Knowing that this is going to be mostly consumed by online marketers,
know that the purpose of this piece is not to insult you. Instead, take
it to heart as the advice of someone who cares deeply about your
profession and industry.
Marketers ruin everything. The great, loud, always-everywhere Gary
Vaynerchuk is a fan of the phrase. By it, the basically means that
anywhere the people go, there's money to be made, so marketers will
follow them in droves. If marketers follow them in droves, that means
so do their advertisements, spammy private messages, and promotional
outreach. Eventually, another place will become cool, the digital
hangout to be a part of, and the cycle will repeat itself.
It's not something that's going to end any time soon, but it's good to
think about how you can best take advantage of it, and communicate in a
way that doesn't make you the badguy.
The first thing you have to understand is that everyday consumers are
becoming aware of the cycle. It's not something they think about and
analyze as much as you do, but they're far from oblivious. This means
that trying to be sneaky or pretend you're not being promotional when
you are isn't the way to go.
On new social media platforms especially, marketers tend to think that
the best way to promote their products or services is by disguising them
as learning opportunities, free ebook giveaways into a funnel, etc. The
truth is that, if you've built a relationship with people and they like
the content you put out, they won't have any problem handing over money
all on their own when you ask.
Rather than focusing on sneaky funnels, put your effort into genuinely
providing really great, valuable information for your followers. If
you've already helped someone for free, they're more likely to be
interested in or at least hear you out when it comes time to pitch
something.
In a high speed, more transparent world, most of the time you just can't
market like it's 2007 anymore. What's more, most people still do this,
so you can stand out from the crowd by being the one brand or marketer
not assuming they're smarter than their market.
What are some ways this philosophy can actually be put into use? Here
are a few:
- On Instagram, avoid falling into the trap of leaving automatic
or, if they are manual, thoughtless comments that don't serve any
purpose. Nobody becomes a huge fan of someone after they
auto-comment "NICE!" on a photo tribute to their recently deceased
grandfather. Instead, offer real interactions, ask about the
context of the pictures people post, etc. Score some people points
by acting like an actual person!
- Use a social platform for warming up a prospect, not for the
hard sell. Community or social media platforms are meant for
reputation and personality building. Instead of going directly for
the kill, if you've built a rapport with someone and want to pitch
them something, use twitter to ask their permission to send an email
or schedule a Skype call to discuss your offer.
I hope this helps you get your message out to the masses.
I look forward to your success!
IMKBrown
IMKBrown.Com
ListBuildingScience.Com
