Build your Tribe Grow your Business: Social Media

 Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Scoop it, and Pinterest

The above-mentioned sites are all different social media tribes. Just like I mentioned that you could be present at a networking event and accomplish nothing, that same can be true of social media. You can’t just sit in the corner and watch. Also, you can be very social, but without purposeful intention. What do you want out of social media? Most people interact with other people in the industry, thereby turning it into a collaborative tribe. That is fine if collaboration is all you are looking for. My suspicions tell me that you would like much more than that.

I like to ascertain my present clients’ communicate preferences, and if they use social media. That is step one.  Next, I connect with them via their preferred social media (step two). Now that we are connected, a friendly, no-pressure method of engagement with my clients has ensued.  I also share my weekly blog with them that way. Thereafter, step three, I investigate my contacts’ connections in the same industry and attempt to establish ties with them. What was accomplished in those three easy steps? I purposefully and intentionally designed and built my social media tribe around my clients and potential clients. How do I know it works? At one point, I began to doubt if anyone was reading my blog,so I stopped writing it. After a couple of months, several important clients called me up to ask what happened and why I wasn’t writing. They were following my blog and actually enjoyed reading it! Since I receive very few comments on my blog, I assumed I was wasting my time. The clients that follow me on social media have a real connection with me.

1. Find out how your clients like to communicate.
2. Engage with them regularly in a friendly, no pressure manner (blog maybe).
3. Connect with your clients’ key contacts.

Many people say that they don’t have time for all that stuff. It doesn’t take much to do it with intentionality. Set aside a few brief blocks of time each day to review and engage via social media. It does take discipline.  If you are not careful, it can be addictive and a time sucker.

One other thing, social media is faceless. Once you connect with a potential client or collaborator why not invite him out to coffee? That one act of meeting people in real life creates a deeper connection. Now, they will be more likely to use you when they need your services.

Many people feel that Twitter is taking people away from personal interaction. If you attended the last ATA Tweet-Up, tweeters met in person.  There was a very enthusiastic, amicable, social crowd.  Although many of us just met for the first time, we felt we were among old friends.

Therefore, Social Media can be a very useful marketing tool if used correctly. It can afford you to build strong tribes to which you might have never had access before.

The next blog will discuss about how we should interact within our tribes in order to produce great clients.