Tip #7 – Provide True Value

This is probably the most valuable of all the social media marketing tips except for Tip #1 which is “Engagement,” because that what it’s all about. When we’re talking about engagement, real engagement, tip #7 is a business tip in and of itself, regardless of social media. But it’s so relevant when it comes to you going viral.

Going Viral in Social Media Marketing

Now, everyone comes to me and they ask, “How do I go viral?” Or I go to these networking events and they say, “Let me buy you a drink and let’s spend 10 minutes and come up with a campaign and I want to go viral.” And all they want to do is game the system or figure out a way like, “Oh, I heard you can get someone from the Philippines and they’ll tag your videos and get 20,000 people checking it out, and oh, how can we do this?”

And it’s all fake, fictitious, even like Twitter…you can follow people just so they can follow you back, and it’s like gaming the system.  And you know what? The only value that that serves other than the SEO and the linking and whatnot…And it’s valuable in the SEO world, and people like doing it and they’re so attracted to it…as well as social proof. Right? Because if you do have a number of posts and people that like it, then other people go, “Oh, I gotta check this out.”

Don’t Try to Fake It in Social Media – It Just Doesn’t Work

However, if you don’t exercise and execute this tip, I know I haven’t said it yet, number 7…But if you don’t exercise this and follow this as a core principle in your business, you will fail miserably, even if you pay for 20,000 people to like your video or like your post or whatever.  Because you’re not providing the value that your clients want.  So this tip, probably the most important, number 7, is “Provide True Value.”

That’s in your business. Make sure your business has real value, that you treat people exceptionally well.  Offer them an extraordinary service, and then they’ll review you positively on Yelp and all these other social media sites that are review sites.  But not without you really providing value.

So we want you to get reviews on these geotargeted apps and services. That’s critical. That’s something that you need to do, right?  The more people are using these apps and services the more relevant and your good reviews are going to come in handy. And if you’re not on there, you will lose business. They will go to your other competitors.

So the best way to do this is provide real value, provide exceptional service to your clients, and again, it’s your bottom line real business strategy and strategic advice.  Right? Even if social media didn’t even exist, it’s something you should do, but now that it does, now that social media is so popular,  and people talk about your company, good or bad on the networks where it spreads like wildfire, this is critical – Providing Real Value.

Social Media is a Place Where You Can Make Your Clients Feel Like Stars

I was having a conversation with a new client that has luxury rental cars. And they’re doing some really cool stuff about treating their clients like VIP’s.  They (the client) become the star for the day.  Everyone wants that 15 minutes of fame, and they’re giving it to them.

They are not just giving them a really cool, fast, luxury, gorgeous sports car that drives fast, that is sexy, and has a sexy roar to the engine.  They’re also doing a lot of really special things to treat them like celebrity status. And that’s how they’re going to differentiate themselves from the competition, and that’s how they’re going to get awesome reviews on Yelp and all the other social media sites…Facebook,  when they check in, Foursquare, all these other places because, they’re providing such an experience for their clients that their clients can’t help but talk about it and spread the news.

So provide real value and you will get real reviews that are exceptional, five star reviews.
Real value = Real Results and Real Positive Reviews.

So that’s Tip #7 – Provide True Value

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Tip #6 – Have contests that are meaningful

In Social Media Marketing, this is a great way to get to know who wants your product.

Have contests.  Not just have contests, but have contests that are meaningful.  Anyone can have a contest.  Anyone can say, “Oh, we’re going to give this away.”  But if it’s not meaningful to the client, they don’t care about what you’re offering.  They’re not going to participate.

But if you have a sales contest, and this happens all the time, it’s all about testing and retesting and then learning from it and then going back in there with something better.  Better offer, contest, better products, better give away…Whatever it is, or better selection process of awarding them.  So learn from the contests.

