Social Media Is NOT A ‘Cure All’

Social Media is not a cure all for what ails you.

Introduction

“Social Media!!! Use it to expand your business, gain more customers and make more sales!!! Just buy my book, take lessons from me or hire my firm and I’ll show you how right now!!!”

We’ve all heard those sales pitches. We are bombarded by them daily. There is one problem with all of them: they are all BS. Why? Take a few minutes and I’ll lay it out for you. If you like what I’ve written, you can hire me because I need a job. If you don’t like it, all you have wasted are a few minutes of your time.

Social Media Promoters Miss the Mark

Social Media—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.—is a great way to promote a company, a person and/or an event. But there is one critical problem with how many people are using it: Many—most—users are using it as a newer version of the old newspaper ads.

Newspaper ads tell people something. They scream “Buy My Products!!!” And the critical part is these comments are made from the perspective of the seller, not the potential buyer.

Most social media promoters are using the same tactics: they are telling people what to do, namely buy their products or purchase their services.

The essence of most social media promotions and products aimed at businesses is no different than marketing tactics of 50 years ago: Tell consumers what you have and hope they will buy it.

Why? One method is using a pretty face—a young woman or man—to sell it. They are young and attractive. You want to be young and attractive—I’m neither—so by buying my product, you will think you are young and attractive … until reality sets in and you realize how much money you just spent.

These methods cost a lot of money and, while they generate some sales, are ineffective.

Your Customers Are Not Idiots

Are you an idiot with the IQ of a rock? No. Guess what, folks, your customers aren’t either.

This bit about telling them what to buy doesn’t work for many products. Your customers are smart and they have less disposable income now than they did several years ago. This means your customers are going to buy products that they—not you—determine best meet their specific needs.

You drive a white Honda Civic. One neighbor drives a red Toyota Highlander while another drives a blue Smart Car. Each person has different driving needs and each person bought the vehicle that best suited their needs, not yours. If you have a family of four or five, you need the space that a Highlander gives. If you work in the city where parking spaces are at a premium, you like the small size and great gas mileage of a Smart Car. If it’s just you and one other person most of the time, the Civic fits your needs perfectly.

This same methodology applies to every other product out there, from cell phones to restaurants. The needs of the one are not always the needs of the many.

Think … Like … Your … Customers

Instead of thinking like Madison Avenue, known for its wild promotions, consider thinking like the most important person in your business life: your customer.

Good businesses use a slight variation of an approach used by good writers: we think like a reader. In your case, think like a customer.

You can stop reading whenever you want. If you engrave “Think Like a Customer” into your core being, you’ve got the key to success.

Now let me explain why that is so important and how using social media the right way can help you do just that.

Start With a SWOT Analysis

No, I’m not talking about a scene in a cop movie. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Have a meeting and discuss these areas with your entire staff then make a list of each strength, weakness, opportunity and threat..

Examine your business model, your staff and your customers. Where are your strengths? Do you have some excellent communicators, people who are outgoing and vibrant? Do you have core products that can truly make a difference in your customers’ lives?

Where are your weaknesses? What problems are you having now? What problems do you foresee coming up?

Where are your opportunities? Who presents a threat to your business?

Once you’ve done that—ask everyone in the room, ideally everyone in the company, for their views—for your company, switch your viewpoint 180 degrees.

Perform a SWOT analysis on each of your current competitors and any firm you think may become a competitors. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities do you see being presented to them?

By now you should have some fairly long lists both dealing with your own firm and others. What’s next?

Apply Your SWOT Information To Your Customers

Look at these situations from your customers’ perspective.

You should be able to paint a picture of your actual customer, not your ideal one. Give him or her a name. Where does she live? How much money does she make? Is she single, newlywed, married with kids or retired? What kind of house does she live in? What type of car does she drive? How old is her car? Where does she go to have fun? How often? Who does she go with?

If you can’t answer all of these questions and many more, then you don’t know your customers. It’s time for customer relations research, which I’ll get into momentarily.

By the way, create separate customer profiles for every product or service you offer. You can compare and contrast them and see where they overlap and where they diverge.

Assuming you know your customers, look at each of your products or services through their eyes.

Are Your Products/Services A Good Fit For Your Customers?

This is another key point: looking objectively at each of your products or services and applying them to your actual—not ideal—customers.

The key question to ask yourself, from your customers’ perspective is: “Why should I buy this firm’s products or services?”

You, the firm, need to ask yourself, “What’s in it for me?” from the customers’ point of view. Why should they buy your stuff? What benefits do they gain by doing it? If the benefits you find are not sufficient to get customers to buy a specific product then you may be wasting your time and money.

