Social Media Strategy : Stop Selling. Start Leading.
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”
So, This Happened...
Had a great meeting the other day with a prospect. A super nice guy, a guy very charged up about his business, a guy who LOVES business and has a real passion for the work that he is doing. He's got some challenges. He needs marketing. He called me. After a lively meeting, I agreed to put some thought into his challenges and come back with a proposal. Along the way, I had a few questions regarding his product, his marketing reach and most importantly, his digital marketing budget.
I received a few messages back and forth and when pushed for the monthly digital marketing budget, he finally wrote back and said: I guess around $450.00 a month.
Keep in mind, his business is probably doing about $1 million in annual revenue. He shared with me that several other companies just haven't been able to cut the digital marketing mustard and move his marketing needle. I found out why with that simple $450.00 number. Folks, $450.00 won't move any needles, especially not proportionately to a growing 1 million dollar business. Digital Marketing isn't 'cheap' just because it's on the internet.
Then, This Happened...
After I shared my thoughts on his budget, I see a few social media posts from him after the exchange. He decided to do it himself. Why not right? How hard can it be? Just hop on the Net, create a twitter account and Bob's your uncle, instant success. I start watching, he starts 'selling.' Every tweet, every linkedin PULSE article is about why you should buy his stuff. Buy today, All prices drastically reduced, you need to buy, buy, buy, buy. The digital marketing / social media trainwreck. After an onslaught of sales driven tweets, someone finally shut him down and called him out on it.
Folks, business owners, marketing managers, product managers, Social media is NOT for selling. In fact, trying to sell constantly on social media can have a huge adverse impact on your reputation. People don't want to be sold to today and they certainly don't want to be sold to on their social media channels.
Start building your tribe and lead
As marketing master Seth Godin points out in his book Tribes, Social Media is all about building a tribe. A tribe that wants to be led by you. A tribe that is hungry for your expertise, your wisdom, your leadership. A tribe will talk about you, share what you share, follow your business and ultimately, buy from you because you've earned their trust. It's simple permission based marketing. Once I trust you and give you permission, we can talk about how your products and services can enhance my life / business / home, etc..
Be a leader today and start building your tribe on social media, stop selling, start building trust. You'll be amazed at how much more effective your marketing efforts will be.
Need some help building a solid digital marketing / social media content strategy? Give me a call today at 407-830-4550. I can help you build a solid plan of attack and help you build your social media tribe. You can also click the shiny button below. Thanks for reading and sharing! Tom.