By Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Inc.
In order to be a next generation salesperson, you need to master the techniques of Social Selling.
I see a lot of salespeople who use hope as a strategy. They keep hoping that the good old days of 2007 were still here. They resist any mention of Social Media or networking. Every time they get the chance, they call it “a fad.”
Now, even if you are one of those types of thinkers, there’s a voice somewhere in your body that’s telling you that you need to get with the program. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
Networking works! It has for hundreds of years. Even you naysayers have to agree. The world has not passed you by, it’s simply changed in the way we communicate. You used to go to events and collect business cards. Today, you have Social Media to stay in touch with your network and provide value. If you’re not using this tool then you’re most likely leaving money on the table and are slowly being left behind.
Hope is not a strategy. Here are 5 scenarios that prove it:
1. Hope does not provide value.
The right kind of leverage in a relationship allows you to extract value over time. How do you attract that kind of leverage? Be the first person in the relationship to provide value. What’s your unique promise of value? The contribution you make is unique to YOU – it’s your personal promise – it’s what you provide that adds value to the Social Selling relationship.
2. Hope does not build your online reviews.
When I was selling cars, I always found it useful to develop a rapport with my customers so that at the end of our transaction, I could say, “My business is based on referrals. I’d really appreciate it if you would share your experience with your friends and family.” Today, customers have a place to go to share their experiences – Social Media. When you’re mentioned in an online review on Yelp or Google+Local, your credibility and value increase. Your success in Social Selling depends greatly on what others’ say about you. When was the last time you asked your customer for a referral?
3. Hope doesn’t get customers to refer you.
Asking others to refer you can be an endeavor filled with anxiety. It doesn’t have to be if you practice two very important tactics. Both are keys to successful Social Selling:
- Give, give, give, than ask. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this tactic in his book, “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” (which is an analogy for give, give, give then ask). When you’ve given as much as you can to a buyer and they perceive your level of service as outstanding, asking for a referral is the next logical step.
- Practice makes perfect. Getting up the nerve to ask for referrals isn’t easy at first. However, it gets easier every single time you do it. Just like everything else that’s uncomfortable and very valuable, the result is worth the effort.
4. Hope does not grow your network.
Be where your buyers are. Many studies show that consumers do all of their research online before they think about visiting your store. This is why Social Selling is fast becoming the way to fill your pipeline. Think about how valuable it would be to grow and maintain your own network where you can help prospects with their research. Focus on these specific tactics to grow your network online and off:
- Post highly shareable content on Social Media
- Converse on Twitter
- Start discussions in LinkedIn groups
- Blog about your passions and answer consumer questions
- Promote your Social profiles in your email; ask prospects to connect
5. Hope won’t teach your customers about your products and services.
Be the first one in your buyers’ network to teach them about your products and services. Now, this doesn’t mean blast them with offers all the time. Social Selling serves the customer along each stage of the buying process. A solid content strategy is crucial. Knowing who you are (your personal brand) and who your ideal customer is are both key factors. The more you know about your customers, the better your content on Social Media will be. Answer their questions. Help them decide.
Are you a next generation salesperson? Maybe you haven’t decided yet. Go on, go for it!
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Social Selling is a new buzzword that’s being tossed around a lot but many aren’t really sure what it is. At its core, Social Selling is your ability to network successfully by leveraging Social Media channels to connect and develop referrals and leads.
It’s a fact that word-of-mouth sales are highly profitable, close faster and have the highest win rate when it comes to customer experience. Building and maintaining a network using Social Media is your best chance to leverage word-of-mouth.
Some sales professionals already got the memo and are launching their own network with their personal brand. Many however, are being held back by either their own fear and apprehension or their bosses’.
Some businesses have even gone so far as to limit salespeople’s time on Social Media, mistakenly perceiving it as a playground.
Restricting access to Social Media for salespeople is like unplugging the phone and turning off email. This is how we communicate today. It’s how consumers prefer to communicate. If your customer is online and your products are online, why aren’t your salespeople online?
If you’re ready to jump into Social selling but don’t really know where to start, I’ve compiled a list of 6 Social Selling tips that lay the ground work for you. It’s not easy but anything worthwhile never is. Start here to build strong relationships with those in your sphere of influence.
Passion (is contagious)
“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.” ~Charlie Parker
What are you passionate about? Make a list of at least 5 things that make you excited to jump out of bed in the morning. It might be your job. If so, break down what it is about your job that you love. It might be parenting, or golfing, or running, animal causes or 80′s music. Clearly define what you’re passionate about because you’ll need it for inspired Social Selling. Your passions are what connect you with others. When you’re passionate about what you do, it’s contagious.
