Archives for March 2010

The earliest approach that everyone used to accomplish anything on the social networks was a very simple one that we all understood – make friends. 

Friending came naturally in the early days of this platform because most of us were trying to figure out what social media was all about.  So we had to make friends to learn, and sure enough the process was a lot of fun.  You can especially appreciate this if you were fortunate enough to be a Twitter user in the early days.

To this day, friending is what makes social media success of any kind possible.  However, now that we have hundreds of millions of people involved, it helps to fine-tune that strategy.

Goals and Objectives

I've been interviewing a variety of small business professionals for some upcoming webinars and a new series on this blog.  What I'm discovering is that many are not as clear about their social media objectives as they could be. 

I don't know if this is a problem with not understanding what is possible, but I suspect to some degree that is part of it. Here's a suggestion.

Extending

I like to think of social media as extending what is working for me right now.  It's a matter of taking what I have always done, and then just doing it in the virtual world of social media.  To the extent that the technology allows it, this is an excellent way to keep it all practical and focused. 

If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, its highly possible that you would like to grow your business, especially given that the economy appears to be a stingy one for some time to come. 

How specifically do you plan to do this?   What specifically are you trying to do?  My suggestion is to list your objectives to develop more clarity.  In fact, list a bunch of them.  Then just trim down that list to a handful that you and your team can comfortably tackle.

Here are a few possible objectives that are consistent with growing a business.

• Engage with current customers to better understand their needs – This is an excellent time to show customers you care.
• Encourage referrals from your customers to gain new ones – Sometimes you have to ask for them to get them.
• Remind the marketplace of your expertise – Today I had a conversation with a colleague who thought I was primarily a consultant that speaks, when in reality I'm a speaker that also consults.  Gentle reminders are sometimes good for business.
• Celebrate the achievements of your staff – Customers love to hear about the good works of those that serve them. This builds loyalty all around.
• Establish your commitment to a class of customers – I owned a contracting business for twenty year.  The longer I was in business the more my residential customers thought my focus had shifted to commercial work.  As you grow, it pays to recommit to those that helped you get there.

You can see this list could be dozens, if not, hundreds of specific objectives.  Find that ones that will help your company accomplish its priority goals.

How You Can Do This

There are many ways to accomplish your business objectives on the social Web.  I'm going to suggest only three to keep everything simple.  And you shouldn't be surprised to discover they all involve the original and still universal approach of friending

1.  Education -  Everyone likes to learn useful or interesting information.  If you have expertise in a given area, and you are willing to take the time to share it well, you will become a valued source.  It's that simple, but it does take a commitment and some work.

2.  Interaction – Having a conversation on the social networks is an easily learned skill that should typically involve supportive comments.  Let's face it, most social media interaction is a search for agreement.  Like it or not, we all have egos that crave reinforcement.   Keep things light and let the relationship build.

3. Community – It feels good to be part of a group of like-minded people that share your challenges and aspirations.  I doubt there are many loners out there on the social networks, otherwise they wouldn't be here.  Better than just joining groups is recommending the ones that are working for you to your friends, who can also introduce you to their communities. 

What Just Happened?

What I just did here was to make the point that social networking, and even social media marketing, while they have changed slightly over the years, are still predominantly the same.  The technology is clearly much better, but the successful approach is still about getting to know people and building up trust. That's how you get things done in life and the same goes right here.

So, regardless of your reason for being on the social Web, you will find it helpful to give some thought to clarifying your goals and objectives.

Then just apply the universal strategy to get it done – friending.

Photo Credit: Patrick_PJM