Once you have looked at your own products, look at the SWOT analyses you performed on your competitors. Now apply that knowledge to your customers.

Ask yourself these questions: Can my competitors’ products meet my customers’ needs and wants better than my own products or services? Why or why not?

The Result Of Your Work Is …

Asking all these questions helps you understand the needs of your customers. You can then relate those needs to your products and those of your competitors. The result is a clearer picture of where you stand.

You may well find that your current methods are working perfectly. However, you may also find that some products need to be scrapped, revised or repackaged. The best news is you will undoubtedly uncover untapped markets or ideas for new products.

But before you look at where you stand, you need to complete your SWOT analysis. That is where social media can help.

Research what your customers need and want.

Use Social Media As A Research Tool

Properly phrased questions will generate responses from current and potential customers alike. Social media is a great place to reach out to the people you should care about: your customers.

Ask a series of questions but be sure every questions meets each of these three requirements:

1.      Locate your questions where your customers are likely to read them. Running a series of individual questions on Twitter is a waste of time if your customers don’t use it.

2.      Make each question need to be topical and directly related to the needs of your customers. Include questions like, “What features of our XYZ product do you find most useful?” List the features. An option is, “On a scale of 1-7, one being most useful and 7 being least useful, how would your rate each of these products or features?” Then list the products or features.

3.      This third attribute will increase your response rate: let the respondents know you care. A personal note will go a long way to forming a positive relationship with a customer. Something simple like, “Dear Sally, Thank-you for participating in our recent survey. We value your comments. Please contact me with any suggestions or problems. Sincerely, Joe in Customer Service (joed@xyzcorp.com).”

Another important idea when doing market research is realizing that most people are not going answer questions over the phone or fill them out online. To combat this mental barrier, think like a customer. Give them a reason to answer your questions: a reward.

Go to any trade show and you will find companies holding drawings. Drop off a business card and win a shot at a prize.

With respect to surveys, consider emailing every respondent a coupon or a coupon code good for a discount on their next purchase. Completing your survey also enter them into a drawing for a more valuable prize. Promote the winner, which gives other people an incentive to participate in your next survey.

Social media is great for customer research. It is outstanding for one other important task: communicating with customers.

Social Media can boost customer service.

Use Social Media For Improved Customer Relations

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like are no better than newspaper or magazine ads when you have a one-way message. In a one-way message, you tell the reader something and expect them to act.

Social Media is great, though, when you want to establish a two-way conversation. The goal is to create a dialog with your customers. You ask them questions and they give you answers. You also answer every question they have and—here’s what really helps—you respond in a timely manner.

You can just as easily respond to a direct message on Twitter from your mobile phone as you can from a desktop computer. Social media is easy to use, so use it.

When someone has a question, make it a point to get back to them quickly, regardless of the time of day, day of the week or how busy you are. This customer has a question. He or she could care less that you are late for lunch or you’ve got a meeting in five minutes. They want an answer, and they want it now. Give them a response, now.

An easy method that shows you care about each customer is to set a company-wide response time, then make sure every customer gets some form of response within that time. It might be 30 minute or an hour, but I wouldn’t stretch it much beyond one day.

When you know the answer to their question, send it to them. If you need to look it up, tell them that. Say, “I don’t know” when you don’t know something … but add, “however, I’m looking it up right now. I’ll get back to you with (your time frame).” If it’s going to be longer, tell them that immediately.

Taking the extra time to respond to each and every question with a personal response has a cost: more employee time. It also has a reward in greater sales and a better public opinion of your firm.

If You Want To Learn More …

… Contact me. I can be reached at davereyn83@gmail.com. I check my mail several times a day, every day. All I need are your questions and a way to reach you. We can negotiate a fee for my services.

Applying These Lessons

You have been reading a 2,200 word document that is highly critical of some companies’ reliance on social media. This document is an example of the bad way of reaching clients. This document is not customer-centric and may or may not provide value to you, the reader.

I have put out a product—a document—in hopes someone (you) will read it. I did not research what you, the reader wanted or needed, nor did I ask your opinions before writing it. In those respects, my adherence to the mantra, “Think Like A Customer (Think Like A Reader” stinks.

How can I do better? By getting you to contact me so I can help you. Do I want to do better? You bet. I want a job. If I perform well, you might hire me or refer me to someone who will.

If you gained any value from this document, pass it on. If not, let me know how I can make it better for you.

About the Author: David B. Reynolds is a former newspaper reporter and editor, a former retail salesman and an occasional marketing consultant. His education includes a bachelor’s in political science from San Jose State University (1979) and a certificate in technical communication “earned with distinction” from UCLA Extension (2008).