Today’s post is a guest post by Daniel Foch. Daniel is a student at the University of Guelph, studying towards a Bachelor of Commerce in Real Estate & Housing. He is also a brilliant young entrepreneur and owner of a small social media marketing firm called Word of Mouse (http://thewordofmouse.com).
I’ve been involved in the social media market since its infancy, and I’ve seen it grow into the massive industry that it presently is. I’ve reached the point where I have worked clients in a spectrum of different positions, each with their own unique goals to be achieved through social media.
The aspect I love the most about social media marketing is how it’s fundamentally based on relationships and interpersonal connection. I’ve been face to face with a lot of prospects who have told me that they don’t need more clients, and don’t understand how using social media can benefit them. When I was first presented with this issue, I didn’t really know how, either, as I’m still a young entrepreneur with an incredible amount to learn.
I lost that prospect simply because I couldn’t provide an answer to that question. Disappointed with myself, I decided to rethink my entire service strategy. I decided to capitalize on the incredible potential for interaction that existed within social media. I realized that it doesn’t matter whether or not you need more clients, social media is an absolutely crucial marketing tool for any business, no matter what size.
As a university student, I work part time at a real estate brokerage in Guelph, Ontario. The appointment software we use has a perpetual feed of quirky, valuable quotes at the bottom of the screen that update about every minute. I read a quote recently that stated: “nobody remembers how fast you did a job, they remember how well you did it.” In essence, “they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
Using social media for business offers an unparalleled connection between the entrepreneur and the client. By connecting with your clients on Facebook, you have the opportunity to communicate in a comfortable environment, which also seconds as a public forum. Using Twitter can bring a massive boost to traffic generation, and allows you to promote your clients and your service simultaneously. By adding an aspect of social media to your business, you are adding value to your service at little or no expense.
I think that it’s important for entrepreneurs to put as much value into their service as they possibly can while still maintaining their profit margin, and I’d say that social media is one of the few ways to do so. Enhancing that crucial element of interpersonal relationship at every point in the service transaction. YouTube is another prime example of the manifestation of personal connection in business. By using YouTube videos, clients and prospects get an opportunity to know you on a more personal level, experiencing your diction, tonality, and personal delivery without actually being with you in person.
We’re all human, and we thrive on being treated well and respected. Instead of finding more clients, why not work towards providing more to the ones you have? Creating a more valuable service through social media is very simple and rewarding task to do, and it will allow you to gradually become a more valuable asset to your clients. As an entrepreneur I’m often tempted to point out the value in my service to request more compensation from my clients, but I’ve always taken a step back and realized that they don’t need to be told. They clients you have are there because they see the value in your service, and the more value they see, the more they become increasingly inclined to work with you. Instead of writing reports and proposals, emphasizing the service I’ve provided, I try to invest that time in further improving the service. Actions speak louder than words, and they’ll never forget how you made them feel.
Daniel Foch
WORD OF MOUSE
905-251-5483
www.wordofmou.se
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12 Responses to Make Marketing Personal!
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Shelley Lundquist
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Daniel,
Social media sure is a great way to be a value added resource for customers and clients. I know many people that appreciate the social media efforts made by the companies that they support. People do want to be respected and to know that a company/business owner values them. I know personally, I support those that put out that extra effort. It shows that they care on some level. Great article!
Hi Joanne! Thanks for taking the time to respond. I couldn’t agree more, I think personal connection is absolutely crucial in marketing, and social media is the absolute epitome of interpersonal marketing.
Hi Daniel and Shelley,
Daniel, you covered a lot of great pointers about the personable side of social media, and for me the one thing that stood out the most was these two lines, “nobody remembers how fast you did a job, they remember how well you did it.” In essence, “they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”I’ve been actively working in social media to get my writing off the ground for a year now. I’ve made some awesome connections with some wonderful people. People who I might not have otherwise met had it not been for social media. I believe much of my success hasn’t actually come from my work (and I think I do great work 😀 ), but I think it has come more from the lasting impressions of each first impression I’ve made with each individual. I try to make everyone that I meet a first priority of mine when we’re connecting or conversing. I know I can’t reach out to everyone all of the time, and I also know that there will be some that just don’t care for me personally. Yet, I believe that no matter what, it’s all about how we treat one another, whether we’re on or offline. This is a “people” industry, so one must know how to treat people. Anyone who cannot bring their personality to the playing field will simply not do well in social media. They have to know that humanity seeks to be validated. When we validate people they won’t ever forget us, even if they try too. They’ll remember that we made them feel like a million bucks. Validation is the lasting impression in social media. And as you so welly put it, remembering that people will never forget how we made them feel, is a rule we should definitely keep in mind. Forgetting that golden rule may just be the end of ones career in social media.
Great post, bud!
Thanks for your comment! Looks to me like you really did get your writing off the ground, your skill level is brilliant, and your rhetoric is absolutely captivating, so I can understand how you did it!
Hi Daniel,
As one student worker to another, working in club promotions and event promotions, could you offer any insight on how to implement this strategy to further a business that already thrives on social media?
I’m glad you used an example that really epitomizes the impact that social media can have. Considering the event & club promotion industry has always been geared towards securing each year’s new batch of 19 year-olds, it’s interesting to see how their strategy works with social media.
I’d say that your best approach would be to make the social media experience increasingly personal for each & every individual. For instance, anything from giving your clients the ability to vote (via liking or RT’s) on which drink should go on sale for a month, or which DJ will play for a night, to tagging themselves & friends in front door photos with a red carpet treatment.
For a target market that’s so actively involved in social media, I think the implications are enormous, and the opportunities are endless.
I agree with you that every successful business needs to be on social media. A prospect who tells you they don’t need more clients clearly isn’t a client looking for success, because social media can help further solidify relationships forged “in real life.” I scarcely know anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook page, and this is often my most frequent communication with friends. I have more time for them by working both the on and offline spheres of influence than I ever would face-to-face or phone interactions.
Hi Amber,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I think that especially considering how frequently Facebook is being used on a personal level, it makes perfect sense to integrate a business marketing strategy into Facebook, making your marketing more personal. A lot of businesspeople can’t see the value in it beyond the small time investment that they have to make, but that seems to be a rapidly changing perspective, as more and more success stories are surfacing from businesspeople using Facebook for marketing.
I find the old-school businesspeople hardest to sell on social media because it sounds too good to be true, and they don’t trust that. You really hit the nail on the head by saying that the time investment for maintaining relationships is substantially decreased by using social media, and I think that will become increasingly true as the platforms become more and more popular.
Hi Daniel,
Great to see your business is still going strong. Congrats – nice article.
Social media is here to stay and business will continue to engage in this space. Business owners must get on board or be left behind.
Hey Dan, nice to hear from you!
Thanks for the good regards and I hope everything is going well on your end too! Hopefully I can stop by for a chat sometime.
Daniel
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