I spoke to three different business people today (two small business owners & one mid-sized corporate person) who had a similar so-called pain point in common. (Honest, I didn’t even ask them.)
- Email marketing is not working.
- Prospects are not responding to email pitches.
- Even members/customers that have “opted in” to a company’s email list aren’t responding.
To say that everyone is inundated with email newsletters, announcements, offers, etc. is the understatement of the century. So here’s my rant. What businesses can use more of are—wait for it—not customers, but customer relationships.
We can probably agree that it’s really tough to try to start a customer relationship with an email pitch. Even a clever email pitch. Or even a enewsletter. Especially if the prospect doesn’t know who your company is, or how you can solve their problems better than anyone else.
That’s why I think that there are so many startups and others working on tools to help start customer relationships. A relationship means there’s a connection of some type between people. Social media offers businesses a method in which to do just that. Social media tools are not instant. They are just that, a tool. A way to share information. A way to start a conversation with a prospect who could become your customer.
Social Media Definition (Reminder)
Social media (according to Wikipedia) describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. The entry lists the most popular social media technologies used, blogs, Podcasting, message boards and others.
Blogs, Podcasts and the other social media allow you, your product developers, anyone inside your company to offer their insights, opinions, and expertise. Notice I did not say sell. By offering insights and experiences with prospects and customers, you are having a conversation. It may begin as a one-way conversation, but social media tools make it easy for customers and prospects to talk back. Then you have a real two way dialogue. And an opportunity to begin a customer relationship.
These are my top 3 reasons why small businesses would be smart to try using social media to reach prospects.
1. Knowledge sharing, not selling. The most direct social media benefit is that most people who frequent social media sites share experiences, opinions, etc. I would extend that to say, they share recommendations, what works, what does not work, tips and strategies to accomplish a specific business goal or target.
2. Social media, social networking sites attract like-minded people. If you’re trying to stand out from your competition, hosting a social media site (like a blog) is a smart move. Companies that host a site where business people/customers/users congregate will have an unfair competitive advantage.
3. Keep customer conversations that start offline (trade shows, user groups) going. Microsoft’s techies initially began blogging to extend the relationships they started with developers at annual conferences. Developer interactions would begin to deteriorate between the conferences, so enter blogging. Many credit blogging by large numbers of its programmers with Microsoft’s rise from an almost hated brand to one of the top 10 global brands.
4. Start small. Ask 12 of your most loyal customers what type of web site interaction they would like to try. Would they like a message board?
Using a form of social media, like all traditional marketing programs is a long term commitment. Someone on your team should be prepared to ‘publish’ something three times a week or daily.
Social media is a new method to accomplish an old business goal: establishing and nourishing customer relationships.
Any votes out there for a social media of choice? Message boards? How about group blogs? Would like to hear your thoughts.
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