Talk Less and Listen More
I say that line all the time to my 11-year old son Jake. He nods his head like he’s listening to me but every year, the notes from his teachers still keep coming home.
Sometimes it’s just an email telling me that Jake is talking instead of doing his work. And sometimes, his teachers tell me that he’s not ‘staying on task.’
It’s a good week in our house when I don’t hear from one of Jake’s teachers.
Funny thing is, the notes don’t seem to bother him. Some days, I think he’s quite proud of himself for his behavior. He continues to talk and doesn’t give much thought to what he’s saying or even why he’s saying these things out loud.
As the years have progressed, I’ve come to truly understand my son. Jake doesn’t have a self-esteem problem.
He has a 11-year old boy problem.
The Just Post Something Strategy
When you’re posting your social media messages, do you really think about what you’re saying? Or are you just trying to get something out there to tell everyone about your latest sale or that you’re offering a new service?
More often than we’d like to admit, most of us are posting things just to have something on our Facebook fan page or in our Twitter feed.
One of my clients told me about the time they brought in a college student to handle their Facebook fan page. When I reviewed with them what was posted, they told me that their instructions to the intern was: Just post something, even if it’s today’s weather. Just post something.
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from responding because I understand why that happened. I also get it when those of you reading this post have probably at one time or another, done the same thing.
Just post something.
Those are the days it seems like we’re acting more like my 11-year old son. We get into this posting routine where we’re just talking and saying random things out loud. We think we need to post something, I mean just anything, to make sure we have some activity on our company pages.
But throwing up some content and logging off shouldn’t be your goal. That’s not how we participate in the conversation.
The Conversation is the Relationship
How do you stand out with all that other online noise?
Think about how you use your favorite social programs. There’s so many posts, tweets and images in our news feed that it’s hard to hear the intentional messages of everything that we opted-in to follow.
Look at it this way: Social media marketing is like going to a party.
There’s so many people in the room and everyone is adding to online conversation. As more people join the party, the level of the noise goes up as everyone tries to speak louder so the person standing next to them can hear their conversation.
And we’re all in this one big space struggling to talk over one another.
As Susan Scott says in her book Fierce Conversations, { an awesome book I just recently read! } when the conversation becomes the relationship it’s more than just being the loudest person in the room broadcasting that your product’s the coolest thing.
It’s about creating those moments where you can be heard.
When you’re planning out your social marketing posts, think about how you can create quality over quantity with your messages. The idea here is to create a social posting strategy and not just post something.
To create more quality messages, think about these questions:
1. It’s not enough to just tell people you have the solution to their problem. You have to prove your solution works.
Think about three of your customer success stories:
- What was your customer’s problem and why did they connect with you?
- How did your business solve it?
- And what was the result?
2. How well do you know your customer’s needs?
- When you reviewed your customer success stories, what elements did they have in common?
- Was it the same solution for all of them?
- Or did you find three different solutions to solve the same problem?
Make some notes to yourself about your customer success stories. The more you review your customer’s experiences with you, the more you’ll be able to create content that resonates with your customers.
You’ll be able to speak their language and create those ‘ah-ha’ moments with your social posts. You’ll be able to show them that you truly understand their problems and you’re not just here to sell them something.
Now take this information you just learned and spend some time listening to what your audience is saying. Go into their top social networks and see what they’re talking about, what they’re saying in the comments and what content makes them hit the Like button.
Don’t participate in the conversations. Just take the time to listen.
Think about how your company’s products and services can address their concerns. By taking some time to really understand your customer, you’ll be able to do more than just post something.
You’ll learn the right words to say so your business isn’t just posting. You’re contributing to the conversation.
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