The best way you’re going to know how to have meaningful contests is really knowing your target audience, knowing what they really like. One client who knows their client likes Louis Vuitton bags, for a gift.  Another client who knows their audience will just slurp up off of an iPad contest.  Anything that you give an iPad for, they are just going to participate.

Social Media Marketing – Find out who really wants your product or service.

So know  your clients.  If you have a race car company, it could be something where they get a gift certificate to come out to your event or take part in what you have to offer.  If you have luxury sports cars that you rent out, have a contest where it’s a day at the race track or a day where they get it for free.  It’s an awesome way to find out who really wants your product or service.

The cool thing about that is that one person is going to win that freebie, but you’ve had hundreds of people who have stepped up and said, “Oh, I want that!”  Oh, my gosh, they have just opted in and said they want your service.  Then you find a way to offer them some type of discount or special or time-limited offer, to get them to then buy your product.

So leverage those contests, but make sure they are meaningful.  Make sure they are something that people really want, and then you can give it to them.  There are a lot of resources.  There are also contest apps that you can participate in that will manage contests.  We will put some resources to help you manage contests on CoachDeb.tv.

But bottom line is, however you have the contest, make sure it’s meaningful, and if not, if you didn’t get a good response, that means you just didn’t hit the target. And you need to get back, mastermind with your team, talk to your consultant, talk to your significant right hand person and find out what it is that people are really going to respond to.

And dig deep into your pocket.  This is not the time to be cheap and offer something stupid or cheap.  If you think it’s cheap or it’s easy for you, then it’s not going to be something that other people are going to work for.  It’s not.  So dig deep.  Do something really cool, uber-special, and be right. People will go, ” Whoa! I will do anything to win that.”

And that’s a great way to find out the people who want your services, especially if you give away something that you offer that they would have to buy otherwise.  That’s a great contest. You’re screening the people.

So, tip #6, have contests. Make them meaningful.  Test them, then repeat the contest that works, with variations.  Do it random as well.

Contests are a great tool to add to your social media marketing toolkit.

Resources – Here are a few apps and sites to get you started.

http://www.wizehive.com/contest/
http://www.artistichub.com/index.htm

http://blazonapp.com/ This is an app.
http://appbistro.com/facebook-business-app/products/easypromos

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Tip #5  – Comment on Other Peoples’ Posts

Social media marketing success depends on building relationships. Here’s how to do it….

Call it OPP – Other People’s Posts

Go into influencers’ profiles, friends’ profiles, clients’ profiles, go to their walls.  Check their news feeds. Make sure you’re not being someone who goes in and it’s always outbound messaging.  Go in and then engage with other people on their wall.

• Number 1, this establishes good will.
• Number 2, it’s a way to keep a friendship going, keep your relationship going.
• Number 3, it gives you exposure to all of their friends and fans, followers, clients.

This ties in to Tip # 4, Tagging Other Relevant Influencers, except this time you’re actually commenting on the other influencers wall. Or the other friends’ or clients’ wall.

The other thing is when you have your clients, and they see you are on their wall, they think, “Wow. This person is really paying attention to me. They’re actually checking out my news feed.”

And it’s a really cool feeling to know that people really care about your posts and your updates.  I think the worst feeling in social media is when you start and you think, “Nobody’s even paying attention.  I’m just talking to no one.”

And, like when I got on a conference call with my assistant, Nancy, and I just started introducing the call and webinar and giving her some instructions, but she wasn’t there.  And it was funny cuz here I was, talking to myself, and sometimes that’s how it feels in social media.  You just talk to yourself, and you feel like, “What’s the point of it if no one comes by and visits?”

So the most exciting thing in social media as you start growing and people start engaging and going, “Hey, I like what you have to contribute,” it’s really cool when you start seeing people engage and pay attention and like your posts.

Being Liked and Respected is a Basic Human Need Especially in Social Media

You say, “Yea! Someone’s paying attention to me!”  Right? And it’s a basic, core, human need. People want to be liked. People want to be relevant. Right?  People want attention. They need it. They crave it.

