I love social media because of the database it creates!
I have always found myself trudging through an inaccurate database of ‘potential’ clients at some point in my life and simply ended up frustrated. Traditional databases can be very ineffective and a waste of time because the are simply a list of people you are going to approach with your concept. These people are not interested in you and are not looking forward to your call.
Social media and the blogosphere spins this concept on its head. If you tell people what you are about and what interests you those who are interested will follow you. Those followers have joined you voluntarily, they are genuinely interested in you and you work! Thats fantastic news!
Your social media database is the most valuable database you own aside from your personal phone book. This is a database of people who think like you, believe in you and want to know more about you. So tell them, tell them what you are doing, what you are selling and how it will benefit them. Don’t get too carried away though because they can leave you easier than they followed you. Respect them and they will in turn respect you.
The value in the social media database (your twitter following and friends/fans on facebook) is higher than ever because it consists of interested people. If I gave you a list of ten people who were interested in your product what would you do? You would get in touch with them as soon as possible and set up a meeting. So what are you doing to engage your social media database more. How will you turn their interest into business and sales?
In the next article I will look into tips on setting up your own social networking environment so that you display the right image.
