Tag: #RelationshipsMatter

How to Amplify Your Relationship Marketing

Thanks to social media and online marketing, we’re all acutely aware of the importance of online branding. There are some great tools out there for small businesses to build a brand that spreads virally across the Internet. But most brands are missing something important: a focus on relationship marketing.

Lead generation is a strategy that focuses on getting new customers, using techniques like email, cold calls, and ads to attract new clients. Relationship marketing works differently. It focuses on building existing relationships between you and your clients so they will come back to you and evolve into brand advocates.

Changing the Focus

Instead of wasting money on print ads and TV commercials, you should focus more on relationship marketing strategies. Relationship marketing means maintaining long-term relationships with your customers so they feel comfortable buying from you over and over again. When done right, it’s a lot cheaper than traditional forms of advertising, and it’s also much more effective because real people are talking about you without having to pay them to do so.

Relationship marketing is all about building trust. No matter what kind of product or service you provide, if your customers can’t trust that they’re getting a high quality product or service at a fair price, they won’t buy from you. So it’s important to build a reputation for quality and value in the marketplace. Once you change the focus from leads and sales, to building relationships – you’ll find that your business not only retains more customers and leads to more referrals, but you’ll find the additional satisfaction that comes with building a loyal fan base as well.

Be Active, Not Passive

The key to relationship marketing is creating connections and making people feel special. When you connect with people on a personal level and help them solve their problems, they will naturally want to do business with you again. This doesn’t happen when you focus all of your energy on completing projects. You have to be intentional about building and nurturing relationships for this to work.

There are a lot of ways to build relationships with your customers. In some cases, it might be as simple as thanking them for their business or offering them suggestions based on their preferences. The point is that you need a strategy for reaching out, staying in touch, and following up with your clients and customers.

Collaboration Over Competition

In our society, we’ve gotten accustomed to competing with each other. We’re encouraged to believe that we have to be better than everyone else in order to succeed. But this mindset can end up costing you in the long run because you may find yourself feeling isolated, stressed out, and overwhelmed.

The truth is that collaboration is a much more effective strategy for marketing your business. In fact, the human brain is hardwired for cooperation. We are social creatures who thrive on connection rather than competition.

Build relationships with the vendors, companies, trade shows, and competitors in your industry. You won’t regret knowing these people when you need them and they’ll all know who to refer when someone needs what you do!

Build Your Community

Create a community. In an age where everyone has an opinion and millions of people are posting their thoughts online, it can be hard to get attention. Create a place online where people can connect, share ideas and provide valuable information. No matter what business you’re in, chances are there’s an online community of people who interact on the same topic or are interested in the same product or service you offer. If there isn’t one, why not create one? Provide valuable information and people will come.

Relationship marketing leads to higher conversion rates: Studies show that businesses who invest in relationship marketing see much higher conversion rates on their email campaigns, social media posts and other online communication efforts. People are more likely to buy from those they know, like and trust so creating relationships with customers helps convince them of your credibility and reliability. You’ll also be able to create better social media content that resonates with followers and boosts engagement on your posts.

Relationship marketing is one of the most powerful forms of marketing out there. It will help your business grow, provide you with new leads, and help you make a name for yourself. But it’s not easy to do. If it was, everyone would already be doing it.

The first step is to shift your focus from sales to service. I promise that if you treat your people well, like friends and family, they will be loyal and they will refer you to others. The sales will happen naturally.

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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.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#RelationshipsMatter – How Does Social Proof Build Your Tribe?

When it comes to social media, there are lots of new and exciting terms out there. One relatively new term is social proof. You may not be familiar with the words, but you are familiar with the concept; think product endorsements, establishing authority, and word-of-mouth advertising. When it comes down to it, that’s all social proof is and it can help you build and expand your tribe. In fact, your tribe can also help you build your social proof.

Of course, people turn to you and what you post for a number of different reasons. For some, it’s about your product or services. For others, it’s about getting the opinion of a trusted authority. Also, there are those that it’s just because they like you or are your friend. While that all may sound pretty complicated, it really all boils down to social proof—people sharing information they like because it comes from someone they know and admire.

Marketers have known for a long time that having a good reputation and a strong brand can help you get sales. That’s why they depend heavily on product endorsements and positive customer reviews in advertising. The same is true for social media. When you gain a reputation for credibility and consistency, the people in your network come to trust you. Because they trust you, they trust your content, and they pass that content along to other people. And so it goes. That’s what engagement is, sharing, commenting, and reaching out.