And when you give it to them, this is a huge ego boost, it’s a huge rapport builder, and it’s a real good relationship and friendship builder for people who really are your true friends.

And a lot of your clients, you’re going to become friends. Especially if you love working with them and they’re pleasant clients.  I have a number of clients and just love working with them.

Clients in Orange County, Tuesday nights and we’d go out to dinner and it’s so much fun that those are the clients that you want more and more and more of because they’re your friends.  You really care about them and their success.

So prove that by engaging with them and going to their wall and liking what they post. And you’ll also find that there’s some times that there are some really concerning things that happen in their lives and you get this news on their wall. You know, a death of their parents, deaths of people that they care about.

And that’s when it gets real.  It gets really personal and you realize that social media and the whole social aspect of it is really all about keeping in touch with your friends and family.  And your clients and what they’re up to.

And sometimes it’s not always happy go lucky. Maybe they’re having a bad day. But when you can reach them at their point of heartbreak and need, that is the best time and you will be remembered as a real, genuine friend. And then you truly become a friend.

That’s what they call them on Facebook.  It doesn’t always start out that way. There’s a follower or someone like you, and you become a friend when you act as a friend.

So when you go and engage and comment on their wall and show them that you are paying attention, it goes a long, long, long way in long term relationship building with your clients.

That’s true PR  and social media marketing at its best and at the heart of it.

And that is Tip #5 – Comment on Other Peoples’ Posts for Success in Social Media Marketing

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Tip #4 – Tag Relevant Influencers

Social Media Marketing for your business… can be easily achieved when you follow this tip!

What you want to do with this strategy is, if you have a topic, let’s say you’re talking about influence.  My friend, colleague, mentor, long time author, and influencer in the field of influence and persuasion is Dr. Kevin Hogan.  So, what I’ll often do is I’ll talk about influence and persuasion as it relates to Social Media.  That’s my specialty.

But Dr. Hogan is an expert in all things influence.  He’s written dozens of books, best selling, NY #1 best seller, and, again, he’s a friend.  He’s someone I have conversations with. I’m not trying to glom off something for his name or a famous Dr.’s name.  It’s someone I do have that relationship with.  So I kind of have that permission to tag him and post on his wall.

Now some people don’t allow you to post on their wall.  Big mistake on their part.  But it does protect them from people spamming.  And I actually, when I went to create a new profile page for me and then turned my other one into a fan page, what I did was I only accepted people that I knew in real life. Otherwise known as ‘irl’  in the Twitterworld, a popular acronym hash tag.

And the people that I meet  in real life or met them personally, or at a conference, I physically met them face to face.  Or they might have been friends of friends.  So I might not have not have ever met them in person, but we’ve had good, intelligent interaction on Facebook and they were a friend of a friend.  Right? So another kind of recommended friend. Once I did that I allowed comments and allowed people to tag me again because they were only people that I knew, trusted, and they were not going to try to spam my wall.

Social Media Success Pro and Con on Facebook

So there is a pro and con that you need to consider when you do allow people to tag and post.  But you can always make it so it’s permission granted, so say Dr. Hogan does it, he says, “Ok, I’ll allow people to tag me, but only with my permission.”  So what happens is, I’ll tag him in a post.  If he likes the question and feels it’s an intelligent conversation that will be good for his fans, he approves my comment.

What happens is, boom! It shows up on his wall and reaches all of his fans and followers.  Now all of a sudden your reach has extended by thousands, in many cases.  Hundreds in other cases.  Depending on what your field of influence is, hundreds or thousands of extra fans and followers and exposure.  It’s great PR. Great marketing, and a great way to be introduced to your friends’ friends.

This is social media at its best. It’s being introduced by someone they already know, trust, and love, and respect in many cases.  And they go, “Oh, this is so-and-so’s friend.  And especially if you get that influencer motivated to also contribute to the post. If you write engaging questions that are thought provoking and intelligent, you will get them to engage.  They can’t help but not.

