5 Steps to a Social Media Avalanche of Customers

This is a great article by By Doug Firebaugh about how to build a massive following using Social Media. Doug starts out with “Build it and they will come”… Not!

Which to me rings so true… Although in the early days of building a website and selling something, it actually was Build it and they will come” for most of us that had a head start on the rest of the webpreneurs online.

These days you can build a blog or video site and you can still be lacking connections.

Connection is the nuclear core of social media. But you must make an effort in order for that to happen.

Whether you have a social media home busíness, traditional brick and mortar business, or an online business, you must get into the social trenches and connect and converse. It is that simple and that plain.

These days It’s all about connecting and creating an engaging conversation with people that draws them towards you.

But why are people in social media not doing that?

Maybe they do not know this powerful 5 step “Avalanche Process” for getting new customers and keeping them in social media.

The first thing you must do is connect with the social media culture. It is what marketing is about in social media. Some people think that they can be anti-social in social media and think they can broadcast their message and people will still come.

That simply is not going to happen. Not in social media. You do not build ‘it’ but instead, build relationships that can become doorways and then eventually become customers.

Here is the “Avalanche Path” you can follow:

1) Connect –>  2) Conversation –>  3) Value –>   4) Doorway –>   5) Customer

Let’s take a quick look at each step:

1) Connect

Connection with people is where success in social media starts. Connect with people on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on Youtube, on Orkut, or every other niche site out in the social sphere that matters. You must connect.

Here’s a little tip:

Connect to those who are looking for you. They will find you if you are visible, and accessible to
connect to.

2) Conversation

This step is where the conversation with people starts. You talk about the prospect and where they want to go. You talk about what they want to talk about. You study their profile, pictures and videos on their social sites because you can learn a lot just by paying attention.

Then make sure that you stay in touch and listen when they are communicating with you. If you do that, they will want to stay connected to you.

3) Value

This step is where you bring in the magnet to pull them towards your message. Show them value they can obtain with your message in their life. Show them how your message can help expand, broaden, enlarge and improve their life. You do it through tips and how to’s in videos and blog posts and podcasts, as well as tweets and twips. Show them how you can make their life easier and show them how to do something they want to learn. You show them how to be or do something. If you can expand the size of their dreams, you can get them as a customer.

The more value people perceive you have for them the more likely they will walk through the “Doorway.”

4) Doorway

This is the doorway to conversion where you convert them to a customer. You must convert prospects into customers if you are going to have any kind of business. That is simple to do.

Give them an offér where “No” is impossible to say. That is the secret. Give first and then make the proposition so compelling they cannot say “No.” We do it all the time. We just ran a social media special on our training products and it blew the roof off our shipping department. It has created a flood of new customers and new orders for us. All we did was give them an offer that was difficult to turn down.

The secret of success we experienced can be found in the word “Give.”

Give away something they must have, and something that will improve their life, and they will get it.

5) Customer

This final step is where they purchase your message, products, or webinar or event. This is the beginning of your relationship though – not the end.

Here you must start building the relationship between you and the customer even more.

Give more than they expected and throw something in for free they were not expecting. Give them a free download or ebook and let them see a Private video collection as a special.

Encourage more. Make sure that you send a note of encouragement and stay in touch with them.

Thank them more. Make sure they know you are thankful for their business and connection. We send out free downloads all the time to say thanks that some people paid $$$ for in the past. Thank them in everything you do and they will come back for more.

Get your customers addicted to your Value, Message and Emotions. They will become more than a customer. They will become a loud speaker for you and tell everybody you know you are the best at what you do.

That is what you want to happen in your home business or traditional business in social media marketing.

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Using LinkedIn For You and Your Business

This is a great article I found by Jay Massey of Coco Design that shares some great inside tips and tricks about dialing in LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a professional, business networking tool that is too easily lumped into the social networking service. Even though many of the same modes of operation are employed, the focus is on professionals, professional dialog, professional opportunities, and companies.

This list of LinkedIn best practices was compiled from my work with clients, colleagues and friends who are trying to maximize their professional opportunities. I hope it is also helpful for you.

Get LinkedIn
If you are working, you need to be LinkedIn. If you are not working, you really need to be LinkedIn (however, it would have been better to be LinkedIn when you had a job). If you are a college student, you need to be LinkedIn. The president of the United States is LinkedIn… just do it.

Add Your Picture
A photograph not only personalizes your profile, it completes it. Even though LinkedIn may no longer use a faceless silhouette like other social sites, as shown here, you must keep in mind that this profile is about you, put a face on it.

Finish Your Profile
If you are currently using LinkedIn, or at a minimum signed up for it, finish your profile. Your profile should display 100% Complete. If not, LinkedIn makes it easy with a profile wizard. Typically, you can click on anything green and the wizard recommends ways to improve your profile completeness. It will suggest things to do like; write a recommendatíon, request a recommendation, add more people, add another job, add educational info, etc. The wizard helps get you to a point of basic critical mass; displaying your completed profile (education & job information) and about 20 connections.

Personalize Your LinkedIin URL
The more professional and easier to remember your URL is, the better. More importantly, you need to get your personalized LinkedIn URL before someone else, with a similar name, gets it first.

