Social media should sow the personality, heart, and soul of the people in the business

Business is all about relationships.

Some of these relationships will be fleeting – the customer who buys once and never returns. Some will be more solid – the customer who becomes a repeat buyer. Some begin with friendship – some turn into friendship.

The success of a business relationship is built on the same foundations as any other human relationship. Trust. Honesty. Being genuine. Humour. Caring. Empathy. These are all things you can put out into the world through the savvy use of social media.

Stop taking the short-term, sales-focussed view of social media. That’s just a recipe for getting frustrated and giving up because your Facebook Page has only been around a month, with 147 followers, and you’re yet to see an increase in your sales.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – business is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to be thinking in terms of years, not days, weeks, or months, when it comes to growing your social media presence and reach. You need to think in terms of building relationships, not just ‘making sales’.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t keep an eagle eye on your numbers, and experiment with ways to grow your reach and engagement with your community. And yes, to get more sales. Of course you should – that’s how you’ll grow – how you’ll work out what does and doesn’t work for you. But if you neglect the former in favour of the latter, you’ll struggle.

There is no magic answer. There is no bulletproof method that will work for everyone. This goes for all marketing, full stop.

If there was, don’t you think everyone would be using it, and everyone would be successful?

What you can do is educate yourself, be patient, be a real human being, and experiment. And remember to have a little fun, too!

 

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