Marketing with Social Media

"People are seven times more likely to give your business a good recommendation if they had a bad experience and you made it right."

This is one of the pearls of wisdom I collected at a recent class I took on using social media to promote your business.  Our instructor told stories of restaurant owners who personally "messaged" customers who gave negative reviews via social media, saying things like, "Looks like your next burrito is on us--hope you'll give us another chance!"

And the goodwill generated by such a simple, humble gesture is astounding!

The art and craft of using social media to market your business is "all about giving first," our instructor told us. "You listen first and see what you can offer that is 'of value' to your potential customers or clients."

When you use social media just to "talk at" your potential market, but never listening to what your customers genuinely like, need or want, you come off like the braggart at the cocktail party who walks into a conversation and immediately begins describing the features of his new sports car, without even listening to the conversation at hand. That kind of self-centered approach to marketing is a "turn-off" for potential customers.

Social media is just an electronic version of old-fashioned conversation. And the art of conversation is learning to listen to other people, to offer helpful information that matches the needs and desires of those with whom you are interacting.

An excellent formula for those leading people, whether it be parents, teachers, employers or politicians, is this:

        SAY FIVE POSITIVE COMMENTS FOR EVERY ONE NEGATIVE COMMENT!

 In social media terms, this means give five times more meaningful "tidbits" of helpful information for your clients or customers than you do self-promotion or sales (Blowout Sale...Inventory Reduction...Seasonal Clearance!...you get the idea)

I found these pearls of wisdom incredibly enlightening for those of us who wish to share the gospel. Is the majority of our communication with potential "Christians" self-promotion? We either tell them what they should believe, how they should act or simply dispense information about the times of our church service? Do we take time to listen to potential "Christians" to hear what they are really talking about? Do we join in their conversation with relevant, helpful input? Do we seek their advice and expertise, as well, thus acknowledging their worth as human beings?

The magic "trifecta" of communication includes appealing to people's:

1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Children

If you can communicate helpful, relevant, meaningful information in any of those areas, then you are succeeding in the rules of good communication.

I know there is a whole "health and wealth prosperity gospel" movement out there, promising people pain-free, trouble-free lives if they will just "donate a seed faith amount of money" or follow these "five spiritual principles" or buy this "best-selling book".  I am not talking about that.

But there is a reason that those three things are important to all people. Those three things encompass our purpose for living, the reason we get up in the morning and go to work and school and plan for retirement. It is not the least bit "unspiritual" to recognize that those are the things that matter to people.

And when we, as Christians who want to win potential "Christians" to the truth, want to reach people, we will need to listen to them, to show love, before we simply advertise our "Summer Clearance on Bible Verses"!

Maybe the Apostle Paul was giving ancient wisdom on marketing via social media when he penned the opening lines of 1 Corinthians 13:

"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 New Living Translation)

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care!

--Posted by Mama O.