Becoming a social media
manager is a dream job for many, however just like every other small
business you will be faced by one of the biggest challenges, how to
market your skills to potential clients. As you should already know the
ins and outs of marketing through social media, you should have the
insight needed to be able to reach out and engage your social media
audience, turning some of these from interested observers into engaged
prospects and then into customers and raving fans. However you’ll soon
realize that social media alone isn’t enough.
To really succeed as
a social media manager you need to be able to reach out beyond those
already using social media to find those businesses who don’t have the
time, the knowledge or the confidence to market themselves through
social media even though they will have heard of the importance of
social media marketing.
Here are a few ways you can market your social media selling services to potential clients.
Get a Great Website
It
doesn’t matter if you’re the best social media selling expert around
your website should still be the center of your marketing universe,
simply because it is the one thing that you own and control. Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter and the others can and do change, your website doesn’t
unless it’s something you want. Your website needs to reflect your
social media knowledge, you want people to arrive at your website and
go, wow this person knows all about social media. It isn’t enough to
simply tell people how to do something, you actually have to show them
and practice what you preach.
Additionally, you will want to
include content such as that which is comprised of current stats and
data from some of the projects you are working on, this data is unique
to you, using it gives you a massive point of difference. You might also
want to include comparisons between your work and your competitors,
simply illustrate how you’re existing and future service offerings
(work), will and will continue to be better than those of your
competitors. You often see this from of comparison given as a table,
with ticks next to each service, which generally means the company with
the most ticks offers the more comprehensive range of services.
You
should also include testimonials and feedback from clients, statistical
data from any metrics that you track, before and after project
milestones, etc., not of course forgetting that you should actually
incorporate social media within your website, show your audience your
playground and just how good you are.
Blog about it.
Every
business website needs to incorporate a blog, without one it’s just a
static often dead website. Once your blog is up and running, just blog
about the techniques that you have found to be the most effective, also
include those areas that you are perhaps not quite as good as, because
simply by writing about them you’ll actually learn more about them.
Explain where and how you use these techniques, showcase the results and
what can be learned from them, from a business perspective. These posts
will form your most valuable authority content.
You should also
address all of those questions and concerns that have ever been raised
with you. Simply blog about them, answer each question as best as you
can in one blog post because blog posts work best when you answer one
question with one blog post. By doing this you will address all of the
concerns, wants and desires of your audience and while you are doing it,
you will have attracted an audience to your blog via basic search engine optimization and of course you will be promoting your blog via those social media channels you know so well.
Blog
about techniques you have found to be highly effective as well as those
you feel are lacking. Explain where and how you used them, what the
results show and how it can directly impact a business.
Stay on top of your game.
We
all live in a fast paced world and perhaps the online world is that
fastest of all, social media selling is constantly changing. It’s vital
that you stay on top of new and emerging technologies that help you keep
your clients’ one step ahead of their competitors. Blogging about,
talking about and showcasing new methods will show your audience that
you are a forward thinking leader, always striving to be the best you
can be.
Host a Webinars.
Webinars are a great way to
market your social media management services, because unlike traditional
selling you are selling to potentially hundreds / thousands at the same
time. Webinars allow you to teach potential new customers why hiring a
social media manager (you) is important and you’ll showcase the value
you bring backed up by real life facts and figures. Not only that but
you will be able to answer any questions your webinar audience has,
which everyone attending will be able to hear and this will also
positively reinforce you as the expert in your field.
Simply
invite prospective clients, anyone on your mailing list, and people via
your social media channels. Consider partnering with complimentary
business owners to co-host webinars, as you’ll not only reach your
audience but theirs too.
Once a webinar is over ensure you give
your prospective new customers a strong call to action, because this is
the time when they want what you have to offer, so tell them what you
want them to do.
You should also post a recording of your webinar
on to your website (blog) for all of those people that could not attend
the live event. You can also use any of the questions asked as topics
for future blog content as these questions and your answers are what are
important to your audience.
Host a Live Event
Just like a webinar, consider hosting
a live event, with the popularity of meetup.com it has never been
easier to attract an audience, over and above those methods already
mentioned. A live event is very similar to hosting a webinar except you
get to meet people face to face which makes the whole event much more
personal. When I started my business here in Australia, I hosted a live
event in our backyard, I attracted around twenty local business owners
ran through my presentation, answered their questions and closed with a
call to action. The clients we secured at this event formed the backbone
of my initial business and without them I would not have succeeded.
Advertize.
Word
of mouth marketing is perhaps the most powerful way of marketing, it
empowers your existing clients and fans so that they introduce you to
new potential clients. However, if you don’t have many existing
customers, fans, friends and family it can be really hard to get word of
mouth often referred to as referral marketing to work for you.
In
such circumstances you might want to consider advertising, both online
and offline to raise awareness of your business in your chosen market.
There are numerous places you can advertise online and as a social media
manager you no doubt know of many, however don’t forget that offline
marketing can be cheaper (classified ads) and can potentially reach
thousands. As an added benefit once you are advertising with a local
newspaper, the chances of your next press release sparking interest
improve.
Marketing is never easy, especially for a new business.
My experience shows it works like this, the newer you are in business
the more desperate you are to secure clients, the more out of your way
you will go to please them, etc… however your potential clients
subconsciously know this and no matter what you do, they are hesitant to
trust you with their business. Your task is to keep going, to gain in
confidence and to secure clients. As you gain more confidence in
yourself and your business you will start to portray this in everything
you do, subconsciously your prospects will know and you’ll find it much
easier to gain clients. All of those difficult questions won’t be asked
anymore and the awesome answers you had prepared will become blog posts
and rarely used.
I was rambling a little there, marketing is never
an easy task but it is crucial to your business success. Making that
first connection with a prospect is where it all starts so make it
count. It’s that initial step that sets the scene and gives you the
opportunity to turn all those prospective customers into paying ones.
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