Posts Tagged ‘Small business’

A survey conducted by New York-based GfK Roper Consulting Group found that 76% of small-business owners think that social networking sites are not helpful in generating business leads or in expanding their operations.

This exact thinking is just why they are not seeing results. They are still looking for something measurable, such as business leads and sales. Social media is not a direct mail campaign, you are not telemarketing and this is not intended to serve as a platform for a product push.

In my opinion, social media is a tool we can use to build relationships with people that we normally would have never met, for companies it is a chance to directly connect with their target audience, and to appreciate their customers. Companies pay tons of money to find out what consumers think and this is an opportunity to listen, to connect and to find out directly from your audience, from your customers.

It is all in the way you think: So when you sign up for these online networking sites, the first thing to do before creating a profile is to change the way you think. If you are thinking how these new tools are going to benefit you, your pocket and the company, then you are not going to succeed.

What you should be thinking about is how can I be useful to my audience, what are their needs, their problems. How can I show my customers that they are appreciated, that their feedback matters to our organization and to the decisions we make.

Although there are companies signing up for social networking sites, I have noticed two things missing:

• Humanizing the organization and the faces behind it.
• Efforts spent on new prospects vs. current customers.

Some recommendations on how to humanize your organization:

- On your social networking sites use a photo of the person tweeting vs. a logo, if you would rather use your logo or if there are multiple people tweeting, you can include pictures of the ones tweeting on the twitter background, or in a photos section of the tool you are using. Here are twitter profiles where I feel like the company is more personable:

• Kodak -http://twitter.com/kodakCB
• Ford – http://twitter.com/scottmonty
• Communispace – http://twitter.com/CommunispaceCEO

- Build genuine relationships with people in your network and connect with them. Give them valuable information; ask them questions on what they think of your products/service.

- Within reason show vulnerabilities, none of us are perfect.

- Show that you have a personality, what are you views on things that are happening in the industry or in matters that your network is talking about.

- Have a link to a picture account such as Flickr or a place on your website where company events and the people that make up the company are shown. People can relate to a culture they can see vs. an invisible person behind a logo.

- Invest in a cause, one that you are passionate about and one that stays true to what your company is about, the same passion, the same emotion that led to you building your company.

Focus on your customers:

I have also seen a lack of appreciation for current customers, with all of the promotions and rewards being targeted to new customers.

So many companies forget who is there every day buying their cup of coffee over the coffee shop down the road, who every month buys their skin care regiment when there is a less expensive systems right within reach.

I think that all companies should work on tracking their consumers, whether the product is bought online or in a store. Start a campaign that goes with the packaging that will bring your in-store customers online, make sure you know who your current customers are so you can show them that you appreciate them and learn from them.

Listen, and truly engage with your current customers and followers, I have always felt that your current customers and your employees are your best brand ambassador. When the whole crisis situation happened with Dominion’s, the first things I thought were, eww that is gross, what a pr disaster, and that they needed to go back to basics and figure out why their employees had not one ounce of loyalty to the company.

A Customers First trends report notes that “Market research has proven that loyal customers or repeat customers represent 80% of your business.” So why in the world do companies only focus on new customers and leave their loyal fans behind. We all know that happy customers talk, that is why word of mouth is so powerful, and companies drop the ball on this time and time again.

Per btobonline.com only 15.5% of b-to-b marketers are counting customer retention as a top goal, this is a big mistake.

Take some of your current marketing dollars and invest them into a customer only campaign, hire your fans as brand ambassadors, gather their insight to make your next product or offerings even better, it will pay back dividends.