Over the course of this year, I’ve had to remove a large number of local fan pages and profiles from my list, others from my newsfeed. The reason? They were “selling” all the time.
None of their posts were valuable to me in any way. Worse yet, I got yelled at by one when I was trying to make an order for an item on their profile. (This will become subject to another posting shortly: Put some caps in CAPSLOCK!)
If you are going to use social media as a channel for marketing, use the etiquette in place. For example CAPS, are for yelling. Long ago nerds congregated and decided this, you can not undo this. You can Scream in excitement with CAPS, you can RAISE your voice in caps and sadly if you ARE online for business… your audience will feel yelled at if your line is a string of caps dancing all over the screen. Aruban pages and profiles tend to overflow with Caps, as opposed to the pages of U.S. based companies, and mind you I follow a lot!
Back to our main thought, why should you vow never to SELL again, EVVAHH?? (Do you sense the dramatic loud voice?)
Because people tune out. Today I found a quote via a friend:
“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”
I will go a step further, on Facebook:
“No one cares about your business/product/titles/accomplishments, until they know how much you care about them!”
It goes back to the basics: Connecting!
And how do you connect? Here are this week’s 7 tips on how to connect via SOC-MED:
- Tell your story: Be your god-damned self and share your story. Stop selling and just be. A great tip delivered by Barry Moltz! People will remember you when they need you if they feel connected. What better way, than to have them know your story. Go back and think, what were you up to before you started toting your stuff?
- Ask a Question: Let your contacts tell THEIR story. On Social Media people flock enmasse to tell you their two cents, that are often $500 worth of text, time and energy. Welcome it, embrace them and make room in their minds for you.
- Comment on their postings, even non-related topics.
- Acknowledge what matters to THEM
- Share information about others: Freely support causes, you wont always succeed in making that group to join, you wont always make it, but in social media sharing is caring! You’re not in the social media scene just to draw eye balls to you and ONLY you. Connecting means showing you care.
- Offer to help: Simply letting them know you can help them figure out how to use your product, goes a long way.
Last… and probably the hardest lesson Aruba companies need to learn:
- Admit when you F’up: Sorry mates, things go wrong, people complain, you FAIL from 10:00 to 12:00, but if you don’t publicly admit and address… guess what, you will become EPIC FAIL.
If you are busy doing these you will likely have no time what-so-ever to post that well crafted sales pitch! Good for you! Go ahead and work avidly at connecting and surely when they are in pain, because that is why people buy, they will remember the girl who started making a sling because she was freaked out by the whopping 800 E price tag of a stroller. (Yep, that’s ONE of my stories, what’s yours?)
I’m posting my SOC-MED story soon!