Conversations About Social Media Marketing

Every time I speak, write or chat about Social Media Marketing, one thing becomes very apparent – the total surprise on my business owners faces when I tell them they will have to socialise, create and have conversations and even relationships with their marketing audience. I even hesitate at using the word audience as that seems to imply a static listener rather than a partneror participant in a two way social engagement.

I guess the best way to reframe the word audience is to call them participants because that is what they are and this is what you are setting out to do, create a participatory conversation with you listening at least as much if not more than you are talking. Listening is key, yes key to social media marketing for it is here that this kind of marketing really differentiates itself from old marketing and advertising where the business was speaking and hoping to be heard.

Social Media Marketing is about engagement and one of the best ways to engage others in conversation is to listen to them. When your participants can see you are listening to them and responding to what they are saying you will hold them in the palm of your hands.

One way to get into the right frame of mind from the beginning is to decide that you are about to start and enter conversations rather than with the idea of marketing. Log on to your social sites with this frame of mind, “Today I am going to see how many productive conversations I can have with others, how many problems I can solve, how many people I can help and how much happiness I can spread.”

Just so that we understand what we are talking about when we talk about having conversations let’s make a list of meanings and explanations so as to fully understand the conversation we are having right now:

• The purpose of conversation is to create and improve understanding, not for one party to ‘deliver a message’ to another.
• There is no audience in a conversation, rather participants which requires that each party have a say and each party listen.
• People in a productive conversation don’t repeat what the’re saying over and over, they learn from eachother and move topics forward.
• Conversations are about talking, not making announcements. They’re about listening, not researching and about paying attention, rather than getting attention.
• Conversation is live and alive, it constantly moves and changes, flowing where the interests and ideas of the participants take it. Even when the conversation is held via text and time, it continues to flow.

“Remember, Fractal Magic Marketing^TM is all about authenticity, please avoid hype altogether. What you can do however is be sure to tell your story, if you are excited tell them you are, if you are needing advice tell that story. Good marketing is all about engaging your audience through the power of story telling, stories speak to the unconscious, they involve the reader in what’s happening, and they engage the emotions of the reader and all of those are great marketing practice. So become a story teller and weave a story around each event or happening, I guarantee you here and now that if you do this well your marketing will fractalize exponentially outward as your audience become wrapped up in the story you’re telling and pass it on to their audience. This is the beauty of fractals!

The conversations created by you and your audience around your stories, their stories and the blending of those stories is really how our world works. Listen in to any coffee shop conversation, you will hear the fractalisation of people’s stories going on all around you every day.” a quote from my new eBook “Fractal Magic MarketingTM- an introduction.”

Social Media Marketing is also known as relationship marketing, conversational marketing and I tend to combine it with authentic marketing and value based marketing just for good value. What this means for brands using social media is that they too must be living things, with living conversations going on all around them. Those that succeed in this will be in the flow, responsive, transparent and participatory and these are a few of the values that will be a part of a new paradigm in marketing.

Live brands are those who participate in conversations in a manner that is:

• Real and Authentic: social marketing is carried out by real people, writing and speaking in their own voices, for themselves not just their brands. There will always be a person seen behind the brand, not just a logo.
• Consistant: Brands need to be seen to be listening and conversing constantly, and being responsive the the feedback they are getting to earn the respect and trust of their customers.
• Genuine: Engagement cannot be faked and conversations will need to be carried out regularly and in an ongoing fashion and this is key to sustained brand presence.
• Learning from the conversations: Every participant in a conversation learns, and this should be no less true of brands than it is of individuals. If you listen you will learn what it is your consumers want from you and that is like mining gold.
• Humble: Remember the power is in your consumers hands now more than ever before in history, with the power of the internet conversations reach out across the globe in the space of a heart beat. Make your consumers happy and keep them happy by being humble, respectful and trustworthy.
• Personal: If you really cannot do your own social marketing be sure the firm and the person you hire to do it, understands who you are, who your brand is and the vision and presence you want to have online and who markets with authenticity for all that you stand for. Social Media is personal and so you want to make sure that what is being said around your brand and by your brand is totally in sync with your vision for your business. It’s a great idea to encourage and reward your employees to engage in positive conversations of their own around your brand too.
• Nonjudgmental: listening to others points of view and knowing that you may not agree, but that you don’t have to prove you are right is a lesson in being nonjudgemental. At times you can agree to disagree, and at times it can be better to just let it go. At no time when you are working as, for or near a brand does it pay to be agressively contradictory, rude or blatantly inciteful. Not Ever!
• Respectful of Differences: Hold an attitude of mutual respect for everyone you meet, honour the differences and you will be rewarded with respect and friendship in places you never believed possible.

Social media is all about interaction, creating content and conversations around that content and with the right strategy you can reach key infuencers using your online interactions. The points listed below give you some ideas for social media interaction:

Point 1. Contribute – Add Value: Limit talking about yourself, add value instead. Find ways you can help others by answering questions, providing information, posting inspiring or humorous comments, videos or pics. Remember it’s all about them, not you.

Point 2. Have a Plan: Don’t think you can dive right in without knowing your objectives, your outcomes and your strategy to make them happen. Stay flexible and responsive to what you learn when you’re listening, but have a plan.

Point 3. Connect: reach out to others, get to know them, reach out to them, ask questions, learn, and give praise where praise is due.

Point 4.  Converse: create and enter conversations about anything that interests you, it doesn’t just have to be around your brand, you don’t want to bore people by sticking to one subject. Allow them to see the person behind the brand.

Point 5. Blog: Start with a blog, I tend to tell people to have a website attached to their blog rather than the other way around. Most websites are static, blogs are dynamic, engaging and social.

Point 6. Link in and out: Don’t be afraid to link to other articles, posts and comments this can prove to others that you are confident enough to provide valuable information even when it isn’t yours, this earns trust and respect for you and your brand. It also puts you in good standing with others in and around your field.

Point 7. Use Video: videos are the way to engage your participants on an even more connective level, they can see the real you, hear the real you and connect with you as a person.Video also allows you to really express your passion and excitement for your brand and business that comes across on a more emotionally connective level.

Most of all – Enjoy!

Annie Infinite

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