Tag: like know trust

#SocialProof – Building Know, Like & Trust With Your Social Media

We’ve talked a lot about #SocialProof and how it affects client/customer trust, but we’ve only briefly touched on the Social Media aspect of building it.
There are three things you want to instill in your clients and customers through social media: Know, Like, and Trust.
Getting Known

Did you know that your audience will grow in proportion to the quality of content you create and deliver?
Develop quality, engaging content on your social mediachannels. This will help you build a reputation as a subject matter expert within your niche. Use content, evidence, and case studies alongside your ideas and labels to create more impact.
Create content that is accurate. Make sure you research your topic (or the articles you share). Ask questions. Develop relationships with key influencers in your market. Don’t be shameless about it, however. Keep it professional.
Follow these key points, and your clients and customers will rely on you for knowledge.
Build Likability

Likeability is a cornerstone in customer and brand loyalty. It’s not as hard to create as you might think.
Start with authenticity. Be real, and express your voicethrough your content. Share your stories and get personal, but keep your focus on the positive. There is a fine line between showcasing your personality and becoming overly personal. There is no need to broadcast private aspects of your personal life to your audience.  Just be real and people will respond to that.
Don’t badmouth others or create flame wars. That type of negativity will reflect poorly your company. Be helpful and responsive to comments.
Most of all, make your future clients and customers feel like they’re important to you. As you build likes and shares, don’t forget to leverage that social proof to gain a larger audience. Remember, social proof is a snowball effect. Once you get it rolling, it builds momentum all on its own.
Gain Trust
Quality. Quality. Quality. There is no bigger factor than providing quality content and work that keeps your audience engaged. Case studies, testimonials, services, webinars, even free products. Whatever you deliver, make sure it’s your best work. Guarantees go a long way here when you’re talking about products and/or services.
Don’t. Steal. Plagiarism is one of the most effective ways to destroy trust. Second only to lying. This goes back to Likeability and being authentic. If you make a mistake, admit it and apologize. Don’t ignore it or lie about it.
Keep the language approachable. If you talk down to your clients and customers, you’ll be treated with the same contempt you show them. There are enough alternatives out there that you’ll be passed by without a second thought. Keep your brand at the front of your mind whenever you are interacting with people.

Social media provides an opportunity to engage with your audience on a more personal level. How you use it will determine your effective social proof. Those individuals who trust you will share your content, provide word of mouth referrals, and become brand ambassadors for your business. There’s just no better way to #BeAwesome with your social media than to develop #SocialProof with your followers.

Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!
Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

#DevelopStrategy – Relationship Life Cycle

This month we covered the differences in both relationship marketing and lead generation. While both of these have a place in your marketing strategy, in this article I want to focus more on relationship marketing and what I like to call the Relationship Life Cycle.
As a refresher, relationship marketing is essentially fancy terminology for the practice of developing a long-term connection with your customers, clients, vendors and power partners. Instead of focusing on gathering a lead or closing a sale, the aim is to provide a bond with the people you work with. The long-term benefits of relationship marketing tend to be more referrals, client enthusiasm and the development of brand advocates.
The course of the relationship life cycle is closely tied to the ole marketing adage of Know, Like, Trust.  If the new way to market a company is backed by the idea that people do business with other people (instead of companies) then the know, like, trust concept is absolutely essential. Here is how the relationship life cycle would apply to your marketing strategy using social media:
Know
The first step in any relationship is getting to know the other person. You simply can’t make a connection with someone you’ve never met and know nothing about. Think of it like dating – once you start to know a potential suitor then your curiosity will lead you to finding out as much about them as possible.
Whether it be an introduction at a networking event, a discovery call, or a visit to your website – getting to the Know step involves getting to know each other. When it comes to social media, this appears in the form and following your various social media channels. People can also get to know you by hearing about you from others, meeting you at events, reading your online content, or viewing any media you’ve been featured in. Once someone starts to know you, and gets a sample of what you are about, then they are more likely to sign-up for your newsletters, like you on Facebook or follow you on YouTube.
Like
Well, now that you’ve gotten a chance to spend some time with the individual – you have to decide whether or not you like them. In our dating scenario, are they worth going out on a date or two with to see what develops? Do you like them enough to begin to participate in their life?
Those who are paying attention to what you are doing will either begin to like you or they won’t. However, once you hit the Like stage you will find that they begin to initiate some true social media engagement with you. They like your posts, comment in your group, or participate in your polls.  This phase of the relationship life cycle involves interaction so be sure to participate in return!
Trust
Now you’ve gone on many dates and have been seeing each other for a while. At this point, they are becoming a partner and you have developed trust in them. You like them so much, that you want your friends and family to like them too! At this point, you are sharing their content.
This is the end game for the relationship life cycle…you want all the people you do business with to know, like and trust you. The goal should be that they trust you so much that they freely, and happily, share your content and business with the other people in their circles.
When you compare the relationship life cycle to how we operate with our personal relationships, the success behind relationship marketing becomes much more apparent. Our clients become more than an invoice. If you want loyal clients that will regularly provide free marketing for you, this level of connection is the way to go. Just another tool to add to your marketing strategy toolbox because everyone here at The Social Media Advisorwants you to #BeAwesome at what you do!
~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 
Be sure to Follow us and Let’s Engage!
Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.

Social Media Relationship Lifecycle – Like, Know and Trust

When we speak at training seminars, we talk about the “Like, Know, Trust” relationships that are built in social media.  Painting the picture for you, here is an example of a “courting” (yes, dated my self) relationship in reference to the lifecylce of a social media relationship.


Imagine if you will, a man (or woman) standing across the room, looking at someone they find interesting. They make the move to let that person know that they are “interested” in them by letting them know that they “like” them (ie in social media world, “Liking, Circling or Fanning their pages”)

They will watch this person (or Page) for a while, determining if they have similar interests, topics of conversations, or anything in common.  

