Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

亲爱的Jamesbangla,

Before we all get too bent out of shape about Facebook, Twitter, and every other kind of social media, let's consider the very real need to consider an important distinction: fans are not necessarily going to be shoppers.

我喜欢很多事情:酸制酵母;RAC随着ard Rally; the International Herald Tribune, and peanut butter and cream cheese sandwiches. But I don't buy or consume, let alone think about these things every day.

Does this mean I'm not a loyal fan? no, it doesn't. It just means these things are not a large part of my everyday life because their story lines don't cross my mind on a daily or weekly basis.

How does anyone gain a larger following on a Facebook fan page?
The same way you'd gain a larger following in the offline world: you engage people by asking them about the most important things in the world: themselves.

或more to the point, you feature the stories that make up people's lives by creating a mini-drama. It can be based on
real people, real events, but whatever it's based on it must be interesting. It's got to engage people and it's got to pique their attention.

I posted an article on this subject on my blog at 1.00 am
this morning. It is, in my opinion, the second of the ten Commandments of Marketing, and it's this: don't be dull.

The other thing about social media is that mostly, people that are engaged in the act of interacting with that specific media are not generally in shopping mode: they're in social mode.

So make your message social and link subtle steps back to specific offers and particular events that you just happen to have a special offer on, but an offer that's connected to a tight deadline or a limited quantity, so you'll have urgency and scarcity working in your favour and not against you, as is so often the case when retailers look at their customers, or, more to the point, at their lack of effort to go out and actively FIND customers who are in the market for a specific thing, or to solve a particular need.

Use Twitter to engage people and to create a relationship based on emotion. Push traffic from Twitter to Facebook. Use Facebook to push traffic to your blog, website, or online store. And use your website, blog or online store to funnel traffic to your bricks and mortar store.

And all along the pathway, offer value-laden up sells, opportunities to connect, compelling stories, tantalizing trinkets, and reasons to make the customer feel better, not because they've spent money, but because you made them look good or even great in the eyes of a loved one.

I hope this helps.

Gary bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA