How to do business on social media

Some people get it wrong when networking face to face,  so I guess it’s worth pointing out that – when doing business via social media - people are NOT there to be sold to.

This means, just like networking, your communication should be light, friendly and conversational.

And that communication should mostly NOT be about your own product or service but about regularly sharing something that's relevant and interesting to your target market. 

What you're trying to do is persuade fans or followers to become leads;  those leads to become prospects and the prospects to finally become customers. 

This requires relationship building not selling.

Along the way - in terms of “birds of a feather stick together” – you’re trying to get those initial followers to share your posts with other like-minded individuals so that they too  start their way through the process fans to followers to prospects to customers.

This won’t happen if you’re paying lip service to the content in a desperate attempt to put something – ANYTHING - out on social media. It’s absolutely vital to remember that you’re only as good as your last post. 

This has become even more critical on Facebook where your post will be pulled out of the News feed of those who once liked you and shared your content but who have since stopped doing so…

This is because  “the goal of News feed is to show people the right content at the right time.” 

So what makes high quality content? Facebook has actually answered this for you in their most helpful blog post. And indeed, this is relevant across ALL content marketing activities.

This can be read in full here, but to summarise, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your target market who will be thinking: 

• Is this timely and relevant content?
• Is this content from a source I can trust?
• Would I share it with friends or recommend it to others?
• Is the content genuinely interesting to me or is it simply trying to gain News Feed        distribution? (e.g., asking for people to like the content)
• Would I call this a low quality post?
• Would I complain about seeing this content in my News Feed?

In summary, it's better to do a few well thought through posts than a high number of irrelevant one. 

For those tearing their hair out trying to find the time to churn out an increasing number of posts it might be helpful to remember that less is more. Perhaps an elegant sufficiency should be your goal...

If you need help with social media campaigns or content just get in touch via janebuswell@businessfulcrum.co.uk 

Thanks to cloudy thoughts on Flickr for the pic