Building Relationships and Engaging Clients with Social Media
New media and social networking success is all about building and leveraging relationships. Powerful relationships are built on trust and two critical “abilities” – likeability and credibility. Before you can expect others to value your input, you must first “earn the right to be heard” by being likable and credible. Social media makes it easier than ever to earn this right and build a magnetic brand that is authentic and eliminates the need for a “sales proposition”.
A magnetic brand lets others know what they can expect when interacting with you. It magnetic brand is attraction based (not sales based) because of the systematic way it draws your target market to you. In fact, your magnetic brand is a 24 hours promotions team. Once the core components are in place, it will attract pre-qualified clients to you “around the clock” as they will be attracted to your unique promise of value.This is the exact opposite of pushing (e.g. “selling”) your services to others.
The key to leveraging the attraction of your magnetic brand and the power of social media lies in having effective systems in place that systematically lead prospective clients and joint venture partners (“leads”) through a process that is designed to help you (i) close more deals, faster; (ii) reduce costs and (iii) increase revenue. At UpwardAction® we have designed a 5 step system that helps our clients accomplish these goals. Let's explore this system in a step-by-step manner.
Part One- Attraction. Lead attraction in magnetic branding and social media involves developing a profile and image that resonates with your target market. For maximum effect, pay attention to keywords and the energy conveyed by images.
Part Two- Maintenance. Lead maintenance in magnetic branding and social media involves having an automated system in place to collect the basic information of those who want to stay connected with you. I suggest using a service like Aweber or iContact to create a database of those who are attracted to you. An automated system is essential for staying in touch and in front of your market.
Part Three- Conversion. Lead conversion is magnetic branding and social media involves staying in contact with those who are in your database and who are watching and learning from you on social networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace). An effective lead conversation system will help your target market get to “know, like and trust” you at an accelerated pace.
Part Four- Retention. Exceptional service is central to building lasting relationships that yield dividends. Building a thriving sustainable business requires that you have systems in place to help you cater to the needs of your clients. Providing exceptional service requires you to over-deliver with your current offerings and continuously develop additional services that are relevant to the needs of your target audience.
Part Five – Referrals. A solid referral base is at the core of successful thriving businesses: happy clients referral their family, friends and colleagues. There is no more effective endorsement of your ability to deliver than the recommendation of a current or former client.