Here’s the secret.  And this is something I learned from Dr. Hogan.  People have to respond to questions.  Every time you pose a question, boom, their mind is engaged with you even if they don’t express it.  Even if they don’t type it down, they have actively sought an answer in their mind.

And then it’s just a matter of, how motivated are they to take a moment to type it up.  But they will come up with some type of answer whether they express it or not.  That is awesome!  That is engagement.  That’s true influence, and that’s the way to engage your audience and get influencers to give you that exposure and also engage with you.  Now you’re talking about a really good network of people that follow you and that will then recommend you to others.

But now, here’s how this works.  It’s like that shampoo commercial of years ago that went, “…and she told 2 friends and they told 2 friends…” and all of a sudden the whole TV screen is filled with faces because they just told 2 friends.  And typically in social media, it’s 10 friends that you get exposure to. So 10 friends telling 10 friends, if you do the math, you very quickly have millions of people that you have extended reach to, even if you only have a couple hundred people following you or liking you.

Here is the Social Media Success Secret

Don’t get hung up on those numbers.  You might have just a hundred people following you, but those hundred  people have reach to also a  hundred people or hundreds of people.  You can actually look in your Facebook stats and you’ll see that you actually have reach way beyond the number of people that like you or follow you.  That’s powerful and something most people don’t think of or realize when they’re just looking at their own numbers or other people’s numbers.  That doesn’t matter.  The secret is engagement.

When we compare clients, some of whom do their own social media and don’t engage, but they have got a lot of followers vs. another client who only has a hundred people following them.  They had literal reach to 38,000 people because they engaged with their followers.  And that’s just a hundred people that liked their fan page.  That’s it.  A hundred people.  Yet, they had reached the 38,000 people.  Think about that for a moment.  That is powerful influence and that only comes from  engagement, asking questions, getting involved, and the having other influencers and other fans that are actively a participant on your wall.

Because…influencers may be someone famous.  I mentioned Dr. Hogan.  Famous author.  Best seller.  Awesome.  That’s a huge influencer.  But there’s also influencers of people that are, what we’ll say, no names.  Right?  They’re not the Oprah Winfreys of the world.  But, they’re the person that comments on Oprah’s wall all the time.  That person has huge reach, huge influence.  It’s just of their tribe, their clients, and when you reach those influencers that are engagers themselves, you’ll find your reach will expand.

And that’s Social Media Marketing Tip #4 – Tag Relevant Influencers

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Tip #3- ‘Like’ the Comments That Your Fans Post

This social media marketing secret is a fast, easy way to keep your name in front of your fans.  It ties in with Tip #1, “Engage Your Audience.”  Tip #2 is “Ask Lots of Thought Provoking Questions.”

So, now, in Tip #3, you pop back into your page about an hour or so after you post and ‘like’ the comments that your fans have posted.  What happens when you do that, when you like a comment that one of your fans, followers, or clients posted, is: that’s all you need to do to come back into the live newsfeed of all of your other fans and followers.

So you go in there, you don’t even have to write anything, you don’t even have to comment.  Now, if you do comment, it’ll serve the same purpose.  An hour later you can post another comment.

What it does is, it reaches the audience that just came in to their Facebook wall to check their updates, and you reach a whole slew of another group of your audience, fans and followers.  So you go in, you engage, you leave, you come back in an hour or so, and then you like some of the comments – could be just one comment – and that boosts it up in the news feed, and anybody who just logged in sees your comment in the feed.

Social Media Marketing Result – The Thought Process

And they see “Oh, there are 50 comments here.  Hmm.  Let me read this conversation.  Sounds controversial.  Oh, I have to put in my two cents.”

That’s the thought process of how it works with people.  So you provide the social proof, you get the comments going, and then when you see a post that’s already got like 20, 30 comments, clearly you know you’ve hit it.  You nailed it on that question.

