Saturday, July 20, 2013

Successful social selling is only about one thing...your customers

In today's social web, I still see companies using social channels to push their products (and often push them very hard). That's because they still view social media as a traditional marketing and advertising channel, where it's commonplace to try to get people to buy their stuff.

Social media is fascinating because for it to be successful, you need engaging, relevant content round-the-clock. It's true that traditional media also needs engaging and relevant content, but you can get away with being sales-y and "pushing" your stuff to people. That's because most traditional media is a one-way conversation. I equate a one-way conversation to a company that's hot and ready to sell when their customers aren't ready to buy.

If companies truly cared about their customers, they'd first take a step back; then they'd listen and take their customers' feedback into consideration (perhaps even action). By doing so, they'll have a healthy, two-way dialogue; and avoid lecturing customers about why they should buy their stuff. This two-way dialogue helps to create a one-to-one relationship with their customers, an ingredient that's necessary to survive in today's social web. From that relationship comes trust and loyalty, the very tenets that make a brand truly successful.

Like most simple concepts (yes, it is a simple concept), it involves some work to implement, and needs time to percolate. But diligence will pay off.

Unless companies like to hear themselves talk, I don't recommend they have one-way conversations in the social web--because they'll only have a captive audience of one--themselves. And that won't be terribly productive.

Have you come across any companies having one-way conversations out in the social web? Who are they and how can they turn their conversations into healthy, two-way dialogues?