People
Connect with people who share your passions. If you golf, you may have a group at the club. If you’re into food, you may have reviews on Yelp that get liked and commented on. If you’re already building your network, you probably belong to groups on Facebook or Linkedin that share your passions. Your network is your net worth and networks are people. If you’re starting from scratch, start building your network. Seek out those you want to know and meet. Who in your network knows them? Leverage your real-life relationships too. When you can get them to connect with you on Social Media, you’re constructing a valuable asset from which to cultivate referrals.
Provide Value
“The right kind of leverage in a relationship allows you to extract value over time. How does one acquire that kind of leverage? Be the first person in the relationship to provide value.” ~ Gary Vaynerchuk
Provide value by being the first person to answer your prospects’ questions. Become even more of a Social Selling rockstar by answering those questions people don’t know they don’t know. You can first start with Facebook posts or tweets or Google+. Then graduate to a full-blown blog where you’ll get noticed by search engines, thereby building even more credibility and value around your personal brand.
Perseverance
I won’t sugar coat this: building relationships online takes hard work and perseverance. You’re going to have a lot of false starts and that’s a good thing! Every move you make will take you to where you want to go.
Patience
The old days of having someone buy from you without any prior research are over. The time is now to start building and leveraging your network. Sure there are those that have gone before you but there are many who are lagging. Take action now. Commit to the work, have patience, be diligent and you’ll succeed.
Progress
Once you jump into Social Selling, you’ll want to set some goals for yourself. When you track your progress it helps keep you motivated to move forward. Use these metrics:
- Growth of your network. Make a plan and set objectives to consistently grow your network.
- Number of Social channels you can handle in your daily routine. You’ll want to start with the one you’re most comfortable with and make it the one where your network and prospects frequent. Once you’ve mastered that channel, move onto the next one.
- Personal Branding. Constantly reassess what your personal brand says to your network and prospects. Redefine your unique promise of value on a regular basis.
Use these 6 P’s of Social Selling to launch or enhance your own referral network. Make connections, build a valued network and enjoy a steady stream of referrals and leads. Are you ready to get started?
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
The post Practice Makes Profit: The 6 P’s of Social Selling appeared first on Kruse Control Inc.
In grammar school, our favorite field trip was to the La Brea Tar Pits. If you’ve never been, it’s big pool of sludge off of Wilshire Blvd. in the Miracle Mile. It was there before Los Angeles was ever thought of. It has a museum now but what I remember most are the cool dinosaurs surrounding it with one or two stuck in the sludge
The La Brea Tar Pits exhibit was based on a discovery in the 1940s and 1950s of large woolly mammoth bones. It caused a huge amount of excitement in the city. By the 70s there were much smaller specimens discovered and it was all so very interesting to a fifth-grader. The mammoths got caught in the sludge and never came out alive.
A few days ago I got a call from a dealer client letting us know that a “corporate” decision had been made and they were going to use another company for their social media marketing. My contact at the dealership didn’t want to let us go but a “cost cutting measure” was put into place and there was nothing he could do. Our prices are very competitive so that got me wondering.
This is a dealership that has not yet open for business. We were contracted a few months ago to start a marketing campaign to build their social presence. We did a pretty great job; surpassed all the goals we had set. So to say I was disappointed in the turn of events is an understatement. It just didn’t add up why they were cutting ties with us.
Then I pressed further for the backstory. A website company had contracted with the corporate office to provide websites for the entire dealer group. As a “bonus”, they were going to do their social media marketing for FREE. Yes, that’s right … FREE. You can’t compete with free but then why would anyone try?
It baffles me why businesses would care so little about their social voice as to hand it over to someone who’s promising the world … for FREE. There is nothing free in this world. The way they’ll pay for this is in the harm it will do their brand and social presence.
What also baffles me is that all the other forms of marketing cost money so why would someone think social media is different? There’s so much written about social lately, especially Facebook, in terms of revenue and advertising. The opportunities are boundary-less … But you have to pay!
I’ve been blogging about dealership social media marketing for four years now. I’ve done my best to get the word out about its value, specific tips, where the pitfalls are and what to do if you get stuck. As a former executive manager of some of the most successful dealerships in the US, I find it amazing that a salesperson from a website company can convince a business owner that it’s a good idea to go with … FREE.
- How will they grow their communities on the social platforms?
- How will they communicate what it’s like to do business with this particular store?
- How will they get their content seen by their fans and followers?
- How will their salespeople begin to understand and use social channels to sell?
- How will they get their content seen on Facebook now that it’s “pay to play”?