So how can you use social proof to expand your reach and increase the number of people in your circle? There are lots of ways. Testimonials, case studies, personnel profiles, and telling stories can all work to improve your credibility and help people trust you. The same is true for the everyday interactions you have with the people in your social network world. The point is to involve the people you connect with in your everyday social media life. In short, strengthen your relationship with them. In turn, they will get the word out about you and your products and services.

When it comes to social media reach, you can never have too many people in your tribe. When you improve your social proof and cement your credibility, you’ll grow. The trouble is, it’s hard to do it on your own. The Social Media Advisor can help you get off on the right foot with a comprehensive social media analysis. They can help you grow both your tribe and the connections you have with the people who are already involved. Now is a great time to get started!

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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.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#RelationshipsMatter – What is a Micro-Influencer?

If you follow social media, then you are no doubt familiar with the role that social media influencers play. The short description is that social media influencers are people who affect the decisions of others to purchase certain products. Social media influencers have become so powerful that many are now celebrities and have millions of followers. There is another class of influencers that you should know about, and those are micro-influencers.

It’s a common misconception that to be a social media influencer; you have to have millions of followers. Of course, that doesn’t hurt, but there is a group of influencers who, like their more famous counterparts, are important: Micro-Influencers. These people have far fewer followers and aren’t celebrities. Instead, they are usually everyday people who hold influence in a niche. They may not have many followers, but the followers they do have are very engaged, and they trust the person to give them good advice on products and services.

For a small business, the big social media influencers may be out of reach, but it is possible to run a campaign using a micro-influencer who is active in your market. It will cost you some money, but it is possible.

Like all social media campaigns, you’ll need to develop a plan for how to use your micro-influencer. Map out what your goals and objectives are and the resources (money and time) you want to dedicate to the campaign, as well as how you will measure success. The big challenge will be finding the right influencers.

Finding a Micro-Influencer

  • Check your community: The perfect person may already be following you. Take a look at the people in your online community. Check their profiles to see how active they are and how many followers they have.
  • Do some Internet research: Look within the platforms you want to use by searching on relevant keywords.
  • Research your candidates: Once you have identified possible influencers, determine if they represent the image you want to portray, if they have sufficient engagement, and if they have worked with companies before.
  • Reach out: Email and direct message work best since they are private, but if worse comes to worst, you can use comments on their pages.

Locating and communicating with micro-influencers can be time-consuming and resource intensive. One good way to make your job easier is to turn to a professional. The Social Media Advisor is a great place to start. Their Social Media Analysis can help you ensure that when you undertake your influencer campaign, you target the right influencers and the right market. They can also make sure that your pages are optimized and your content is on target.

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.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

#RelationshipsMatter – How Your Tribe Influences Your Social Proof

When you think about how you use social media, do you think of it in terms of your social proof? Social proof is a concept that refers to the phenomena of people taking their lead from others. Social proof works the way it does because it’s human nature for us to assume that if other people approve of a product or service, then it’s probably OK for us too. That’s why testimonials and case studies are popular and effective marketing tools.

With that in mind, consider the influence the people in your own social media community have on getting the word out about you, your products, and your services. When it comes down to it, your community, or tribe as we like to call it, is pretty important when it comes to your social proof.

Your tribe includes all the people with whom you interact. Of course, that includes your customers. But it also includes your employees, your business partners, your vendors, and anyone else who is essential in contributing to your success. How effectively you engage with these groups of people is vital too in communicating to others that you are a trusted and credible source.

Effective use of social media is all about engagement, and engagement is essential in communicating that you are a trusted and credible source. That’s where your tribe comes in. When they give you their seal of approval, they are making an impact on your social proof.

There are many great ways to create content that will engage your community and help to strengthen your social proof. Reviews, employee profiles, testimonials, and how-to videos are great examples. But no matter what the content is, you should strive for it to be positive, consistent, and carry a message that is in line with your objectives for your brand.

If you are having trouble deciding where to start when it comes to using social media to enhance your social proof, a good first step is to take an audit of your content and view it from the perspective of the members of your community. What message does it send? Does it communicate your authority and credibility? How effective is it in getting actual engagement?

An even better way to get a quick start is to take advantage of The Social Media Advisor’s Social Media Analysis. You’ll get the benefits of an outside perspective from someone who knows the business and can offer cost-effective, actionable suggestions for how you can make both short and long-term improvements. So what are you waiting for? Let’s make the most of your social proof!

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.

Click here for Social Media Training, Speaking and Strategy Consultations.

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