There's a high road and a low road. Which path to choose? That is always the question. Today the masses are awake to the fact that social marketing is all that works. The trouble is relationships are only viable over the long haul. Or they work best when they have been established for many years.
Doesn't it look tasty?? How do you like your Spam?
You can't meet someone this morning and ask them to help you move this afternoon. They already have plans. If you knew them for a while. Maybe a few months and you asked them one on one say 2-3 months in advance you could probably get them to help out. Especially if you promised a social encounter where many other of your friends would be there to help out.
What I'm seeing more and more of is others attempting short cut spam like tactics where they attempt to sell someone on the first encounter or even the second. No matter what you are selling there is a darn good chance someone else is selling it too. That and I probably already know someone longer that sells it. How many dentists, lawyers, insurance agents and financial planners do you already know? So if it's more than 2 or 3 there is a darn good chance everyone else does too. Especially someone like myself who is uber connected.
The idea if you would jump to that short term tactic is so very telling about other areas of your life. Or let's just say it could be a leading indicator. Traditional advertising IS NOT DEAD. Yes I just said that. It isn't. It's alive and well.
What has happened is the percentage of conversion has dramatically shrunk. The necessary budget to make it work has increased dramatically.
How many social networks can you name? Do you count them on one hand or two?
Why hey has this happened? Because of the number of outlets for entertainment has increased 10,000% in the last 20 years.
So instead of spamming someone and creating such a negative brand impression why not put that time and energy into helping someone else. Eventually someone is going to say wow what a nice guy, I wonder what he does for a living? Oh he's a Realitor. The next day Sally has lunch with her friend and says we are thinking about selling our house. Oh really you should talking to my friend the Realitor he is such a great guy. That is how social media marketing is supposed to work.
It's not supposed to be about posting examples of your professional prowess every hour on the hour showing off how awesome you are. It should be a blend of your personal and professional persona. Examples of your humanness. Let us know you love the Cubs, kittens and long walks on the beach. Show us your Bon fires, kids ball games and volunteering at church. Then add a bit of news about things in your professional life as well as let us see you building up others as well as helping the little guy up when he's stumbled. This is an example of a human being in social media. People will connect to you. It's a marathon not a sprint. Take the high road. In the end you will be glad you did.
Got questions, I bet I have answers. If not I'll help you find them. It's what I do as a consultant we might not have all the answers but we do have an awesome set of questions. Most of the time it's those questions that will help you get to YOUR answers faster. He and smile cause it's gonna be a great day!