So what you do, you revitalize that post by simply liking one of the comments.  Don’t ‘like’ them all at once, and don’t ‘like’ them immediately as they come in. ‘Like’ them an hour later, and then 2 hours later, another comment you like.  And the next hour you ‘like’ another thing.  So this literally takes a second.  And you go in there – Boom, Like, Bam!  It goes right back into the news feed.

Then you can either hangout for a bit and engage the clients and followers who are engaging more, or you can ‘like’ it, let other people comment, and then you go back to work.  Literally takes a second to do this.

So keep it on your computer screen, hit refresh, ‘like’ something then, boom, go back to your email, or whatever it is you’re doing.  Or back to seeing patients or recording music, or driving fast cars or whatever it is that you do, because all you did was go in there and engage and say “I like you” under the comments.  And it pushes it back into the feed and gives you better SEO.

That’s social media marketing tip #3. Use it wisely.  It’s the best way to save time and still get people into your feed and to be seen throughout the day by all your fans and followers.

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Bonus Tip – “Ask Controversial Questions,” continued.

For your social media success, these are examples of controversial questions you might ask.

Say you’re in the cosmetics industry and it’s about beauty.  You can even pose a question on how much Botox is too much or what do you think of people getting Botox?  Or you can give them choices.  You know, what do you think is a better look, Restylane or Botox?  Or, again, something that may be a little edgy, but that’s the stuff that will get people talking and then commenting.

Social Media Success – Viral Videos

The other thing is…Maybe it’s not even a service that you offer, but it’s in the beauty industry.  So recently a post that’s been going around that’s gone viral is on models and their airbrushing, and there was this one famous model.  I don’t know who she was, but apparently she’s a famous model.  If you follow that industry, great.  You probably know who she is.  But it was her and her daughter and her daughter was embracing her, and the artist who airbrushed the entire picture basically airbrushed two of her fingers out so they just faded into her back.  Very unreal.  Very artistic, but not real.

And then the debate was, “What do you think about the airbrushing, and how much is too much?  And how much of it is artistic license verses false imagery for women and girls?  And what effect it has.

And then another one that went viral was super model pictures and all the airbrushing and then there was one that had news models, no airbrushing, and it had Victoria’s Secret , any anorexic girl.  Let’s do a fit model, a little bit more full figured, athletic looking.  And then they did what they called a ‘fluff” model, which basically just meant that she was a little Marilyn Monroe hour glass.  And they polled it.  Which is the ideal for you?  Or which do you think is prettier?

Social Media Controversial Questions – It’s about Engagement

You can start asking those types of questions, getting engagement around your topic and about your business without necessarily talking about the products that you offer.  You can ask “how much liposuction is too much?  Or are people addicted to it?  Things like that.  It’s OK to be controversial.  These are questions that are going to come up anyway, so you might as well let the people engage in it.

And the people who are fans of it, are going to be fans of it and advocates and will do the commenting for you on that type of post.  And the ones who aren’t are going to be the ones who stir up the firestorm of comments.  They’re not going to be your clients, anyway.  But they’re going to be the ones who express their opinions that allow people who are advocates for whatever you provide, and they talk about it.

Social Media Marketing – Talk About Subjects Surrounding Your Industry, Rather than Trying to Sell

Or let’s say pest control.  If you have a pest control business, what you can talk about is environmental topics.  What is environmentally friendly?  What are the best chemicals to use that are pet friendly?  And are there organic alternatives?  And then the difference between organic vs. chemical.

And, again, you are educating your clients about what you use, and at the same you get people to talk about the controversial part of your business.  Again, people are already thinking it, so don’t be afraid to throw it up on your wall because they’re already thinking about it, so you might as well get engagement and links and a firestorm of comment on it.  It’s only going to help you, it’s only going to boost your SEO, it’s only going to boost, again, people thinking about what you have to offer in an engaging way.

