Gone are the days of cold calling and hard selling. In fact, 98% of sales professionals believe that building relationships is the most important part of selling. I agree.
Social media should facilitate the process of building relationships, but it turns into a distraction very often. You get bombarded by advertising. You feel spammed by your “friends”. You even get added to groups and communities without your permission. Yikes! Something needs to change.
Let’s talk about the basics of relationship building
Relationship building requires a two-way conversation. With social media, if all you do is sharing, sharing, and more sharing, you are missing the entire point.
Social media is not about you. It’s about them. Your target. Some experts call them “your ideal buyer profile”. Others call them “your future buyer persona”. For the most part, I find that business owners have a clear understanding of who they want to target. The most common mistake is that they don’t know how to attract their attention. Therefore, they feel like they are talking to ghosts and they can’t see the ROI.
Shift your social media approach by adopting this principle: It’s not about me. It’s about them. In fact, my book, The 6 Golden Rules of Social Media, has this as one of the Golden Rules. Perhaps you already have my book but just in case, you can grab a copy here.
Consumers usage of social media
This infographic from Statista should give you a hint of the content that your future buyer is looking to receive from you.
- Consumers read stories
- Consumers read reviews
- Consumers love to find deals
- Consumers love to be recognized by brands
- Consumers share brands that they are proud of
To build relationships with social media, you must offer value. This is how people are going to trust you. This is how you will begin to build and maintain meaningful relationships with prospects to your business. This is how you will gain new clients and customers and how you will keep them always coming back. Especially if you are developing your personal brand.
How to use social media to build relationships? Here are 50 ideas.
- Make it easy for them to find what’s in it for them.
- Provide meaningful content. Don’t know what they want? Ask them.
- Show your passion for the people you serve. People love seeing that you care about people.
- Find like-minded individuals and play team. You like their content and they like yours.
- Be relevant. People love fresh content.
- Be clear when you’re asking for help.
- Never take a single relationship for granted. Make them feel like you care about them.
- Find a platform where your message can be heard louder.
- Show respect for other leaders. Learn how to be a follower.
- Make it about the experience, not about your product or service.
- Give before ask to receive.
- Share real stories.
- Own your mistakes.
- Invite people to be a part to your inner circle.
- Stay active in your local community.
- Don’t worry about the number of followers. Worry about making your numbers count.
- Be grateful.
- Get personal, not private.
- Think of long-term results and not quick fixes. Especially when you are getting connected with influencers.
- Show that you are human.
- Take every opportunity to gain feedback.
- Recognize your best customer/clients.
- Survey your customers and listen to their opinions.
- Be appreciative of your followers.
- Offer your help.
- More than giving them an offer, DO what is best for them.
- Use social media to introduce a connection.
- Give them an idea.
- Share a tool that is working for you.
- Compliment them for something that called your attention. “Hey, you look really nice in that picture. Where did you get those shoes?”
- Buy something from them.
- Invite them to a networking event that you’re attending.
- Take your offline connections to your online world.
- Ask them questions about what they offer.
- Remain in silence when you don’t have anything appropriate to say.
- Stay accountable.
- Stay true to your value.
- Don’t miss their important moments.
- Make them feel special.
- Be inspiring.
- Acknowledge their brilliance.
- Create the WOW effect. For example, for their birthday, make a video.
- We all have bad days, be supportive.
- Ask questions about their family.
- Ask questions about their career.
- Discover their dreams.
- Engage with them in conversations about their favorite team or sport.
- Review their profile before asking common questions like “where do you live?” Show that you have read their information.
- Respect where they are.
- Always get their permission to “pitch” your offers. Never tag them!
How much time should you invest in building relationships?
Time is your most valuable asset. We recommend having a strategy and a system in place that can help you reach your goals faster.
How can you apply this strategy to your business?
We understand that your business might have specific needs. In fact, we would love to hear more.
Book a complimentary 30 min call so we can chat about it.
Now… is your turn to implement. Can you comment below, what are your top 5?
To your success,
Jess
