Clarity = Power
When businesses are completely focused on their vision and mission, they have clarity and it shows.
A good example is Apple, a hugely successful business that makes consumer electronics. Apple focuses on style to reach its market. The products are not faster, cheaper, or better, but they are more stylish and innovative.
This type of clarity makes them the powerhouse in the consumer electronics industry. Does your business have this kind of clarity? What do you need to do in order to get there? Make sure you are clear about your company’s mission in your Facebook Profile.
Authority Figures
Every now and then, in every industry, someone is deemed the authority. John Wooden is an authority of college basketball coaching. Martina Navratilova is an authority on women’s tennis. Bill Gates is an authority on computer software. Warren Buffet is an authority on financial investing. And Jimmy Buffett is an authority on Margaritaville.
Authority is never given. It is taken.
You need to take the role of the authority figure in your industry and online on Facebook. When you establish yourself as an authority, people will follow. And that creates a fan base in a hurry.
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Don’t get cocky. Too many times, we see businesses that take on the authority figure and get overzealous and boastful online. It’s easy to do when there is excitement in the air. Don’t tell people that you are the best and trash the competition. You can be proud without talking negatively about others.
As you start to share information with your fans, ask and answer questions, and talk about the issues of your industry, you become the authority figure. Sounds too easy, doesn’t it? The reality is that very few people and businesses do this. You can be the first and make it count.
Let’s say you are a motorcycle shop. You sell and repair motorcycles, ATVs, and scooters. You build a Facebook Fan page and start to post status messages asking fans what bikes they want to see in the shop, what bikes they are sick of seeing, and if they would like to have a bikini bike wash on July 4th. These kinds of topics will make fans interact and encourage nonfans to become fans.
As more people start to like your business on Facebook, they will tell their friends, and as they comment on your page they spread the word automatically. As the motorcycle shop talks about the topics that mean the most to its audience, they are seen as the source to go to and the shop’s Facebook page will quickly become the place to find the information your fans need.
Influencers
It’s important in social media marketing to make friends with the right people. And the right people are influencers. Influencers are people who can really make your Facebook marketing promotions soar. They range from local celebrities to the ones in Hollywood, and many people in between.
Let’s say Bono (lead singer for U2) were to say on his Facebook page that his favorite food was Domino’s Pizza. All of his fans might see that post and think to themselves, “If Bono likes it, I like it.” Now that’s influence!
Where do you find an influencer? They are many ways to find influencers for your Facebook marketing campaigns.
You can find them by doing searches on Google. You can reach out to local or national celebrities. And you can even contact people in the media.
Let’s say you own a local sporting goods store in Wilmington, North Carolina. Your target market is people that live or want to live an active lifestyle by exercising or playing sports. You can use Google to search for terms like, “sports Wilmington,” “baseball Wilmington,” and “surfing Wilmington.” You’ll want to filter the search results by displaying news, blogs, or discussions separately. This will help you identify the most popular sites and people that talk about your topic in your geographic area.
If you have a dentist office, you could do what a business did in my town that reached out to a local football star/customer and asked to use his name in their ads. The football star, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, was so flattered that he said “yes.”
If you have a photography business that focuses on weddings, you may want to focus on finding the people in the community that have the most exposure to the wedding industry. This could be the local churches, dress shops that carry wedding dresses, shoe stores, and flower shops.
It is through these other businesses and resources that you will be able to find the right influencer(s), friend them in person or on Facebook, and utilize their position to reach more people.
High Integrity
The most influential aspect of any business success lies in its integrity. As a Facebook marketer, you are creating rapport daily in your posts, conversations, and interactions with your fans.
Here are some principles you should consider to really promote a high integrity and trustful environment in your organization:
• Recognize that customers want to do business with companies they can trust.
• If a project goes wrong, go above and beyond to redeem your company’s brand. If it survives, you have stuck to your word. If it fails, you have peace that you did everything within your power.
• Train your team so that they are aligned with what you expect and make integrity part of your company culture. You must all be on the same page for this to work well.
It’s so important that the voice and people who manage your social media marketing have high integrity. There is a huge amount of distrust online because people don’t know the people they are talking to.
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There is nothing worse in business than lying to your customers. It will bite you back hard if you get caught. Don’t do it. Start from the top of the organization and institute a mission statement that focuses on ethics.
What they do experience firsthand is the way you talk to them, your tone of voice, and your approach.
Let’s say you own an online music store and you have just promoted a 25 percent off sale on your Fan page for all products. Your fine print says that the products must be purchased by 5 P.M. The next morning you come into the office and you have over 100 orders that processed after 5 P.M. on the East Coast, but before 5 P.M. on the West Coast—and you have 100 emails from those 100 orders that say the website didn’t take 25 percent off. What do you do?
Since you didn’t clarify a time zone where the promotion ended, you should probably extend that 5 P.M. all the way to the West Coast. That would be the right thing to do. And in the future, be sure to note what time zone your deadlines are in when you post specials.