Are these Social Media Success Tips helping?  Let us know in the comments!

So that is tip #2 Ask Questions, with a Bonus Tip of “Ask Controversial Questions.”

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Tip #2 – Ask Lots of Questions

That’s the key to engagement for success.  So the way you get engagement is you ask lots of questions.  You comment as well, but the update post will be a question.  So it could be in the form of a poll.  It can be in the form of an opinion.  It can be in the form of just a question.  And it could be anything.  It doesn’t always have to relate to your business.  And I think that ’s key. So many people think, “It’s got to be business related, and da, da, da, da, da….”  But the bottom line is, you’re talking about thinking about your updates as a party, as a networking event. You don’t just talk about your business and ask questions.  You just engage them.  So think about how you engage anyone in a conversation at a networking event or party, a cocktail party where you’re just simply getting to know people and building friendships.  That’s the type of questions.  And then you can mix it in with say every 5 normal questions with some type of business related question.

Bonus Tip – Ask Controversial Questions

And also be controversial.  And that may be a separate tip in and of itself, but your questions can be somewhat controversial.  And when you do that, if you don’t like, let’s just say it’s a political.   And say something’s going on that concerns you when it comes to politics or economics, or taxes and you want to alert your audience about what’s going on, you can pose it in such a way that it seems mutual, like they don’t necessarily know what your opinion is on the subject.  That’s why you pose it as a question instead of a statement.
So say you hate Obama’s tax policy, but you know you’ve got followers that are avid, rabid Obama fans.  But you also want to educate and then build rapport with the people who don’t believe in what he’s doing, feel that that’s going to destroy the economic ability, all right, of the country.  So you pose a question like “What do think of Obama’s new proposal on the health care plan?” or on taxes and on this or that.  You ask it as a question.  You pose the question.  Then you sit back and watch the firestorm of comments and debate happen on your wall by your fans and followers.  That way you’re never taking a side if you want to stay neutral.  Some people don’t.  Some people don’t mind letting their politics be known and obvious. So you sit back. You stay neutral.  And you let them stir everything up.  And then you never even necessarily comment on that post again.  You’re just one of those people who go in there and you go, “Boom, there’s the question – Whoo! Let’s sit back and watch the fire, you know, spread and grow.”  That’s a great way to engage your audience.

The bonus tip “Ask Controversial Questions” will be continued in the next post…. Stay tuned!

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Tip # 1 – Engagement with Your Audience

Social Media – The Number One Secret

This is the number one secret to success in Social Media: “Engage the crowd, fans, and visitors.”  And when you do that, you’re engaging in communication and conversation with your fans so that they are motivated to come back and see what your next response is, or stay on your page because you are there engaging with them.

This is true in all of the Social Media platforms: Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, etc.  It’s all the different Social Media sites where you can use status updates to not just say, “Hey this is what we’re doing, but instead, use that status update to engage your audience.  So use things like questions and polls. We’ll go into other ways to engage in future tips.

So, make sure you’re actually doing things in the status update to engage your audience. You want comments to be in the 10, 20, 30, 50 range, not down in single digits.

Social Proof and News Feed in Facebook

Comments and engagement provide several things. One is social proof. The other is that your posts and updates keep getting bumped up in the news feed of all of your fans.

You used to have just 5 fans or 10 fans engaging on one particular status update.  But what’s happened is hundreds of fans are seeing that your status updates keep coming up in their news feed.  And that’s the thing that’s live.  It’s live search.  So they’ll see one post and then they’ll see 5 or 6 other people that have just put up a news feed.  You drop down to the bottom, but if you’re engaged with the crowd, all of a sudden, BOOM!  They see that you’ve put in another comment.  So at any time that your hundreds of fans happen to come on to their Facebook wall, you only show up if you’re active on the site.  And that comes from engaging the crowd.

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