Although there are many types of long term relationships the ones you build with your customers are precious. Each customer is a messenger to your company’s policies. The roadside is paved with many different corporations who felt that good enough was what would do. This is the fastest and easiest way to work with the grim reaper to destroying your business. Your product or service needs to create recognizable value or you are just spinning your wheels. If you create sustainable value then the dollars will come and with real value creation comes real brand loyalty and a lasting long term business. Several Tools to use for this process of relating with your customer include:Facebook: One of the more informal social networks but is an excellent way to build a relationship of trust and mutual respect with other business owners and potential customers.
Great feature: Facebook fan pages offer a personalized way of promoting yourself and your business.
Twitter: This is one of my favorite tools it allows informal interaction and a means of connecting as well as posting links to favorite quotes or resources you feel have value.
Great feature: Link or Url Can be placed on your profile allowing those who interact a opportunity to explore your website
LinkedIn: The most professional of the social networks still great interaction tool and a way to build trust and grow your client base.
Great Features: The ability to add products or services to the site under your company. Answers allows you to openly display your expertise. Groups gives you a place to interact and network more efficiently.
Blogging Tools:
Blogging is a great way to interact share your expertise and still create brand awareness. Use Blogger,Wordpress or Typepad.
Social Promotion Tools:
Tools like Delicious and Digg will help you promote your blog and continue to build your brand.
There are countless other tools but these are some to get you started. Your goal as a business owner is to make your client or customer feel special and provide superior customer service or provide a reasonable explanation of what your value proposition is. If you relate to your customer and create real value in the long run you will have business sustainability. If you take the time to be human and just not another corporation it can make a huge difference in how the consumer perceives you.
Why does this matter, simply because the lack of interaction will leave you shouting the same tired interruptions. The reasoning behind a sound social media campaign is the interaction which leads to trust and permission marketing. Permission marketing is the key to unlocking consumer psychology and building leads. The difference between good marketing and bad marketing can quite easily be the amount of creativity and the level of interaction used. Web marketing can be successful and social media can be a vital part of your tool kit but use them responsibly. Consumers are constantly barraged with the same advertising methods and tactics again and again will you dare to be different?
