Tim Denning says Ignoring the power of an email list is stupid. I say ignoring the power of your social media pages is stupid.
People visit our social media pages and make quick decisions whether to trust us or not; whether we are an option for choose or not; or simply whether we’re sane or stupid.
Whatever decisions they make, incidentally, they do not make consciously. They are controlled by what they see on our pages: the tone, the color, and the stories we tell.
It’s simple. You don’t go about your day consciously deciding who to like and who to bitch, do you? You find yourself liking some and resenting others. Perhaps for their personalities or their smiles. Or their romantic gazes.
That’s exactly what goes down with people when they visit your page.
It either tells them you’re an authority or an imbecile.
The secret is to treat your page like an advert that possesses, convinces, persuades, romances and compels your visitors into doing business with you.
By ‘advert’, I do not mean you should torment the living daylight out of your audience with your product every hour of the day.
No.
It should be designed to lead a typical reader or ‘scroller’ through a journey. And that journey should be answers to questions.
It should be designed to tell stories that reflect who you are, what you believe in, and the reasons you’re in business.
It should be graduated to build trust, authority, and proof that you’re the real missile in the war.
Here’s how to:
#1 Publish posts that Build trust.
Without trust, no one’s going to do business with you.
And trust is built by knowing who you are, what you can do, what you’ve done, the people you’ve done for, and how you do it.
You can build trust by posting case studies. By posting Testimonials (One simple truth in marketing is people buy because other people buy). By publishing a lot of behind the scene works. By telling how you work, the challenges you face, and how you maneuver past those challenges.
Doing these put a face behind all the text and graphics you create. it gives people the ‘touch and feel’ you exist in one corner of the world, and that you care.
#2 Build authority with your pages.
The first thing you should try to do when you first meet a client is to make him see you as an expert. Jordan Belfort
That’s right. No one wants to do business with a mediocre.
Expertise commands confidence. It makes you trustable, reliable, and deliverable.
But you don’t build authority and expertise by saying it. You do by doing what experts do.
What do experts do?
When they say a sentence, check, most of the sentence is of darn helpful words. They offer solutions based on data, experiences, and proofs. And they are confident about what they do.
That’s exactly how your social media pages should smell.
Know your stuff well. Keep learning. As you do, practice.
Contribute to foregoing discussions. Offer solutions to real-life problems. Provide unusual angles for looking at things. If you’ve got no experience, I think there’s nothing wrong with ‘fake it while you be it.’
If it is ‘A’ you know well, hack onto it, and let the world hear you say ‘A’ loud and clear — while you work on ‘B’
#3 Sell Them Their dreams.
Behind every product, every service, every ham, there’s a motive for buying.
Look for that motive and let your page speak it.
Self-esteem may be the underlying motive why fat people torture their bodies and ram series of pills down their throats. If you’re in the business of lessening fat people, your page should expand on that motive.
When a typical prospect scroll through your page, there should be communication between you and them. What they see, hear, and feel should remind them of their dreams. And perhaps their nightmares.
You should not sell your products to them all the time. But when you talk, talk in terms of their dreams. It makes them subconsciously attach your brand to the dreams.
They see substance in you. They like you. They become attracted to you.
#4 Finally, Tell Your Story.
Tell it all.
Look at the people you serve. What do you see on their faces?
They are real humans, aren’t they? They’ve got emotions, fears, dreams, and desires. Do you know what they’re looking for?
Stories.
Stories they can put themselves into that would make them heroes.
Stories that would give them hope. Stories whose settings and images are of their dreams.
Your customers don’t want you to promise them heaven. Many people have in the past, they ended in hell.
Just tell your stories.
It’s the story people remember. it is what changes their perception. It is what they buy. Tell it all.
To tell your story, be you.
Look genuinely at the reasons you’re in business. For whom you’re in business. The pains you nurse away. The dreams you support. And the beliefs you hold. That is your story.
…..
In Conclusion
Your social media pages are the best places you ever get to tell your stories pure and sincerely.
The best time to prove who you are is not when you go on a date or when you have visitors in your home. It’s in your daily life when you wear a simple t-shirt and a pant eating pie under a tent across the street. And that place as we know it today is your social media pages.
For a world connected as is, where abstract is more real than real, a good social media strategy is a no brainer.
Use your social pages to build trust and authority. Use them to show your customers you care. Talk about their dreams and challenges. Give them hope. Nudge them when the need arises. In the end, they’ll look back and say:
Thank you.
Isn’t that the best form of advert for your business?
