Is there really a social media etiquette when it comes to successfully marketing your business?

Social media itself can be a minefield for businesses and if not used correctly, it can become more of a hindrance than a help. There needs to be a fine balance when engaging online. Too strong a sales pitch or a hard sell will send people away. Too little engagement and you will struggle to find leads.

Here are a few tips on social media etiquette for successful marketing.

SET GOALS

Jumping into social media selling without a plan will hinder your efforts from the get-go. With no clear, defined goals, it is difficult to measure progress and adjust your strategy more accurately.

Make sure you set your goals before you start selling.

How many people would you like to contact per day? How many leads would be ideal for you to generate?

Putting these goals in place before you get started will enable you to stay focused and measure your success.

ENGAGE

Social selling is all about engagement and communication between you and a prospective customer. Engage at a personal level and don’t use your platform to broadcast generic marketing messages.

Be personable and build relationships.

You may think that this is a long winding route, but overall it gets the best results. People will feel a connection to you and your business and therefore, are more willing to purchase from you. People buy people, remember!

BE AUTHENTIC

Be yourself and show your personality. The more you act like yourself on social media, the easier it is to build trust with people. If you’re not committed to genuinely forging a relationship on your social media, then it will show through and come across as fake. Not something you want to portray online.

ADD VALUE

When engaging with someone on social media, it’s important to add value to the conversation. Blind pitching of your service/product on social media is the worst thing to do and will be detrimental to your sales cycle. Instead, offer something of value that can solve a problem. You want a prospective customer to think of you as a trusted resource.

LISTEN

There is a lot of information to be found on social media from industry news, competitor’s features to customer pain points and much more. All you have to do to gain this is to listen. Simply logging into your social media accounts just to send out blanket messages will create a missed opportunity for researching, listening and engaging with potential customers.

BUILD TRUST

We all know that the best way to close a sale is to establish yourself as a trusted resource to a potential customer. Once you have their trust, the sell becomes easier. However, this is not something to do on social media! Once you’ve built the trust, move the conversation offline and use either the telephone or email to close a deal.

If you still need a hand with your social media marketing, then why not contact us to see if we can help you.