- How will they generate leads and turn fans into customers?
Losing a client to someone who’s doing it for free is surreal. I guess because I’ve been talking about it for so long and I feel I’ve done a pretty good job at getting the message seen and heard. This just shows that I have much more work to do.
I made the choice to go into social nedia marketing for dealers because I was one once and I knew others were going to need help. I could make an impact on the industry I love. But I can’t care more about a client’s social voice than they do. Kruse Control works with clients who see the value of social media, are eager to have their voice heard, enjoy a community of raving fans and are willing to walk with us to awesome heights.
I think it’s time for another field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits, which will be a full-circle moment for me. Perhaps it will help me accept the fact that those who think Social Media is free are destined to go the way of the Woolly Mammoth.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
The post What the La Brea Tar Pits Can Tell You About Social Media Marketing appeared first on Kruse Control Inc.
Social media is changing faster than ever. It’s altered the way we communicate and if you’re interested in generating more revenue for your business then social media strategies should be a part of your overall marketing plan.
Just when you thought you couldn’t be blown away by another social media statistic, along come the latest facts that are even more incredible. Businesses who are relentless in building a following on social media are in fact creating their own publishing platforms, growing their marketing channels and content distribution networks. You’re building a digital asset that grows year over year.
Social media is how we communicate now. As a marketer for your business (or for yourself as a sales professional), this list of 12 mind-bending social media facts (with strategies on how to leverage them) should help you find your way.
1. The fastest growing group of new users on Twitter are aged between 55 and 64 years old.
In many car dealers’ showrooms and service departments this demographic is the life-blood of the business. Numbers are trending downward for younger demographics but the 55-64 year olds remain highly loyal to their dealers. Is Twitter on your list of channels to reach this valuable customer base? If not, it needs to be. Find Twitter accounts whose followers are your customers and connect by following them. Create and publish specific marketing content that speaks to 55-64 year olds.
2. The male vs. female ratio of Social Media users:
- Facebook: 60% female/40% male
- Twitter: 60% female/40% male
- Pinterest: 79% female/21% male
- Google Plus: 29% female/71% male
- LinkedIn: 55% female/45% male
The messages you publish on each of these platforms need to speak to your ideal customers. In the new social Web, the more you know about your ideal customer, the better chance you have of closing sales. What stands out here for dealers is an oft-neglected portion of the buying public: Women. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Women influence the decision in 85% of all new car and truck sales in the United States. They purchase 44% of all new vehicles. Are you seeing where I’m going with this? Create and publish content that helps your female customer buy.
3. 46% of web users will look to social media when making a purchase.
My oh my, if you’re not using social media strategies in your overall marketing, look at all the opportunities you have to grow! How can you better facilitate conversations with web users? Make sure you have a solid engagement strategy; determine how you’re going to engage buyers and build relationships. Buyers are researching online and only coming into your store when they have enough info to feel comfortable. As they’re researching, offer them guidance (just as you would in person) so they feel comfortable buying from you.
4. People are spending 1 out of every 7 minutes on Facebook when online.
Admit it, you’re on Facebook at night when you’re watching TV. You’re looking at Facebook via your phone when you’re waiting in line at Starbucks. You may even be on Facebook while you’re at work. Your customers behave just like you and some are more savvy than you realize. Make sure you have a rock solid Facebook marketing strategy so that when people have time to spend, they spend it looking at your content.
5. 93% of marketers are using social media. However, only 9% of marketing companies have full-time bloggers.
Blogging is an integral part of your social media strategies and it’s essential to online marketing success. Content in blogs is what drives search results, however, it’s got to be GREAT content. If you’re new, first ensure your visibility and influence by creating and maintaining a blog. Then, hire a blogging coach or consultant to guide you to success. Quick tip: leverage your employees knowledge and expertise in your blog.
6. 23% of Facebook users check their account at least 5 times a day.
Facebook is constantly changing their algorithms to serve ideal, relevant content to each user. With your page, you want to make sure your messages are reaching the biggest audience. Posting more often will increase your chances of getting your message seen. Use Facebook ads to increase the reach of your posts.
7. There are 684,478 pieces of content shared on Facebook during every minute of every day.
This amount of daily content can drown out your business’ messages. Make sure you have a dedicated person to listen, ask questions, solve problems and basically be remarkable on social media. Content drives social but human interactions are what bring you to the finish line.
8. 5 million photos are uploaded daily on Instagram.
I know what you might be saying. “Ugh, another channel to worry about for content.” I see Instagram as a really nice way to communicate a different side of your business. Maybe the goofy, fun side. Certainly the side that illustrates why people buy from you.
9. YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18-34 than any cable network.
Make sure your social media content strategy includes YouTube! When you’ve taken the time and effort to define a solid content strategy, you can utilize it on every platform available. Posting content that’s based on your products and services is fine but it should not be the bulk of what you post. Remember, you ARE trying to influence buying decisions but you’re also influencing people who are not ready to buy right now.
10. Every second 2 new members join LinkedIn.
As a sales professional, or as a manager of one, don’t ignore the power of Social networking. We used to gather at meetings and events in person but now we have social media. Linkedin is a great place for sales professionals to establish themselves as trusted resources. Publishing content on Linkedin will get you noticed. Spending a few minutes each day to build your network can pay dividends down the road.
11. Everyday, the “+1″ button is hit at least 5 billion times.
At the heart of search and social lies Google Plus. Anyone who wants to be found on page one of Google search, knows that blogging about useful topics gets you noticed. Publishing awesome content, interacting with other users and having a solid marketing strategy that drives leads to your site are the pillars of the “+1″ button.
12. 91% of mobile Internet access is for social activities with 73% of smartphone owners accessing social networks through apps at least once per day.
Please don’t overlook mobile marketing and advertising. Facebook ads are a great way to reach mobile users. Social advertising is new for most businesses. You mustn’t take old-style messages and blast them out on social media. There’s a delicate balance in your social ads. Hire a content strategy expert to help you craft your social ads. You only have nano-seconds to capture attention. You don’t want people to scroll by without seeing something exciting.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Social media marketing continues to evolve and the markers for success seem to be a moving target. Just like any community, the members come and go and shifts happen. Consumer buying behavior remains constant until something comes along to shift it in a different direction.
This makes it very difficult for marketing managers and business owners to define their social media success. When a vendor reports the results they’re getting for you as “successful”, how can you know for sure if that’s true? If you don’t know what success looks like then how will you know it when you see it?
For most business owners, the decision to get into social media marketing was influenced by one or more of these factors:
- You saw your competitor doing it.
- Your customers are using it.
- One or two of your employees use it.
- The manufacturer mandated it.
Whichever of these factors compelled you to take action, it’s time to recognize that it’s not your children’s Facebook anymore. Social Media, SEO, blogging, and online reputation are all intertwined now. It’s difficult to be strategic when they keep moving the ball.
Social media success is no accident. It’s the by-product of being an outstanding company. It’s a direct reflection of what your customers say about you and what they experience when doing business with you.
For local businesses, social media success has two fundamental elements:
1. The Sales Element.
There are many moving parts to the ultimate goal of leads and sales using social media. Likes, followers, subscribers, engagement, and reach are key performance indicators. However, obtaining buy-in from managers can cause roadblocks on the way to success.
I have a client who created a really cool Facebook ad campaign for an oil change special. The image was wonderful, the ad copy urged action and they created a landing page for users to “Get a Coupon”. People started arriving in the service drive with their coupon and this got the service manager’s attention. Up until this point, he saw Facebook as a joke.
Social media success for this dealership (an most likely your business) means that people showed up to buy. Each piece of content and each social ad is specifically designed for your particular ideal audience. This is where the hard part comes in and it directly relates to what I mentioned earlier. Social media is constantly evolving and shifting so having the key players (well-trained, skilled Social marketers) in place to create these individual campaigns supports and ensures your overall success.
2. The Human Element.
Your logo isn’t social. People can’t engage in conversations with the objects you sell.
Like all communities, online or offline, people are attracted to the shared connections entrenched in the core values and beliefs of your business. Humans connect and build relationships with other humans. Not robots, not technology, not tools.
When I speak to dealer groups, I ask the crowd, “When was the last time you sold anything without a conversation?” No one raises their hand. All along the purchase process, consumers ask questions and sellers (hopefully) respond with answers, in person or digitally. To engage buyers in conversations, your answers must live on the platforms where the questions are being asked.
Now if you’re really staying ahead of the game, you draw buyers to your own platform. By blogging about the questions consumers have and answering them, your content gets picked up by search engines. You attract those sales conversations to your own platform thereby increasing the chance of closing the sale.
Ultimately, it’s the human element that defines your social media success.
The best part of conversations are stories that bring the human element to the forefront. Reach clients and prospects by telling your stories. What stories? The ones that happen everyday in your store. The story of your passions and why you do what you do. The story of why people choose to buy from you rather than your competitor. Have you touched your customers and prospects with your WHY?
