How to turn social relationships into real relationships
Networking is an important part of any business – whether it’s networking via building relationships online or whether it’s face-to-face networking it’s important to build relationships with those you want to do business with. We all know there is value in face-to-face networking and that’s why it’s important to also understand the importance of online and social media relationships. The real value comes from the ability to turn these social relationships into more than just an online relationship – and turn it into one that can lead to real results.
We know how nerve wracking it can be at the beginning of any type of relationship. “Am I being too pushy with my sales approach?” “Am I not being aggressive enough?” that is hard enough but social media relationships are another story. We spend a lot of time building them, so in order to help calm the nerves we thought we’d help you out by giving a few tips about how you can nurture social relationships and turn them into in-person relationships.
- Connect with people you already are connected with socially
- This is a fairly simple but often overlooked topic. The easiest relationships to turn into real relationships are the ones you’ve already developed online. Whether it’s a linkedin, pinterest, facebook or twitter if you’ve started talking to one online, you’ve already put a step in the right direction to converting that relationship into a real one. If you haven’t had a chance to connect with the brands or social media personas you want to connect with now is your opportunity to connect with them before reaching out to them in other avenues such as email, phone call or even asking for a meeting. If you are connected to them prior to this via social media it will really help pave the road for a real meeting and real relationship.
- Maintain your social relationship with brands you’ve connected to
- Once you’ve started to engage with a certain brand or persona it’s important to continue to maintain a level of engagement that shows them that you really do care. It’s all about connecting and establishing trust with other brands and company’s and one of the best ways to do this is by continuing to maintain social relationships. Just like real life relationships, online relationships require nurturing, love and attention. The more trust you build by maintaining your social relationships the more likely they will to convert to offline relationships.
- Do your research
- When engaging with brands or personas online, always do your research. Figure out what they like, who they are, what they represent, what their interests are. This goes above standard knowledge of their target audience, demographic, clients etc. It requires getting to know them, what non-profits are they involved in? What does the person you’re attempting to court enjoy? What’s their favorite type of food? Wondering why this may be important? Here’s an example. You’ve been working hard to build a relationship with the marketing manager at “company XYZ” and as luck has it you’re going to be in Los Angeles next week for business. Perfect! Instead of a traditional email or phone call you send them a tweet (or FB post – depending on where your relationship is built) with the following photo (knowing of course their true love of pizza):
Simply add the message: I’ll be in town, I’m bringing the pizza, you grab the drinks. 12 p.m. Friday. What would really be optimal is using an image with their favorite brand or restaurant of pizza and engaging that third party as well. Knowing the little details about someone you engage with such as when they eat lunch, what they love to have for lunch, how long their standard response time is etc. etc. makes getting that next appointment so easy, it’s like stealing candy from a baby. (Okay so maybe stealing candy from a baby isn’t THAT easy but with the right maneuvers it sure is). What are you waiting for – start your research! Be as creative as possible. Creativity and original thought will help you exceed in every aspect of business. Really, it will.
- When engaging with brands or personas online, always do your research. Figure out what they like, who they are, what they represent, what their interests are. This goes above standard knowledge of their target audience, demographic, clients etc. It requires getting to know them, what non-profits are they involved in? What does the person you’re attempting to court enjoy? What’s their favorite type of food? Wondering why this may be important? Here’s an example. You’ve been working hard to build a relationship with the marketing manager at “company XYZ” and as luck has it you’re going to be in Los Angeles next week for business. Perfect! Instead of a traditional email or phone call you send them a tweet (or FB post – depending on where your relationship is built) with the following photo (knowing of course their true love of pizza):
- Ask for an introduction. Have a mutual businesses friend or connections to connect you
- So, you’ve built a long lasting relationship with a brand or business online but you’re unsure how to take it from there. It’s simple. Ask a mutual friend who DOES know the brand to set up a proper introduction. Just like face-to-face networking often requires an introduction so does social-to-face networking. Don’t be shy to ask for help from a colleague to make the real life introduction happen.
- Know what makes you a valuable connection
- Confidence will get you everywhere in the world. Know what makes you a valuable connection for the brand you’re trying to court and sell them on it. Once they know what makes you a valuable connection they’ll be the ones chasing you for some real life facetime. So what are you waiting for? Make sure your social networking pages/personas represent the best of the best. Make sure that it is known what makes you valuable.
- It’s not about you, it’s about them. Show them what you can do for them
- It’s important that whoever you’re courting online can see why you’re valuable, but not just for who you are. It’s important that social relationships know how you can help THEM out, what benefits you might serve their organization. Example: you’re in the business of selling shoes. A sales associate from a business you’re trying to court mentions how uncomfortable their shoes are. Take a moment to do research, find out who this social media person is and go above and beyond to order this person the most comfortable pair of shoes your store/warehouse has to offer. If you REALLY want to wow them, invest in the most comfortable shoes for the person you’re attempting to court and send gift certificates to the remaining staff in their department. You’re doing a few things here, without even meeting these individuals; you’re showing what you can do for them. Hooking them up with such comfortable shoes can only mean one thing (hopefully). They will start stocking your shoes in their retail store. Utilizing social networks to show them what you can do for them is a great way to take initiative and to convert that relationship into one that can be utilized offline.
LRT is a marketing and graphic solutions company that serves a large variety of clients in Chico and surrounding North State and Northern California areas like Oroville, Paradise, Corning, Red Bluff, Redding, Orland, Reno, Sparks, Yuba City, Marysville, or Sacramento. We would be more than happy to work with you on your next social media or marketing strategy- talk to the experts today!
Call us at (530) 879-9261 or toll free (888) 934-6578 for a creative, innovative and successful social media or marketing campaign that is sure to drive traffic straight to your website.