Tag : the go method

Is the Goal of Social Media to Turn Customers into Your Personal Evangelists?

Untitled-16
23Feb

Company evangelists.  I love this topic because I believe it is one of the most underutilized social media secret weapons.

I am not referring to evangelists in the religious way, but rather fervent supporters of your company and products/services.  If they have big mouths, even better!

Open up the mailing list spreadsheet you just completed in the last chapter, and focus in on your past/current client sheets, as these folks are used to your products or services and are familiar with you and your company.

Looking at this list, highlight by bolding anyone who has:

• Frequently expressed their happiness and satisfaction vocally

• Provided valuable feedback that you have used to enhance your processes

• Referred business to you based on their confidence in your service

• Provided a testimonial in writing or online

• Continued to be a loyal client

These are the first batch of potential evangelists, so take your time going through the list and highlight everyone who fits the criteria mentioned above.  Don’t be shy. The more the merrier!

Also, you want to think about those who might not be on your spreadsheet as a prospect, client, or past client.  It is time to wrack your brain, and add any people to the spreadsheet who might fit these criteria:

• People who would spread the word on a new initiative with little to no prodding

• People who have never worked with you, but are familiar with you and confident in supporting your business

• Business partners who would benefit from your business success

• Event organizers where you served as a speaker or advertiser

• Experts or opinion leaders whose endorsement would be beneficial

• Family members who move in circles where your target market exists

• Personal and professional friends who are always happy to help

• Clients with whom you have had a long and successful relationship

This list is just as important as, if not more important than, the ones in your spreadsheet already, as you will not have much trouble getting them to help you spread the word or endorse you and your business.

I’m sure you are asking, “Why am I doing this?”  Well, once you begin to roll out your social media marketing campaign, these company evangelists play an extremely crucial role in ensuring your level of initial and long-term success.

Company evangelists will help you:

• Enhance your credibility

• Generate leads and referrals

• Gain testimonials for your website and social media

• Spread your message virally via social media

• Provide guidance and support when you first venture out into social media

• Provide the crucial first numbers in connections and followers in social media

• Provide protection during your first month or two out of the gate by creating goodwill

Now – get to work!

Read More

Want More Social Media Connections? Then Put Your Email Database to Work!

Go-Agency-Blog-Template-29-200x300
23Feb

I am sure you have heard others talk about the importance of building a mailing list.  Businesses just like yours have been amassing potential customer data for decades.  If you have a sales department, it is likely that they have a lead list that includes names, postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses so that they can engage prospects and translate them into sales.

If you have been gathering this information and saving it in a central place, well done and my hat’s off to you!  If you are organizing all of this information for the first time, well, you will have a challenging time.  Notice I used “challenging” instead of impossible…because it isn’t impossible in the least!

By centralizing your customer information, you will be able to market your business more effectively across the board and roll out a social media marketing campaign that is both effective and painless.  As the members of your list are already engaged with your brand, you can easily add them to your social networks by using some simple functions on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.  You will not only be able to grow your connections, but also engage with your list members in a more enriching way.

To get started, open a blank spreadsheet.  You can use a cloud-based customer resource management tool (CRM), but if you want to keep it easy, spreadsheets work fine.

Make three separate sheets in your spreadsheet and title them in the following order:

1.  Prospects (leads who have not done business with you)

2.  Current Clients (anyone who is currently doing business with you)

3.  Past Clients (anyone who is no longer doing business with you)

I like to break down customers into these three separate sheets to keep a clear delineation amongst the data that I am trying to organize.

Next, set up three column headings on each sheet:

1.  Company

2.  Contact

3.  Email

Now begin the compilation process.  (This is the not-so-fun part.  But think!  This will help grow your business offline AND online!)  Look for email addresses where they will be found most readily.

•  Professional email accounts

•  Personal email accounts (for any customer crossover)

•  Trade magazines, newspapers, blogs, and websites

•  Business cards

•  Marketing collateral (pamphlets, brochures, etc.)

•  Conference/event guides

•  Association databases

Last, import the data to their corresponding sheets.

Once you have completed this process, you will have a nice, tidy batch of information that can be utilized for social media by simply following the instructions on each site, and that can be used for newsletter mailings and email marketing.  The other great thing about this list is that you can also use it to locate people that you are looking for on social media.

For example, say that you are looking for a prospective customer whose name is John Smith on LinkedIn.  Well, that could be a tricky name to search for on LinkedIn, as it is so common.  But by having easy access to his email address, you can copy and paste that into the search and be able to find him more readily.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are many ways to utilize your lists…and the opportunities will just continue to grow.  Like I mentioned, preparing items for your social media marketing campaign will provide benefits to other aspects of your business marketing.  Social media is the oil that makes the marketing

Read More
x
Bulletproof Marketer