We all like to feel a connection with those we buy from. It’s easier to sell to someone you’ve done business with before and if you work it right, even new customers will feel they they’ve known you all along.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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The value of every customer you have increases over time. Honoring that value takes commitment and a solid strategy for attracting and retaining customers. Whether you’re building online relationships or maintaining them, Social Selling provides value at each stage of your customers’ path to purchase.
Customers are the life blood to every business. Smart salespeople work their network to keep the sales pipeline full. Even smarter salespeople use social media to develop relationships online and invest in their own “Social Capital.”
79% of salespeople who use Social Media as a selling tool outperform those who don’t.
The Power of Social Capital
- It improves your productivity as a sales professional.
- It expands your professional options, putting you in charge of your own destiny.
- It keeps you from feeling isolated and motivates you to reach your goals.
- It can raise your overall quality of life.
In order to leverage your Social Capital, you must know your passions and your purpose. Building value-based online relationships starts with you. When you can stay centered on your purpose, it comes through in the communication you have with clients, co-workers and personal relationships.
“The right kind of leverage in a relationship allows you to extract value over time. How does one acquire that kind of leverage? Be the first person in the relationship to provide value.” ~Gary Vaynerchuk
In a world where 95% of what we’re exposed to is noise and 5% is useful relevant information, it’s critical to stay focused on your passions and your purpose. By staying grounded in your expertise, the next logical step is to ask, “How can I serve the customer?”
Provide Value.
It’s simple: people don’t buy from those they don’t trust. Think about it, do you buy from anywhere or anyone you don’t trust? Build trust by providing value. What are some of the ways salespeople and business owners can provide value?
1. Listen.
I worked once with the #1 BMW salesperson in the United States. She knew the first tactic to close any sale was to listen to the customer. When you ask thoughtful questions and really listen to what your customer is telling you, the lead happens. This is the groundwork for social selling with integrity.
2. Be Helpful.
What are your customers’ most frequently-asked questions? Take time to identify every question your customer may have along the buying process and answer it with your helpful content. Analyze your website and all other forms of media you use to attract buyers. The secret to having a successful content strategy (and by extension, success in Social Selling) is to be helpful. Being helpful builds new relationships and fosters better long-term relations with your repeat customers.
3. Communicate Your Expertise.
Everyone wants to buy from people who know their stuff! If your prospect or current customer is already part of your online community, you’re half-way there. Use content to demonstrate your expertise and show people what it’s like to do business with you.
4. Get Good at Social Customer Service.
71% of those who receive positive Social care are likely to recommend your brand to others. Now that you’ve developed your network for Social Selling, those members of your network will want to use social media to communicate with you. Pay attention to what’s being said about you online and be ready to address customer questions or issues on your various social channels.
5. Show Appreciation.
Put the spotlight on your customers – they’re the reason you’re where you are. That same #1 BMW salesperson has special ways to show appreciation for every customer she’s sold to over the last 25 years. Heck, I did a house deal with her in 2001 and I’m still getting Happy Birthday wishes. Remember, showing appreciation to your customers does not require a monetary gift. In fact, fire up your creativity and do something no one else has done. It’s not about the money, it’s the impact. Staying in touch with them via Social Media solidifies your relationship and provides value to that customer, who then shares their experience with their own network.
When you look back on the customers you’ve served over the years, were you the one who was first to provide value? If not, now you can be. When you provide value, you grow your Social Capital. Invest in yourself, take the time to build and maintain those relationships and soon you’ll be reaping the dividends.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
The post Social Selling: Acquire the Right Kind of Leverage in Online Relationships appeared first on Kruse Control Inc.
Have you ever tried to converse with someone while you’re at a rock concert? The music is awesome and you just want to share a thought with your friend but the minute you open your mouth, you realize you won’t be heard until the music stops.
Similarly, the amount of content that’s being published on the web is deafening. Content marketing on the web is exploding. By 2020, the amount of web-based information (most of it consumer-driven) is expected to increase by 600%. Think about that for a moment: Imagine the vastness of the Internet today, in six years we’ll have six of those.
Sellers who’ve done their homework know that providing quality information to prospects during the research and buying process increases their chances at closing the sale. But things are getting so noisy that many businesses won’t be heard until the sale is over and your competitor beat you to the finish line.
With so much content available, one might think that’s a positive for the average consumer. But when you sit down and crunch the numbers, there’s a finite amount of content that can be consumed by any one human. Today, an average American spends about 10 hours a day consuming content, a number that has risen steadily year over year. There’s a threshold to the amount of attention we can to devote to content, which will further challenge a marketer’s ability to get messages seen and heard by their target audience.
While content is the new currency with which we establish our business’ trustworthiness, the question now is…How will our content marketing messages get seen and heard above the noise?