Now that you have a personalized URL, add it to your business email signature so that everybody who gets an email from you -

1) knows you are using LinkedIn,
2) can request to connect to you, and
3) learns about your capabilities when they review your profile.

Answer Questions
This is a great way to build credibility and expertise points. When you answer a question on LinkedIn, the person who asked the question can mark the best answer. The more “best answers” you have, the more expertise distinction you receive in your profile. This is also a great way to connect with people of similar interests or issues.

Asking questions is a good way to receive help from other industry experts and colleagues. It is also good for informal polling. Just do not make it a sales promotion. You will chase people away.

Ask Others if They Use LinkedIn
When you meet someone that you would like to maintain a professional connection with, ask them if they are using LinkedIn and if the would mind if you sent a connection request. This is generally a good question after trading business cards.

Grow Your Connections
Once you have your account to 100% with 20+ connections, you will have created a little momentum. To help keep that going, review your connections’ connections. Chances are you will know a few of those people. Then each time someone connects with you take a quick look at their connections… you may find one or two that you have a relationship with as well. Send a link request.

Important – Do NOT send invites to people you do not truly have a relationship with. If you receive too many “I don’t know this person” clicks on your request, you will be required to know everybody’s email address to request a connection in the future. Bad juju.

Give and Get Recommendations
LinkedIn is like a living, online professional resume/vita. What makes LinkedIn better than a resume that says, “References available upon request”, is that references are displayed for all to see. These recommendations are written in the words of the sender, you cannot edit them. If there is a problem with a recommendatíon, you can easily request a revision or choose not to display it. Note: you can only request a recommendation from someone who is currently using LinkedIn.

Outbound Links
Your profile allows you to have three outbound links with labels like “My Company”, “My Website”, “My Blog”, etc. I recommend you change the label to “Other” for all three since you can add personalized keywords to the label enhancing the SEO for the target sites. For example, I could link to this article with the label text “LinkedIn Best Practices Article” to help with my search engine rankings for that keyword phrase. You can also use the “Other” label for Facebook & Twitter links.

Join Groups
By joining Industry and interest-related groups you are connected with a larger group of professionals within that sector. This makes it easier for you to invite others in the same group to connect without the need for knowing their email address. Again, you need to be careful here. Unsolicited invitations could get you hit with a few “I don’t know this person” clicks.

Jobs Area
The jobs area is not only for people looking for work. It is also an excellent place for businesses to list job opportunities. Our small company does not use Monster, Career Builder, Ladders, etc.; it would simply be too overwhelming. When we are looking for someone, we only use LinkedIn Jobs. Not only can I review the person’s professional profile and associations, we can get an idea of how closely we are connected. Job postings can be sent directly to people in your list of contacts and they usually have good recommendations for potential candidates.

LinkedIn Company
If you are a business owner add your company to the Company’s area. If your company is already listed, make sure the information is accurate and up to date.

Install the Toolbars
LinkedIn has both a browser toolbar and an Outlook toolbar. The former works well with Gmail, with both IE & Firefox and, of course, the latter works with Microsoft Outlook. The toolbars add a LinkedIn icon next to a person’s email addresses in your mailbox. This enables you to see their profile information and makes it easier to send an invitation to connect.

Givers Gain
Bottom line, the more you give the more you get back. The more information you share about yourself, the better the search feature will return you or your company as a result. The more recommendations you give, the more likely someone is to give you one. The more questions you ask or answer the more likely you are to connect with people of similar interests that you may not ever have had the chance to meet.

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Position Yourself As An Expert Using Social Media

It’s fairly easy to position yourself as an expert using Social Media. If you can determine HOW you will brand yourself and or your company, you can become an expert almost over night. You must create a profile that matches what it is you are positioning yourself as… You must also do this across the internet using ALL the major Social Networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, DIGG, Youtube, etc.

You’ll also need to develop a Social Bookmarking strategy. By this I mean create lots of relevant content using the sites I have mentioned earlier. Get your knowledge out there and begin participating in groups and adding valuable content for others.

You should also develop a strategy using video. Did you know Youtube gets over 13 Billion Views? That’s Billion with a ‘B’. Twitter has over 8 Million users and is growing by 40% per month and Facebook has over 200 million members.

Social networking ISN’T for teenagers either. 65% of Social Network users are adults between the ages of 35 and 55 years old and is the fastest growing group of users to date.

With Corporate America like Coca Cola, Bank of America and IBM using Social Networking, it’s become the Wild West again using the Internet. Everyone from the Big Guys to local small business owners are reaping the rewards of tapping into Social Networking and gaining new prospects and clients in doing so.

No longer are the MySpaces and Facebooks over-run with lonely geeks sharing information on the latest trends or merchandise. It’s the large scale retailers that are wooing consumers and leveraging these networks with coupon offers and customer rewards when clicking through to their advertised bargain.

It’s easy to position yourself as an expert online. Simply start by growing a network of friends through facebook, twitter and linkedin. Make a list of your top 10 favorite Guru’s in your industry and concentrate on building a relationship first. Create your own groups and build a community of like minded individuals and remember… Give away lots of value. By this I mean ebooks, audios, reports and tips. Your followers will love you for it and you will emerge as the expert in your field.

Help others first and your following will grow.

Mick