The First Step to Social Media Success ….
is listening.
It’s the one most often skipped.
Have you noticed? Posting flyers, and promoting your programs, and your services, your announcements on your social media to the extent that it outweighs listening to your customers makes social media seem like something you know you “have to do” and you “have to be there” but find it a time or energy drain that isn’t getting you anywhere.
The best way to sell more services and products and keep more of the customers who’ve bought is to listen to what they’re saying.
If they’re not talking: ask.
Are you polling?
Do you provide surveys?
Do you respond to customer concerns and requests online?
Do you take it offline and into private as soon as you publicly acknowledge the comment?
Do you circle back regularly to prior clients and participants (with ideally a third-party: not you) asking them for feedback?
When you ask your customers instead of guessing, they’ll tell you what they want and are willing to pay for.
There are about 5-8 MUST ASK questions that get you the answers you want.
Sometimes in the asking process, you can create a new client on the spot, because you’ve opened up a conversation that never otherwise would have happened.
When you ask THEM..instead of assuming what you think they need will be what makes them buy, you will have more successful programs, more successful clients, and be more successful, potentially in less time.
Where’s the wasted time on social media come?
Just “being there.” You’re posting information without an objective? Stop.
Trying to go right to influencing, the next step in social media strategy. You really can’t influence someone with content unless you’ve created content THEY are asking for and actively seeking. You post blog links or articles and no one is reading them, commenting or sharing? It’s a good sign that you’ve written what you think is important (and very well may be) without any cause and effect. They have to want to read it because it’s tied to what they want.
Going right to networking which is interacting with others either in your niche or targeting your ideal customers. Have you listened to them? Supported them? Asked how you could? What they need? How will what you do support their mission?
Going right to selling. The worst social media mistake you can make, unless you are paying for ads that target your market. Then you have to consider you’re going to need to pay for traffic to your free content, not to a program. You don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date. Similarly the people on social media may not have ever met you. If they feel you’re simply selling selling selling, they won’t very likely take the next step with you and even get on your list. People expect to be sold to if they give you their email address. They expect to see ads relevant to their interests. They don’t like your page so that you can sell to them.
