Social media should be a two-way street. Social media should not be all one-sided. It should not only be about your business broadcasting all your offers or blasting your marketing efforts out to the masses. Here’s how to get those conversations started in Halifax, Dartmouth and elsewhere.
When you broadcast content, you are trying to shove your message down the throat of the consumer. Now marketing is not a dirty word, but we have gone from a PUSH economy to a PULL economy.
What do I mean when I talk about a PULL economy? When the customer has a need, they go to the Internet to search for what they want. They PULL the information they want to them.
So what do I mean by a PUSH economy? That’s where you are pushing your marketing out. The problem with much of PUSH marketing is that people ignore it or worse, turn you off.
The best you can do is create content that gets people talking after they have PULLED it their way. When they start talking, that’s your opportunity to bring value to the conversation. And it does not start with you saying… “Want to by a house?”
Conversations create opportunity. Having the right conversations with the right people can create visibility, likability and trust. Just think of your last in person networking event. Did you create any opportunities when you entered the room and engaged others in conversations? The best communicators allow others to PULL the information out of them. Why should it be any different on social media?
Now don’t get me wrong, somewhere we have to ask for the business. But there is a time and a place to do it. Getting the customer to bring it up in the first place in the best way. And that starts with a great conversation.
So what is my advice?
So what do you post that can start great conversations? I use a statement followed by a question method of posting many times. For example… “I had a cheese sandwich. What did you have?” I can hear you cringing right now. But let me ask you this, how hard would it be for others to answer this question? Not very hard. With this type of question, people can answer and feel that their answer is a safe one. It’s when we ask hard questions, that people might get wrong, that they avoid answering all together.
Start conversations off with questions that anymore can feel they can safely answer. One one wants to feel like an idiot online. Maybe even questions that people can start answering with yes or no. Let take the conversation to a higher level. But remember this, you just don’t walk up to people and ask them if they want to buy a house. You ease into the conversation and see where it is going. Some conversations end up just casual and that’s OK. Some lead to business. My best advice is enjoy both and people will love you for it.
So here’s to a great day of business for you. Let’s get those conversations going.
