If you haven’t heard about social media marketing you must have been asleep for the past couple of years or else marooned on a desert island somewhere.

But do you really understand the power of using social media channels to promote your website or business and have you truly realised how powerful this strategy can be – if used correctly – to get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic?

While there has been an explosion of different services – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and ecademy being among the most popular – there is a BIG underlying problem…

… and it’s all centred about “follow-you-follow-me.”

Now I’ve been following the Social Media “follow-you-follow-me” debate with some interest for some time, but just in case you’re not sure what I mean by follow-you-follow-me, then this should help…

I’m a member of various Social Networking sites including LinkedIn, ecademy, Twitter and Facebook, but it amazes me that there is such a big fascination with “collecting” followers or contacts.

I’ve lost count of the number of requests I receive on a daily basis from one site or other to connect to or follow someone back – “if you connect to me I guarantee to connect to you and make your list of connections bigger.”

Incredibly there are some organisations who actively encourage their members to join and then link with as many people as possible and to quickly swap testimonials to build up “credibility.”

Hmmm

But if this is how people think you should use social media, they are missing some rather major points.

As an advocate of client relationship marketing, I FIRMLY believe that successful business is about building relationships – and that takes three things – time, trust and respect.

If you think someone should connect to you just because you link to them – even though they have had no direct experience of you, what you do or how you do it, quite frankly – you’re mad.

The principle of using social media to help grow your business is no different from any other channel to get your message out – it is still about:

  • focusing on the right kind or prospect who will truly benefit from the product or service you provide.
  • creating an ongoing relationship with that person.
  • standing out from your competitors and going “above and beyond the call of duty” in the eyes of the customer or client.

You need to focus on quality NOT quantity.

Do you really think that if you have 500+ contacts in LinkedIn that people believe you know them all personally and genuinely to a level where you could recommend them to your BEST CLIENT without fear of anything going wrong or losing that client?

Even though you might know a lot of people, just think about those you keep in touch with regularly – 20 people, 50 people, maybe 100 at the outside if you are very sociable – and that includes your family and work colleagues!

You need to focus on targeting your message NOT the traditional marketing random “shot gun” approach.

When I first joined ecademy, one of the first things I did was to have a look around – clicked on a few profiles, did a few searches – basically just checking things out before I got started. But I then received a deluge of unsolicited sales pitches for products and services I didn’t want or need, by people I didn’t know – simply because I had look at their profile (by accident in some cases).

Even if I was looking for the product or service they were selling, would I buy from them?

No.

Would you buy from someone you had just met without talking to them, without finding out about them, without building confidence that they are able to help you solve your problem?

I find the practice insane.

“But that’s what the profiles are for…” I hear you say.

Yes, profiles are to give you the background to that person, to their experiences, to their capabilities, but… are you going to buy from them?

Apple have an excellent reputation for MP3 players, but not everyone who has an MP3 player owns an iPod (although this is probably a bad example as Apple certainly has more credibility than someone you just “met” through a Social Networking site!)

Anyway, back to my point…

Web 2.0 and Social Media is about putting the control firmly in the hands of the prospect or client. It’s about THEM having the control over what marketing messages they receive, who they connect with, who they follow and learn from.

It puts the onus on us as business owners and marketers, to have or say something interesting enough to prospects for them to stay following you.

Expecting me to connect with you just because you connect with me is absurd.

If I link with someone on twitter, it’s because I find what they are saying of interest to me, either personal interest (such as Stephen Fry – @stephenfry) or for my business (such as Ed Dale – @Ed_Dale), NOT because I want to win a popularity contest.

If people want to follow me because what I say is of benefit and interest to them then great, if not then fine – I can’t be everyone’s cup of tea…

Be honest… Would you REALLY recommend someone you had just met to you best client, just because you met them at breakfast or another network meeting?

Please.

No one in their right mind would!

Would I risk the relationship I had with my best client by recommending someone I had only just met, the quality of who’s product or service is as yet unknown?

No chance – yet I still see it going on all the time.

Running a successful business today is STILL about building honest, trusting relationships with your clients. It’s about giving them what they want that fulfils their needs. It’s about REALLY understanding your clients, and being seen by them to do what will be of benefit to them.

It’s about farming, not hunting.

Interestingly, I am coming across an increasing number of people who talk about building relationships – of “partnering” with their clients – yet once they have won the business, they lose interest on the farmed client and get out the gun to go hunting the next victim – it happened to me quite recently.

If I read or see something of interest to me, then I am more likely to want to see what else you have to say. If you continue to say things which interest me or fill my needs in some way, then I am even more likely to seek your services. If I then buy something from you and it helps me and does what you said it would ( i.e. NOT making false promises just to make the sale), then chances are – unless you screw up in an amazing way – you will have me as a client for life.

Does it mean you won’t get any business because you have 20,000 followers on twitter? No, of course not. All traditional approaches to marketing have been based on playing the numbers game.

But I’d rather have 100 qualified followers who are benefiting from the services I provide, and are following me because they want to any day.

Social Media if used correctly can be a powerful way of building your business, but as with any marketing tool or strategy, plan how you are going to use it and the reasons why behind your choice.

Don’t fall into the follow-you-follow-me trap, because I don’t believe it will help you in the long run.

Think about your clients and focus instead of providing great content, and allow people to come to you.

Should you make recommendations?

Of course you should… if you know and trust the person you are recommending, but remember it backfires on YOU if anything goes wrong!

Now, onwards…

… to your success!

Jez

P.S. Another pet hate of mine is where I get added to an email list and then spammed with a pitching email. Just because they have a phrase in your email template which reads “you are receiving this email because you have had dealings with our company in the past” doesn’t mean I agreed to receive emails from them.

They should at the very least have the decency to have a working opt-out procedure (actually a legal requirement in many countries now).

If I haven’t asked to receive information from them AND I ask to be removed from their mailing list, but they carry on and keep emailing me, is it likely to get me buying from them in the future, or more likely that I might even go out of my way to NOT buy from them, ever?