How to Sell With Social Media – Redux

The RedheadVA — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:45:38 +0000

Note to readers: Seems my first attempt to post this didn’t cooperate…so let’s try it again

Social media is many things. It’s a fantastic business building tool. It’s a great networking and learning tool. And when used correctly it can be a good selling tool. Here’s how to sell with social media.

Use social media to build a brand. Social media is an excellent brand building tool. Brands are important because they help a prospect create an identity for you. When you have a strong brand identity your prospects will think of you first when they have a need. Building a brand with social media takes time. It takes creating a plan, a message, and a brand image.

Decide what image or brand you want to communicate and then create a plan to make it happen. This plan will likely include interacting online. In addition to posting messages on social media sites, and creating a profile that represents your brand, you will interact in a manner that is consistent with your message.

Use social media to enhance likeability. For many businesses their brand is their personality and this is easy to communicate via social media. We buy from people we like and from people we connect with. Social media is a fantastic way to express who you are and what you’re about so you can effectively communicate your personality. Be friendly, be funny, be informative, be who you are and your audience will connect with you and ultimately buy from you.

Use social media to quietly, subtly promote your products or services. You have to be careful with social media. People join social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to interact, not to shop. They do not like nor do they respond to blatant sales messages.

You can occasionally post a promotion or a new product on social media sites. The best results tend to come from promotions that are specific to your connections on that site. For example, “Facebook Friends 20% off Promotion.” However, it’s also important to test and track promotion tactics to determine what your audience responds to. Take great care when using social media to provide valuable information and interaction or you’ll turn off prospects.

Advertise. Many social media sites now offer highly targeted advertising options. Like any marketing tactic, it pays to invest wisely, test and track for optimal return on investment. However, business owners are finding success using social media advertising options.

Integrate your social media interactions into your business website. It’s about creating a community. Once you have a group of people who follow you, trust your authority and credibility, and like you, then selling via social media is easy.

The key to using social media to sell is to use it as a tool to build your relationship with your prospect. Using it as a medium to deliver a sales message generally doesn’t work. Fit the message to the medium and use social media to build awareness, traffic, liking, brand, and your community. Selling will come naturally and the potential for profit is huge.

Resource of the Week – RoboForm

The RedheadVA — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:25:07 +0000

Okay, I have to admit I’ve been stubborn and no it has nothing to do with me being a redhead, well okay maybe a little (sheesh…). You see, this is a fault of mine, if I’m not the first to discover it or at least be an early adopter in among my peers then I sometimes shun whatever the new service, idea or application may be. Now I’m also the first to admit when I’m just being plain stubborn about something and this is one of those times.

Recently, I was working on a project with a group of other virtual assistants and one of the ways for us to share details was to have a mutual online RoboForm account. I’m someone who is pretty good at remembering passwords and and I’ve got my ways of keeping track. Well, while using RoboForm I found out easy and handy it is to use!

So if you’re anything like me try it out and you won’t be concerned about remembering a password (expect for one) ever again!

Concerned that you won’t be able to access them anywhere but on your system, no worries they have Roboform Online which allows you to synchronize to an online version which you can then use no matter where you are. Or you can synchronize it to a USB stick if you prefer. They have quite a few options and I have yet to explore all of the features, but just the saving of passwords is enough for me right now!

Do you have a can’t live without app? If so, I’d love to hear about it!

’til next time

Redhead Business Solutions » Resource of the Week

How to Sell With Social Media – Redux

Resource of the Week – RoboForm