Social Media | Immortal Internet Marketing Podcast

The Only Thing That Matters With Social Media Marketing

6 Sep, 2008 8 Comments

Social Media Marketing

Social.

That’s the key right there.

One word.

One thing.

A single action.

Social.

The key to marketing anything via social media is to actually be social.

Interact with others.

Build relationships.

Relationships with customers. Relationships with others in your field. Relationships with competitors.

Relationships with people.

By building relationships with your customers, you build trust. You gain insight into your own faults and the holes in your business. You get to see exactly what they need more of from you to feel more comfortable buying from you.

Relationships with others in your field opens up all kinds of doors. It’s much easier to request a joint venture from somebody you know. They might even read your email or return your phone call.

Here is a concept that is usable in industries outside of information based marketing:

There is an idea called “trading traffic” used in adult (porn) marketing. This is based upon the fact that you may not have what a potential customer is looking for and it would be better to hand them off to one of your friends than to lose them to Google or some other website. It’s done by recommending someone that offers something comparable to what you offer, but their products are different. Either a different brand or a different variation on the products you currently sell.

If you don’t have an affiliate program, would it kill you to recommend someone else after someone buys from you? How about a “recommended ______ (insert base keyword here)” that would compliment what you sell.

If you sell Ipods, it would only make sense to recommend that your visitor go to a site that sells Ipod accessories that you don’t carry.

See how this works?

One good relationship could bring you in double your current amount of sales. Based upon a recommendation like this, your conversion should be extremely high.

Relationships with competitors is a slightly more challenging concept.

If someone directly competes with you, it is natural to see them as the enemy. The truth is that you should see yourself as so good that there is no such thing as competition.

I welcome competitors and am happy to work with them. Especially when it comes to information based marketing, it only makes sense to work with your competitors. It leads to new opportunities and products. Combining your expertise can only make you both more money.

So, how do you develop relationships with all of these people?

Here are steps to take to ensure this works as well as possible.

Make yourself as visible as possible by using your company name in your social presence.

Interact with those that attempt to interact with you. Reply to comments on your blogs, your social media profiles, and tweets on twitter.

Be you. If your persona isn’t you, always be that persona. Consistency is key here.

Be attractive. Nobody wants to be with an idiot. If you’re an idiot, hide that from others.

Help people. Provide information nobody else provides.

Treat others as you want to be treated. It’s called “The Golden Rule” for a reason.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

Knowledge Can Never Die!