As businesses embrace blogging, Facebook, and Twitter at an ever-faster rate, the clutter and garbage being put out there is increasing exponentially. Many people believe that using social media will increase their company’s sales, but few companies are seeing a positive ROI on social media use.
I see two problems in how companies are using social media.
1. They are too focused on sales
Everyone can sniff out someone who has joined the ‘online conversation’ just to make a quick buck. Oddly enough, some companies actually think Internet users are dumb, or dumb enough to fall for some cheap online marketing strategy.
2. They build a fantastic community, but don’t sell
All companies that participate in social networks online expect some form of return on investment. Companies are not throwing cash at developing and maintaining social media strategies because they want to build a community of admirers who don’t buy their products. If a company is incapable of discretely selling to their followers they will eventually abandon their social media strategy due to a lack of return on their investment.
The above two problems are easily solved by first looking at what businesses wish to accomplish.
Businesses wish to build a community of admirers who eventually become paying customers – who eventually attract other people to their business.
So, in the end, proper use of social media for business is about sales, it’s about making money. And therefore, proper use of social media is a form of sales.
Sales is still king no matter how you look at it. And despite the advent of the Internet, online social networks, and other modern technologies, the sales process remains largely unchanged. And thinking that you have to change your sales process when using social media will lead to confusion and ultimate failure.
Businesses need to remember to approach the use of social networks with the same approach they would in making any sale. That approach is as follows.
- Join a conversation within a group of potential customers
- See what people want, need or crave
- Show that what you offer adds value to their business or life
- Make the sale
Remember
People don’t like to be sold to but they still like to buy.
Pushy salespeople are sure to be exposed but salespeople who are incapable of ‘closing’ are just as bad. Business is about making sales, making money, and if social media is used properly, it not only has the ability to add tremendous value and contribution to a community, but it can make a business a lot of money as well.
The sales process is not ‘pushy’ and proper use of social media for business should by no means appear pushy; instead, proper use of social media should follow the same strategy as all great salespeople – expose what your potential customer needs and offer a product or service to fill that need. Add value to a community before attempting to sell to that community. But in the end, companies must sell something, because that’s what business is all about.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
very interesting! as a consumer, tacky and tasteless sales strategies only turn me away from buying a product. look forward to reading more.
Thanks Zoey,
Tacky and tasteless sales strategies are all to easy for companies to use online because of the free tools that social networks provide – its more important now than ever for companies to avoid those strategies that turn you away from buying a product. Thanks for the contribution!
Brian
Good Point. I like how clear and structured you point this out. By the way. I think that social medias are overrated in every aspect. Sure it’s easier to get in touch with a potential partner or customer, but this works only for the first step. Once you got someones email or phonenumber everything is like it has been for the last 10 years. It won’t change the world.
Furthermore I believe that mainly so called “internet marketers” (or informational bases business) face the problem of wrong usage of social medias. Because they often seem to provide no value. They heard somewhere that it is cool and in to sell your own ebook, than they bought a quick-guide on ebay for 10 bucks and got a cheap template for their website and that’s it. But if you provide real value than it shouldn’t matter if your online promotion is a bit cheesy.
So for example if Brian would promote his ebook about how to find manufacturere overseas, there is little he could do wrong, because for someone who faces that problem of having no experience in those kind of business, every drop of knowledge and experience is useful.
Hi Jens,
Yea, social media is overrated – for sure! And you hit the problem on the head – there are a ton of people who think ’social media is cool’ so they write and ebook and make a website on the subject. They have NO experience and NO success in business to speak of…people talk about how business can use social media to increase sales, but they have no business of their own other than a phony website. The Internet makes it too easy for things like this to exist so we have to be careful to avoid them. Before I trust anybody online claiming to be an expert I want to see concrete examples and success stories.
So for instance, in my seminars I tell everybody I am not a social media expert – I have simply used it successfully for business purposes in the last year. I give examples that illustrate this.
Thanks for stopping by Jens!
I agree a lot with what has been said in the post and follow-up comments. It seems that marketers see social media as a tool for coercion rather than a tool for building value.
The simple fact is that there are some brands I want to associate with and it’s the brand’s job to provide the avenue for me to do so.
Mark,
Yea, that’s something I didn’t touch on…that although the company/brand must ultimately make sales from their participation in social media, their main job is to provide the avenue for their followers to associate with them.
Thanks for the input!