Content marketing, customer appreciation and community.
Every time I sit down to write a blog post, I think about the words I want to write and my goal of building a community around my business. I want to build trust with my community because trusts leads to loyalty. Whether you’re a car dealership, a salesperson, a service writer or even another business entirely, being human trumps any site traffic stat you can muster.
Yes, still do SEO to drive traffic to your site. Yes, still attract new customers with well-placed Social ads. But spend an equal amount of your time building loyalty and showing appreciation for your current customers. People buy from people they know, like and trust. That’s been the case since the first widget was sold. Today, you develop that knowing, liking and eventually trusting with content marketing, customer appreciation and community.
Content marketing
It all starts with content. Quality content you create and publish establishes your business as a trusted resource. Content marketing starring your employees and customers goes one step further to illustrate how awesome it is to do business with you. Syndicating your content on social media, newsletters and ebooks helps “get the word out” and increases your influence and visibility on search engines. Work with a content strategist if your not sure what you should be publishing or how you’ll execute it. Content is your biggest asset on the web.
Customer Appreciation
When I managed car dealerships, we always had some form of customer appreciation. Today, with the social web, we can use technology to help us launch programs, track our success and with finesse, others share our results. Customer appreciation doesn’t always have to come in monetary form. Spotlight a loyal customer (ie: “Raving Fan”) with your blog. Tell their story. If they own a business, talk about it. Memorialize a milestone they’ve reached in their life. Tell your customers’ stories so prospects can see how much you appreciate their business.
Community
Community members buy from community members. Community members refer to others because they have established relationships. This is nothing new – it’s word-of-mouth. Take time to build a community around your business or your personal brand – a community that mirrors your real life community – using social media.
The future of the web is noisy. Leverage your greatest asset – content – to attract prospects, improve customer loyalty and watch your business proper within your community.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Until recently, Organic SEO and Social Media were considered two very separate and distinct things. Organic SEO is the art of getting search engines to show your website content in search results without paying for ads. Social Media marketing is the art of publishing content on social networks to reach consumers along each stage of the buying cycle, develop relationships and ultimately, generate leads and sales.
Today, Organic SEO and Social Media go together like peanut butter and jelly.
While Social Media is a strong branding and engagement platform, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others give you the ability to create real conversions in multiple ways. I’ve often said that your marketing must “touch” the prospect 7 times before they’ll buy. Organic SEO and Social Media now provide those touch points in very valuable ways.
The term Organic Marketing is new, however its components are not. Word-of-mouth has always been the most effective form of marketing and now, with the new Social web, we identify our marketing efforts under 3 categories: Owned, Earned and Paid media.
Owned Media
Owned media is a channel that your company promotes which it controls. Some examples of owned media are:
- Websites
- Blogs
- Facebook Page
- Twitter Account
- Newsletters
- Ebooks
Earned Media
Earned media is essentially word-of-mouth…digitized. It’s your business being mentioned by others on the channels they prefer to use. Examples of earned media are:
- Mentions
- Shares
- ReTweets
- Online Reviews
- “Viral” content
The driving force of earned media is the combined result of strong organic search rankings and highly relevant content distributed by your business on social networks.
Paid Media
Paid Media is something you’re likely more familiar with, although it comes with a twist. There’s a real pushback I see with car dealers and other businesses to want to revert back to the old ways of advertising. The term “Paid Media” is definitely not those tactics. It’s the practice of promoting useful content to generate more earned media, which then drives traffic directly to your owned media properties.
Facebook ads are a form of paid media which can also generate traffic, leads and sales. The ad platform has become one of the most valuable tools you have in your arsenal. Even with a small budget, you can laser-target ideal buyers and guide them further down the sales funnel.
Within the context of organic marketing, Social Media is your primary engine for promoting new content. Effectively organizing your social campaigns and tying them together with new content on your site, optimized for search, can take you from zero visibility to a strong performing position very quickly.
This is unprecedented. We used to blanket the land with advertising messages and cross our fingers that prospects would appear. By leveraging your useful, relevant, search-optimized content to attract buyers, your business reaches those searching for what you offer and they’re the ones most likely to buy from you.
Customers attracted via organic content are warmer leads and therefore, are much better customers to have over the long run. Your content presents your business as a trusted resource. No hard sell – just quality information and cleverly-positioned questions to help turn visitors into buyers.
If you really want to be brilliant, start mixing paid and organic. The combined lift is overwhelmingly better than paid channels alone.
It all starts with great content. Here are some ways to implement content marketing:
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Dive deep into why people buy from you.
