the-real-deal-the-human-side-of-successful-social-media-marketingSocial media works for some, but not for everyone. Why not? While most businesses know that they need to engage on social, they don’t know how. Here are a few secrets that “the big boys” use that small businesses can take advantage of.

Start With Relevant Content

Everyone tells you that content is king. In fact, it’s repeated so many times that most people take it for granted. And yet, where is all this “quality content?”

Most of the Internet is filled with poorly-written, unhelpful or factually inaccurate, blog posts and articles. How do you stand above the noise? You get social media marketing help from Appiloque in Singapore. That’s how.

You see, it’s not always about “good quality.” It’s about having relevant content that has high entertainment value.

If users like you, they’ll listen to what you have to say. If they don’t like you, it doesn’t matter whether you’re telling them the truth or not. They won’t listen to you.

Start Telling Your Brand Story

Every good sales story is actually a story first, and sales material second. But, as business owners, we’ve been taught to sell, not tell. And, more specifically, you’ve been taught to keep giving away free samples, free information, and “engage” with prospects on social media.

But social media is where people are telling stories – life stories, political stories, religious stories, news stories. They’re not trying to pitch people on razors, pencils, computers, or what have you.

Be Helpful

Answer questions, ask questions, and participate in conversations. The secret here is that there is no secret. You know what people normally do on social media? Do that. Don’t try to inject your brand into the conversation in an awkward way. Instead, share information and gather a crowd that already believes in what you’re doing.

And, when you’re helpful online, guess what? People will turn around and reciprocate by buying from you. Maybe it won’t happen right away. But, they’ll always see you as the company that was there when they needed you. So, a paid product or service naturally makes sense when the time is right.

Stop Selling

Stop trying to sell on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It doesn’t work. For some, the ad platforms on these sites is a way for you to capture some leads and attention you need.

But, outside of that, you should be focusing on building relationships.

If you do take out ads, pay attention to what’s working and what’s not working in your industry. If you see an ad that runs continuously, copy it down and study it. Why is it working so well? Visit the competitor’s website. See what they’re offering and how it’s similar or different from what you’re offering.

But, when you go to place your ads on social media, use this as an opportunity to capture the user’s email address – this is what everyone else is doing. And, there’s a simple reason why. It works.

When you entice people with the right offer, that’s compatible with user expectations on social media, you’re more apt to get a higher response rate, higher opt-ins, and more positive response to your ads.

But, notice one thing that almost no one is doing on social media: making sales.

The most successful marketers use social media platforms to drive traffic to their site to collect names and email addresses so that they can sell them via email marketing.

In that sense, social media marketing is really email capture marketing.

Make Connections

One of the best things you can do on social media is make direct connections that you otherwise can’t make. For example, Facebook and LinkedIn are 2 of the few places on the Internet where you can send a direct, private, message to a CEO of a company, an influential HR department head, or head of sales – people with power in the company to make decisions.

Most businesses don’t take advantage of this enough. Instead, a lot of business owners are out there trying to sell their products and services directly.

Not only is this a colossal waste of time, it’s expensive. Most people aren’t going to buy directly from you on social media. That’s not why they’re there. They’re there because they want to socialize. They want to look at cat pictures and chat about the latest political polls.

They want to have debates and share news stories.

So, unless you’re injecting yourself into that conversation, you’re going to completely miss that opportunity.

Author

Joey is the Founder and Managing Director of Appiloque Pte. Ltd. Being a serial entrepreneur and tech investor based in Singapore, he has built Appiloque to become his most successful business to date. With a team of 32 savvy digital marketers and being at the forefront of innovative technologies, Appiloque aims to help businesses take over the digital world with marketing efforts driven by user-centric experiences and data-enabled strategies. Joey also strongly believes in helping his clients achieve more without breaking the bank. In his free time, Joey is a true-blue Singaporean foodie and enjoys exchanging ideas on the topics of innovation and investment.