Some of you that know me, know that I used to be a contractor in the home improvement industry. When I started a business in 2008 for fence contracting, I decided I wanted to promote that business using social media and a blog only, no traditional advertising.
While I was on several networks at the time including:
Relationship Marketing:
Nothing new here, but people and businesses just don’t seem to get it for some reason. Social media isn’t about self promotion, its about relationship marketing and networking!
I was fairly new to this game in 2008, and I think that helped me tremendously since I didn’t have any bad habits. I was just getting into smart phones (I think I had a Palm Centro and later Blackberries, now I am a Droid freak!), and social media was highly addictive (still is!)
My main goal on Twitter was to network with people in the Raleigh/Durham NC area (where my biz was located), and to simply meet new people. Simple right? Actually yes, it is almost that simple. If you set simple objectives it takes all the complications out of social media, keeps it innocent.
I didn’t track clicks, ROI, followers, best times to send out a Tweet, and I didn’t use any apps other than Tweetdeck and my phone.
I think because I didn’t fully understand all that BS, I had a better chance for success, all I knew was I could search for people in my area, connect with them, and then network with them…. easy peasy! Why do we complicate it so much?
How:
Ok, so the obvious question is “How”. really it was simple as I said above. I did the same thing I would have done at some grand opening party, a social event, or any other event where I was networking.
As I stated, I used search functions to find, follow and connect (most important is the last one!) with people that lived and worked in the communities I was serving.
When you are building relationships with people, they don’t want some auto DM from you saying:
Hey! Look at me! Check out my shitty links to myself! Hurry Up Would Ya!
Would you want that? I will be honest, nine times out of ten (even if I know you!) I unfollow anyone that sends an auto DM. (even if it isn’t self serving).
On occasion I would send out a link to images from a project, but it was only a few times a month. Most times all I did was interact. If you said something about coffee, I would reply with my favorite place to get a cup, if you said something about sports then I might reply about my favorite team. It was all about having a conversation, just like IRL (in real life, in case you forgot what that actually was!).
Tweet/Meet Ups:
Although I don’t see as much of this as I used to, Tweetups and Meetups at one time were very popular. I tried to make it to any and all of them withing driving distance. If I would drive that far to help a customer then I would drive that far to a meetup.
I had a unique Twitter handle at the time (I was “thefencepost” until I changed to @kbloemendaal in 2009), and everyone remembered me as “that fence guy”. It was great! Hell I didn’t care if they remembered my name or not, they new what I did for a living!
I remember introducing myself:
Hi, I’m Keith Bloemendaal, from Wake Forest…..
We would always wear name tags with our Twitter handle on them, and people would look at my shirt and say:
Oh, yeah! You’re the fence guy! Nice to finally meet you!
And there it would start. Networking at it’s finest!
Why Twitter Benefited My Biz:
Simple. I used it for what the developers created it for: Socializing!
I simply interacted and networked without hardly any promotion whatsoever. When someone needed a fence, they remembered me most times, I got several referrals a month from my followers on Twitter. They never remembered my name, but they remembered what I did for some reason.
Because of the interaction, other bloggers were finding my site and I was getting more links, which helped my SEO and I got more calls because my site ranked better.
I didn’t automate one tweet, DM, or follow. I did it all manually and by myself. I interacted with people as a real person, not a brand or product.
Discussion:
Have you been actually interacting with people or are you shamelessly self promoting yourself. Are your Tweets @replies and mentions of other people without the use of automated software?
Keep It Simple Stupid! Get back to the basics, don’t over complicate it!
Kieth,
You nail it. Twitter can really be a huge benefit to a business. But only once people take a deep breath and try to make it MORE than about promoting products and services.
Be yourself, be real and care about something more than just tyring to get people to buy buy buy.
Steve@Earn Money Online recently wrote..I Need $1000! THE 30-Day Plan for Making Fast Internet Income
Exactly Steve, people and brands are getting way to worried about measuring ROI and metrics instead of actual relationship marketing….
Keith recently wrote..Welcome to Social Web 101