Consult with an expert to perform a “brand discovery” with you so you have a foundation from which to build your content strategy.
Post 2 or more times per week. Designate an “editor” for your blog; someone who can write catchy headlines, engaging useful information and can optimize your posts for search. Hire a consultant or coach to help you if you’re new to blogging.
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Create initiatives for employees to participate in content creation.
Each employee possesses their own expertise. Capture that in the medium they feel most comfortable. Video, written word, audio, photographs – everyone has their favorite. Let your employees be teachers for your business.
Visitors from organic search have some of the highest conversion rates across any channel in digital marketing. When you combine well-orchestrated social campaigns with ongoing search optimization, you’re creating leverage and a long-term competitive advantage.
Organic SEO and Social Media are here NOW.
This is not something to consider in the future. All purchases are researched online before people decide to buy. Will you be the one they choose?
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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All digital marketing today is driven by content. Your company blog is an integral part of your overall content strategy. Social and SEO are now an old married couple and if you don’t have a sufficient, well-designed blog strategy, you’ll miss out on increasing your search engine rank, boosting your thought leadership position and generating new leads for sales.
One of my favorite TV shows is Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne Carini. If you’ve seen it, you probably feel like me – excited to hang out with Wayne (the consummate car guy) to see what will happen next. He goes to auctions (once those were my home away from home) and win or lose, we all have a great time witnessing the excitement. He gets calls from customers all over the world to come look at and bid on their automotive family heirlooms, which have been sitting in their garage for years. He always finds a way to get them to crank up and next you see Wayne motoring down the road with another great find.
Blogging can seem like an old car that’s been forgotten in the garage. You might have heard once that blogging can be highly beneficial to your business so you fumbled your way and got your blog up and running. I’ve seen many company blogs where it was clear they had great intentions but for some reason, just couldn’t follow through.
If your blog is new, it can be hard find the time to commit, to know what to write about, to know how to optimize it for search and to know what to do with your posts once you’ve written them. A winning blog strategy is key. There are certain specific fuels and tactics that make cars (and blogs) run well. Here are 5 fuels that will ignite your blog strategy and get you over the finish line with flying colors!
1. Know Who You Are. It’s essential to know why people buy from you. I don’t mean things like, “We have the lowest price.” or “We’ve been in business for fifty+ years.” It’s important to delineate the reasons in detail so you can show evidence of that every time you publish content. If you’ve never gone through a brand discovery to define your specific content strategy, it would be a good idea to hire a content strategist to help you discover your WHY. It will be the launchpad for every bit of content you create and publish going forward.
2. Understand Your Buyer(s). Part of any successful sales strategy is to know everything about your customer. Take time to define who your ideal new customers are. Take some more time to define who your current happy, loyal customers are. When you have this information, you can publish content that attracts, engages, and generates new leads for sales.
Now that Google has eliminated organic search data from Analytics [ie: Keyword (not provided)] it’s never been more important to understand who your ideal customers are and what types of content they require to make purchase decisions. There are certain words and phrases your customers search for that relate to your business and what you sell. Having a very clear idea of your “buyer-personas” will improve your ability to get your content into the right hands.
3. Establish Goals. Never start any social or online marketing without clearly defining your goals. Maybe your goal now is to just have a strategy in place. Here are some additional goals to look at when kickstarting your blog:
- Blogging Frequency – How often will you publish?
- Blog Editor – Who will manage content submission and publication?
- Training – Great content doesn’t just happen. How will you know what success looks like? Successful blogs have specific characteristics that only an expert can guide you on.
- Plan for syndication – How will you get people to read your blog?
- Analytics – What tools do you need to measure your blog’s success?
4. Develop Original Content. The first place to start is to write what you’re passionate about. Next, outline what your customers/prospects are passionate about. To get traction, ask your frontline personnel to give you their customers’ 3 most-frequently-asked questions. If you have 20 salespeople in your organization and each gives you 3 then you’ve got enough blog content to last for 7 months if you post twice a week.
Utilize an Editorial Calendar. Managing content (blogs, social media and other marketing) can be very challenging. Content marketing has lots of moving parts that come together at different times to form cohesive campaigns. It’s imperative to have an editorial calendar to manage the process. Your Editorial Calendar will serve as a road map for the months ahead to ensure your content is optimized to meet your business goals and targets the right audience. It will also provide assurance that your contributors, stakeholders, and distribution channels are working in concert.
5. Extract Gold from your “Content Producers.” Employees are your gold mine but it’s up to your content marketing manager to extract the gold (and that ain’t always easy!). Leverage the power of these 4 types of content producers within your organization:
- The Writer. This is the employee who is willing and able to write. It’s extremely rare to find more than one or two within most organizations but do your best to find them and get them on board. Added benefit: other employees will see this happening and may want to join in the process.
