I recently did a live interview on Twitter for the Women Speakers Association on how to become a brand in demand to grow your small business. I thought the information would be helpful to all of you, my loyal blog readers, so here is the complete Q+A from the live conversation.
What does it mean to be a brand in demand?
When you build a powerful social media brand, corporations will come banging down your door to do business with you. It means that you no longer need to explain your solutions to customers. They already know what you do and your conversation becomes about price and availability. It’s the ideal position to be in as a small business owner or expert in your field.
How can you use social media to build a small business brand?
You should join in on the conversation where your best target customers are already online. Seek opportunities to position yourself as an expert. Look for places to demonstrate your expertise. Start blogging NOW. Serious business bloggers post new content 2-3 times per week.
What are the 6 C’s of social media marketing?
Connect online with any new contacts.
Communicate regularly with your contacts; don’t just try to see how many connections you can make. Reach out to your contacts to build report.
Share Compelling Content Look for places to share content about your subject matter expertise, consider starting a blog and be sure to share other people’s content, too.
Be Consistently Resilient Once you start sharing content you must keep it up. It takes 7-21 contacts to build a new relationship online.
Build Community Once you start sharing content regularly, you must engage with people and build personal relationships.
Turn The Relationship into Commerce Once you have like, know and trust with people, they will do business with you and you can turn your connection into commerce.
What is the HELP Mantra?
The HELP Mantra is an acronym that stands for:
Help Others First: I was on Twitter a year before attempting to sell anything.
Engage with People: Gone are the days of one way communication, people want to get to know you.
Listen First: Don’t assume you know the culture of the different social media sites. Facebook people are not like Twitter people. Make sure you are communicating the way people are using the specific social media site.
Promote Yourself with Care: Use a 4-to-1 ratio of sharing other people’s content over your own.
What is the first thing you should do to have an impact with social media?
Pick just one social media site to focus on. Don’t kill yourself trying to do five social media sites a day. Dominate one! Make sure you have a helpful website, make sure you know where your target customer is online and develop a content strategy. Start developing content 1-2 months before you launch your blog. Have a specific point of view; nobody pays attention to a “me too” brand. Have something to say.
What is #SmallBizChat?
Every wed 8-9 pm ET I host a weekly tweetchat for small business owners called #SmallBizChat. The mission of #SmallBizChat is to end small business failure. Each week we feature a guest & fans jump in with answers, too. We are the longest running chat for small business owners on Twitter. We started in Apr 2009, and have had over 200 shows. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat http://bit.ly/S797e
You write a lot about “friendraising” on social media. What does that mean?
“Friendraising” is what you must do first if you ever hope to do business with a social media contact. People do business with people they like, know and trust, especially online. It’s much harder to build relationships. You must put your time in to become a part of the online community and make friends then, people will support your business.
“3d Business Man Crossing The Finishing Line, Winner” courtesy of cooldesign / www.freedigitalphotos.com
The 6 C’s and H.E.L.P. complement each other nicely. I think a good exercise would be to identify the parallels between those two approaches, notice the areas of emphasis, and then create your unique plan for taking one step at a time.
For example: One of the C’s is “Communicate.” For me, that means lots of listening. (Otherwise, how will I know what to say?). That aligns perfectly with the L in H.E.L.P.
So, my first step is to use my social networks as a place to listen. This might take some discipline, because the temptation to talk can be overwhelming. But, one step at a time. The first step is to listen.
Thanks for these well-defined steps. They give good structure to a process that could otherwise take you on a wild ride!