Top Key to Driving Sales from Facebook and Twitter

February 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Susan 1x1Having been speaking about social media topics for almost two years, I’ve seen the tide change from early adopter to businesses now understanding that they must be in the space. Even so, I still meet much cynicism that questions whether social media can really produce sales.

What most companies tend to lose sight of is that your current customers and your former customers are the people most likely to buy from you.  This means that if you are looking at Facebook and Twitter to be a next evolution sales channel, you need to be sure that you are reaching your customers on these networks.

How to reach your customers on Facebook and Twitter:

  • Have a solid strategy for inspiring them to connect with you. After all, if they’re not seeing or opening your emails, Facebook and Twitter provide you with another opportunity to get your message in front of them.
    • Provide incentives for your customer to become a fan or follower. Make you sure answer the question— what’s in it for them?
    • Place your requests to connect  where your customers will see them. Don’t expect a casual mention at the bottom of an email to do the trick.
    • Ask for the connection at every touch point. Don’t rely on just one channel to do all the work.
  • Leverage the third party resources that are now available to enhance your database. Take active steps to identify which of your customers are on Facebook and Twitter and understand who is connected to you and who is not. Create a strategy to fill in any gaps in these very important connections.
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5 Reasons to Capture Your Customers’ Social Data

February 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

Susan 1x1 Over the past decade, companies who market directly to customers added email as a vital element to their contact strategies. Capturing email addresses has become a higher priority than postal addresses for many businesses. Here we are now in the early age of social media marketing, yet few companies have adopted a practice of capturing relevant social network data for their customers.

In a future article I will discuss the resources that are now available to purchase data that enables you to know what social networks your customers are on and the URL of their profile. While I consider myself an evangelist for these kinds of resources, I also heartily encourage any company who recognizes social networks as a serious direct marketing channel to start capturing social data on your own. Here’s why:

  1. Communication preferences are changing as more options in which to communicate become available. Depending on demographic, the emails you send to your customers’ non-work email addresses may pile up unseen as they rely more and more on Facebook for their personal communication.
  2. Measuring the impact of social networks at the customer level is only possible if you apply  social network activity to your customer records.
  3. Targeting customers with social efforts can only be done if you can identify where your customers can be reached.
  4. Being the initiator of the social relationship shows your customer that you care about engaging with them. Don’t sit back and wait for them to fan or follow you. Ask them for their social contact data and start cementing your relationships!
  5. Don’t give your competitors an opportunity to engage with your customers before you do! When a loyal customer is followed by your competitor and you’re not on the scene, what message does that deliver?

I’d love to answer any questions you might have on this evolving topic.

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