How Successful Marketers Use Social Media for Business Success

Selling online obviously involves grabbing a customer’s attention, and this leads some individuals to act a little unruly in terms of their advertising materials. In other words, some marketers online, whether using Facebook or another brand of social media, outright “shout” at their market, pushing exceedingly too hard when trying to make a sale.

Pushing too hard in the realm of social media isn’t only a rookie mistake either. Take a company like L’Oreal for example. They tried to push their social media presence so hard that they actually created a fake blog – complete with hype stories and hogwash comments. One of the biggest auto manufacturers on the planet, Chrysler has failed at social media in multiple ways, from dropping curse words about their customers via Twitter to pushing their brand in everyone’s faces at every turn.

It takes subtlety to market effectively online, and there’s a definitely a rhyme and a reason to
it all.

The Process of Selling a Brand Online

Understanding what Social Media Is and Isn’t

Social media is a people-driven, content-hungry, communal medium that is not at all an
effective sales channel on its own. This might sound ironic or even outright false considering
how much success some companies do have with social media, but they have this success
through one thing and one thing only – engagement.

You see, you cannot directly sell your products or market your brand via any brand of social
media. This is a turnoff to the extreme, much like those monstrosities posing as ads on
MySpace. The goal should be to engage with customers on a personal level, a level of social
context wherein the channels of communication are open and gradual steps are taken to pique
a customer’s interests.

Providing Valuable Content

Content delivered via social media needs to be far more valuable than promotional. In other
words, you need to deliver a softer, cleaner message if you want to deliver an effective
message. A subtle approach is one that intrigues and leads customers and turns them into fans
of your materials. After signing up or entering your network, the engagement can then begin.

The Long-Term Success of a Product and Brand

Remember that word from the previous section, “engagement”? That’s what it’s all about.
Think about a wedding engagement that you plan out properly. The average couple is
engaged for roughly a year before tying the knot. And while you won’t have to wait a year
with social media engagement, the lesson to learn here is that it’s better to wait. Your aim is
for the long-term success of your product and of your brand.

Some products being sold are high-engagement products in the first place, and thus it takes
a much longer time to build up trust in the relationship – or to build a relationship at all. The
idea is to engage with your target market, making sure to talk—both ways, of course—and
never, ever to shout it out.

Pushing too hard on social media is not good for anyone involved. Remember that it’s a
process of engagement, where communication is paramount.