Said “courter” may eventually “like” or “+” a few posts from time to time, letting that Page (or Profile) of the interest and agreement in their share.  Eventually, they will begin to engage with each other by sharing in discussions, dialog of variety and start to become more familiar with each other (in more of a “public” setting – ie notifications on their wall).  By engaging in likes, comments and polls, the entities are learning how to communicate better with each other, how responsive the one is to the other, and their “network” may start seeing these interactions.

Eventually, the “courter” shares a post made by the Page or Profile which introduced their entire “friends and family” network to their relationship.  The conversation went from Like to Know to Trust.  Their “engagement” became “Facebook Official” by the simple click of a share button.

Gathering this type of engagement is curated in simple ways:

  1. Ask your tribe (your trusted network of connections that have committed to share, engage and like your posts – as you have committed to them in return)
  2. Engage often by enabling tools in the platform to receive notifications when people like, comment or share
  3. Share information for your audience to get to know you, want to engage with you and share with their “friends and family”

Do you struggle with engagement or are wanting to develop content and engagement strategies? Let us know how we can be accountability partners for you in social media!

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 

Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a “Be Awesome” Developer, Social Media Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

A Pinterest Success Story – 3 Key Take Away Thoughts

https://thesocialmediaadvisor.com/Training-.html

One of the biggest joys I have in doing a Brand Story in Social Media is watching the life cycle of the opportunity.  Starting with a case analysis by measuring clients’ goals, research their competition, discover if their potential clients are present in the platforms they are interested in, then building a strategy around the brand for them.  It’s like wrapping a special gift; you find the perfect solution, build a goal oriented box around it, wrap it in a pretty, robust brand and tie it in a perfect bow.


One story I wanted to share with you is a fitness based client who happened to be male. Contrary to popular belief, Pinterest isn’t a platform just intended for women.  Although, 70 percent of users are women, they search for different things and (generally) have different interests.  You can see some statistics referenced in this great article http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/pinterest-stats/ which not only lists 90 statistics, but will show you a handful of great demographic stats which may really benefit your brand.  We followed a step by step process to achieve his goals and he maximized them to achieve his best results.


(1) Know Your Audience

If you don’t know what your niche is, it is best for you to consult with a Business Coach and/or Brand Consultant.  Define it, own it and make it you. It is your brand after all and surely you wouldn’t want to market to “anyone who has hair” or “anyone who has skin” (which are popular phrases I have heard from folks who haven’t found their sweet spot yet.  Where skin may be important to the make-up consultant, defining an age group, specific service offering or technique may be better ways to approach the “anyone with skin” conversation.  I digress.  We searched Pinterest for 3 specific targets.  The client didn’t believe that his target market would be in this platform, but the best rule of thumb is; “if your target is talking about the service they need … that you have … changes are, this is a really good fit” – Hollie Clere our CEO.

Do you know what we found?  Over 1,000 Pins in Pinterest that fit his target demographic.

(2) Build and Effective Story Rich Brand that will Showcase Your Personality and Specialty

A social media friend of mine once described to me the idea of Pinterest and I have held onto it because it is sound advice and a perspective from an active Pinterest user.  To summarize without quoting (as it has been too long to do her words justice), think of how you search and what you would want to see in a brand.

  1. Show off your personality.  No one wants to look at a series of boards just about “business”.  They want to get to know you.  Remember, Like, Know, Trust is the most important aspect to sales and social media conversations.  People will buy from people they Trust, not just a brand just because it is a brand.  Showcasing your interests are perfectly acceptable in this platform.
  2. Pin influencers and other folks that have solid information shared.  Sharing original content is good, but building a following and subscribing to others is even better.  How else do you start to have social interactions without giving praise to others when they have a successful solution?  Why reinvent the wheel?
  3. Don’t build empty boards.  You took the time to create it and if it reflects you and the board is nearly empty, what does it say about your brand?  Fill it up!  You wouldn’t turn in an executive report without all of the information right?  You wouldn’t tell a story without getting to the punch line … it will leave your viewer a lacking sense of what you were trying to accomplish.

We established goals, built full, robust boards and he maintained the deliverables we set forth.  He wasn’t spammy (just promoting his material), he was engaging and put thought into each item he chose to share with each pin (giving credit where credit was do).  You know what was great about that?  People appreciated the mentions, took notice of his acknowledgements and he was well on his way to building a reputation in Pinterest.

(3) Maintain Consistency and Engage

You will hear Social Media folks talk continually about consistency and engagement. It’s true if you think about it.  You can’t build a great relationship with a client unless you get to know them, remain in front of them and nurture the relationship. Our client did just this.  He developed a schedule daily to Pin, Re-Pin, Comment and Reply to things he chose to post to his boards.  The routine was solid and he developed relationships that turned into business.  

I have always said, it is better to create a brand and presence in platforms that will drive traffic to your website and have the potential for you to grow relationships which eventually will turn into sales.

Check it out, search, do research and only then will you know if this is a platform that will work well for you.  Consider taking classes or workshops that will give you tools to optimize each and every Pin.

Cheers to your success!

If you are interested in learning some strategies to optimize Pinterest for your Business, we have a workshop that may be a good fit for you!  View the schedule at: http://thesocialpro.eventbrite.com

~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.  Don’t get left behind ~ 


Hollie Clere, of The Social Media Advisor is a “Be Awesome” Developer, Social Media Brand Builder, Conent Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+ , YouTube, Pinterest and the tools to manage them. Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars

http://www.socialpowerprogram.com/


Curious on whether your social brand is built properly?  Get your Social Media Analysis today. 
 

http://www.thesocialmediaadvisor.com/Social_Media_Analysis.html

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