- The Actor. These is your “showmen” (or “show-women”) who go 1,000 MPH and jump from one activity to the next. Extracting gold from an Actor comes in the form of video-based interviews. Produce 6-10 video segments and turn those into blog posts.
- The Talker. This person is a lot like the Actor but doesn’t want to be on video. Generally speaking, a 1-hour interview (audio or written) with a Talker can generate up to 10 potential blog articles/pieces of content.
- The Questioner. Some employees aren’t good writers, they’re not good on camera, and they don’t make a good fit for interviews either. However, just because they don’t have these communication skills doesn’t mean they can’t help with the process of brainstorming the types of content the company should be producing—basing said content on the types of questions consumers ask and seek out every day. The Questioner understands the customers well and is most likely introverted. Very often, support staff are Questioners.
So get that car out of the garage and let’s see it run! Your customers are waiting to drive business to your door.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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I had a former client tell me the other day about how growing fake likes on their Facebook page using dubious means will “look” good. There’s a lot of snake oil out there telling dealers and other businesses what success looks like on social media. They describe your problem for you and let you in on the little secret they have to remedy it. Their solution jumps over the hard work and magically promises an engaged audience. There are no secrets, there are no shortcuts.
There is no work-around that will bring you traffic, leads and sales. Is anything worthwhile ever achieved from trying to game the system? Any ‘get rich quick’ scheme should be viewed as relevant as the snake oil it’s made of. There’s no shortcut on the road to successful social media marketing but with the right strategies, you can achieve your goals…and sometimes for less than what those get-rich-quick schemes cost.
Social media marketing generates traffic, leads and sales and a winning content strategy gives you traction. Content is at the center of social media (and all other) marketing. It’s how you attract your ideal customers to engage with your business. Facebook updates, tweets, videos, blog posts – all should do one thing:
Inspire.
Inspire you to communicate the vision you have for your company. Inspire your employees to deliver an outstanding customer experience and participate in social storytelling. Inspire your customers to like, comment and share the content you serve them. Inspire your customers to buy.
Inspire yourself.
A house is only as strong as its foundation. Remember, people don’t buy what you do they buy WHY you do it. Inspiration keeps you connected to your WHY. As the leader of your business, develop habits that keep you inspired:
- Never stop learning. Read a book, write a blog post, network with others in your field.
- Practice gratitude. Every night before bed, write down 5 things you were thankful for that day.
- Figure out what you’re passionate about and devote yourself to it. We all can get sidetracked from what’s really important to us. Spend time in nature, meditate, exercise, listen to music. Do what feeds your soul.
Inspire employees.
Employees are THE trusted authority on a company’s culture, programs, integrity, working conditions and related issues. I cannot overstate the importance of employee’s contributions to content in your social media marketing. If you’ve done the work and you’re feeling inspired, there’s a pretty good chance it will be contagious. Take it a step further:
- Ignite passionate performance. Ask them to take the same road you have: continuous learning, practice gratitude, cultivate your passions.
- Help them love their jobs. Grow leaders, reward leadership, provide regular training and support.
- Encourage employees to be their best selves. Inspiring leaders tell powerful, memorable, and actionable stories. The most effective social media marketing tells stories that inspire people to take action.
Inspire your customers.
Every business wants to create fierce loyalty in their customers and their community. The power of social media is not in direct selling to the customer; it’s to inspire a customer who made a purchase to talk about your business to others. Useful content drives social media and only through users’ inspiration does your content get likes, comments and shares.
- Listen more than you talk. Engage when you can contribute or be helpful rather than hijack the conversation, turning it into a sales pitch.
- Ask questions and answer them thoughtfully. Social media is a marketing medium but the added bonus is being able talk with customers and prospects in real time. Inspire customers by being the likable expert.
- Inspire customers to leave reviews! Institute an internal process to capture your happy, loyal customers’ opinions. Today, the key to building your online reputation using social media marketing seems to be less about a specific incentive and more about making it super easy to create a review – especially now that a majority of people are accessing the internet on mobile devices that aren’t always conducive to writing out a long review.
By inspiring yourself and those around you who are connected with your business, you can pull off very successful social media marketing and achieve your ultimate goal.
Inspire = traffic, leads and sales.
P.S. If this post inspired you, please tell me how in the comments below. I work with those that gain great satisfaction from seeing the fruits of their hard work unfold into leads and sales. Social Media marketing works if you work it!
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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