Social Media and Business

It’s about perspective, the strategy and solving problems.

For the past few years we have seen a rise in interest related to social media. More and more individuals and businesses have been trying to figure out what it is. Individuals have been using it to communicate with friends and colleagues. Businesses have begun to use it to reach out to their customers and prospects. As more and more businesses get involved with using this form of communication it is imperative that they understand what they are getting into. At this point, social media is more than an infant; it is a toddler that can have some serious temper tantrums. So let’s keep in mind that most people want to do the right thing, they just don’t know what it is.

Regardless of the size of your business you still have to consider the buying process that a buyer goes through.  Those steps are :

• Identify the problem
• Search for solutions
• Evaluate the solutions
• Decide on a solution
• Purchase the solution
• Reevaluate the solution

This process still applies to people using communicating over the internet through social media channels. What is interesting is that at any stage of the buying process the buyer can turn to social media to help them through that stage. If you understand this you are one step ahead of your competition.  If you can solve their problem you win the sale. What do you have to do to win the sale…LISTEN. Remember that old saying Momma would tell us, “God gave us two ears and one mouth so we would listen twice as much as we speak.” That still applies in social media.

The selling process should be adopted here as well. There are usually less steps to remember when selling.

• Open by greeting you customer
• Discover their problem by listening and asking questions
• Recommend a solution
• Close the sale

I am of the firm belief that social media is not a commercial communications channel. When I say commercial I mean you should not start up a Twitter account and expect the masses to follow just because all you post are coupons, discount notifications or run a contest to give away goodies to your followers. It is kind of like that bad dream of when you went to school naked. You don’t realize what is happening until you look at yourself to figure out why people are looking at you funny.

Here is a strategy to try out. Pay it forward. Help someone and in turn they will help someone else.  If you see someone looking for help point them in the right direction. If you see a blog post that some may find interesting, share it. Use these new tools to help people solve problems and you will see that those people will use the same tools to solve your’s.