By Patrick Schwerdtfeger
Sept. 29, 2011
There are more than 100 million people on Twitter today. Are most of them just wasting time? Absolutely! There are a lot of people singing the praises of social media these days. Is most of it just a bunch of hype? You bet. Meanwhile, there are a few people and businesses that are using simple but powerful strategies to explode their businesses virtually overnight. What are they doing?
When you look at social media success stories and case histories, it seems like many of them follow a fairly predictable pattern. And it’s a pattern we can all use to make our own marketing efforts more compelling and effective. To do so, it’s important to first understand that modern marketing is less about selling and more about educating. Regardless what direction you pick, make sure the underlying intention is to help people, not just sell them.
Next, you have to identify the things in your business that are worth sharing. Social media refers to platforms where people are being social. These are places where people are communicating with each other. So our marketing message has to find a way into that conversation. Here are five questions you can ask to help you craft your marketing message without coming across like a salesperson.
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What do you do that’s remarkable? Begin by identifying the things people are amazed by, the things you get asked questions about, and the things that capture their attention.
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What’s the “human story” behind that value? Take what you do that’s remarkable and explain how it changes people’s lives. Describe the emotional impact of your product or service.
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How can you tell that human story in a visual way? There are different types of content: text, audio, photos and video. Which is most viral? You guessed it: photos and video!
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How can you get your customers to tell that human story? Content can come from two places: you or your customers. Which is most viral? Right again: content from your customers!
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How can you incentivize your customers to tell more stories? Incentives, incentives and more incentives. If you give people a reason to be creative, you’ll be amazed at what you get back.
There are dozens of examples of companies that have held contests to inspire their customers to create dynamic content promoting their business. Take the Australian Tourism Board and their 2009 “Best Job in the World” campaign. By offering a lavish compensation package and requiring a 1-minute video to apply, they ended up with almost 35,000 videos that other people created!
The objective is to get people involved in your story: the story of your business. How does it affect them? How does it change people’s lives? And how can you have those stories told in a way that doesn’t offend anyone? Let the questions above guide you to the right answers. It could change your business forever!
Patrick Schwerdtfeger is the author of “Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed” (2011, Wiley) and a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV. He has spoken about modern entrepreneurship and the social media revolution at conferences and conventions around the world. He can be reached at www.80shortcuts.com.