Social Media: It’s Better to Give Than to Receive

by | Aug 25, 2010

We’ve all heard of this saying and most people at least try to follow that advice. In the social media world, this mantra is the rule not the exception. Many who jump into social media think of it as just another marketing tool and start SELLING right off the bat and can’t figure out why they aren’t getting anywhere.

There’s another saying – When in Rome, do as the Romans do. This couldn’t be more true than with the social space. You need to help people by giving info away. This flies directly in the face of traditional marketers who want to control the message and have the potential customer jump through some hoops to get information. That’s not how the Romans do it!

I was reading a post recently by Jay Baer, 5 Ways to Turn Helpfulness Into Marketing Greatness, and he outlined ways you could identify customer pain points in order to be helpful. Here are some highlights:

  1. Use your customer service department – Who talks more frequently to your customers than they do? Have them document every question they receive, and if a pattern develops, create content to answer the questions.
  2. Ask your customers directly – Web surveys, e-mail surveys, and focus groups are just a few ways to get feedback. Better yet, talk to your top 100 customers and ask them about issues of dealing with your company. You’ll not only come away with good info, you can get some goodwill by just asking.
  3. Internal search reports – If your website has a search engine, look at a report that tells you what people typed in. This should give you a clear indication of what’s on their minds.
  4. Get in the trenches – You can’t learn much about your customers’ experience by sitting in your office. Go out and buy your own product, call your customer service department, try to return something. You may be surprised as to how your company is really being perceived in the marketplace.
  5. Shop the competition – Repeat step 4 but with your competitors. Again, once you go through the experience first-hand, you’ll be able to tell your strong and weak points.

Those are some ideas on how to identify areas/ways to be helpful to customers. What are you doing?

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