. Instead of randomly searching the web, it’s a lot easier to get referrals from people you trust.

 

If you’re not yet comfortable with the many ways your small businesses can benefit from social media, there are plenty of classes available. Since it’s such a new phenomenon, you can quickly become an expert. The best strategy is to understand what you want to get out of social media—then don’t hesitate to dive in!

Stacey Ackerman, MA, is the director of Marketing for Small Business Builders. She has helped numerous small business owners grow their business by creating practical, affordable growth strategies that work. She can be reached at sackerman@smallbusinessbuilders.com or 651-783-5763.

Build a lasting relationship

By Stacey Ackerman, MA

You paid a lot of money to get your customers in the door in the first place. Now you need to keep them coming back. The biggest mistake I see my clients make is spending a ton of dough with coupons and other incentives to attract a customer, only to let him come and go without gathering any contact information for future correspondence. I call this the one-hit-wonder.

Relationship marketing is a lot like dating. We spend most of our energy attracting our mate’s attention to go out with us in the first place. And when he finally asks you out, you are on your best behavior, doing everything you can to make a great first impression.

 

With both dating and marketing we fall into the trap of complacency over time. We begin to take the relationship for granted, expecting that person to be faithful, regardless of our efforts (or lack thereof).

 

Just like our personal relationships, good customer relationships take a lot of work. We must continually communicate with our customers by giving them appealing offers and appreciating their business.

 

Below are a few ways that you can enhance your customer relationships (and what the heck, they just may work on your significant other as well):

 

Get to know each other

Take the time to get to know your customers. When they do business with you, learn as much as you can about their personal lives. This insight will not only help you connect on a personal level, but it will also help you tailor your services to your target markets’ needs.

 

Understand her needs

Learn what attracted your customers to your business in the first place. By diagnosing what ‘need’ you are fulfilling in their lives, you’ll better be able to satisfy those needs. Perhaps she needs a convenient meal option because she just returned to work. The more you understand about the needs your business is satisfying, the better able you are to offer solutions that will keep your customers coming back for more.

 

Nurture the relationship

Relationships take work. Make sure that you are always giving your customers the highest possible level of service at all stages in the relationship and never take the relationship for granted.

 

Build loyalty

It’s very easy for your customer to be wooed by the business next door because it has a great sale. However, if a customer is really loyal to your business, he won’t leave that easily. It’s the simple things that build loyalty such as remembering his name or the way he likes his eggs. A customer who is faithful to your business won’t be swayed by a competitors’ price.

 

Communicate often

Customers want to feel they are an important part of your business—not just a transaction. By regularly communicating by phone, e-mail, newsletters or in-store events, your customers will be given an opportunity to build a relationship with your business.

 

Remember the ‘wow’ factor

That first ‘wow’ promotion may have gotten her to come in the first place, but don’t disappoint her later in the relationship. By offering special VIP programs and incentives for your loyal customers you can continue to ‘wow’ them.

 

Show your appreciation

Your customers want to know they are valued and appreciated. It doesn’t take a fancy marketing campaign to do this effectively. Simple things like a birthday card, a check in phone call or a simple ‘thanks for your business’ make your customers feel important and give them the desire to return.

 

Stacey Ackerman, MA, is the director of Marketing for Small Business Builders. She has helped numerous small business owners grow their business by creating practical, affordable growth strategies that work. She can be reached at sackerman@smallbusinessbuilders.com or 651-783-5763.