Putting Social Media to Work
Over the last couple years, as social media has hit its stride, small businesses have struggled to quantify its worth as a marketing tool. Sure, with these websites it can be easy to see your customers talking about your business online. But how do you turn that talk into action?
You do it by combining the broad reach of social media with email marketing's ability to develop deeper customer relationships. Together, these two tools help form a virtuous circle that not only leads new customers to your business, but also strengthens the relationships you already have with existing customers. And the best part — it only takes four simple steps to get this marketing machine in motion.
Step 1: Provide a Great Customer Experience
The first step in putting social media to work doesn't even require the click of a mouse — it's all about providing a memorable experience for your customers. Successful small businesses already know that providing great service is a key differentiator. It's an intangible that levels the playing field against larger competitors or chains that have an advantage in pricing and costs. And though customers do enjoy a good deal — especially in this economy — they also value great service. In fact, they treasure it so highly that they'll tell their friends and colleagues about outstanding customer experiences that they've had, making the great service exponentially more significant than a transaction that resulted in a lower price.
One business that customers rave about is the Belleville Farmers Market in Belleville, Ill. For nearly 30 years, this fruit and produce outlet has gone to farms around the country to hand-select products for its customers. It's introduced a workplace fresh fruit delivery service that locals love, and its Taste Buds program is a mobile game show that goes into schools and challenges kids to try healthy foods they think they wouldn't like. Belleville Farmers Market also donates a portion of its sales back to local schools, which last year alone resulted in $30,000. These examples have generated so much interest in the business that many locals have now made the store part of their year-round grocery shopping routine.
Step 2: Develop Deeper Relationships with Your Customers
Belleville Farmers Market's great service both behind the counter and in the community has earned the business its fair share of passionate customers. The fact that nearly 9,000 people have signed up for Belleville Farmers Market's email newsletter is remarkable — and that's before considering that Belleville's population isn't much higher than 2,000 people! The business uses its email newsletter to make a deeper relationship with its customers — not just to pull them into Belleville Farmers Market on a slow, wintry day (though it works for that too) but to spread the news about things happening in the shop and in the community at large.
As Belleville Farmers Market proves, email marketing has the power to turn your customers into passionate advocates for your business. By sharing information, stories, and tips with your customers, your business not only sticks in the front of customers' mind, but they also begin to view you as a friend and partner more than just another business.
In addition, email marketing also helps your customers refer your business to their friends. Before the advent of social media, the easiest way to spread the word was by forwarding your email newsletter (which is still a very popular practice). But now people use social networks to share links, and this helps to spread news to many more people than before. Businesses that use email marketing are poised to take advantage of this emerging trend, because by creating and sending out these regular communications, they are already giving their customers something to talk about.
Step 3: Help Your Customers Spread the Word
Belleville Farmers Market does a great job with this, linking to its Facebook page at the bottom of all its emails. The newsletter even indicates the current number of fans the Market has. The newsletter is archived online so issues can be linked on Facebook, allowing customers who aren't subscribers to read and comment on the latest news. In addition, Belleville Farmers Market uses Facebook to capture new subscribers right on its Page.
To get your most passionate customers to talk about you on social media, it's most important that you build an online presence and make that presence known. First, determine what social networks your customers are likely to use. Regardless of where your customers congregate online, use your email newsletters to link to your pages, and use your social media sites to promote your newsletters.
Step 4: Repeat
The Belleville Farmers Market example illustrates this point. In retrospect, it should be no surprise that the reason it has more fans than its town has inhabitants. Social media transcends borders and boundaries, and gives everyone the opportunity to be a part of something great.
The most important part of putting social media to work for you is maintaining this virtuous circle of online marketing. Every new customer who is attracted to your business by social media also needs to have a great customer experience when they arrive at your door. After that, email marketing can be employed to make their relationship with your business deeper. And when these customers engage with your business on social media, their friends will hear about your business too. This will prompt them to come in, and so on and so forth.
Eric Groves is senior vice president of sales/business development, Constant Contact
www.ConstantContact.com
Copyright 2010 Author retains ownership. All Rights Reserved.
