“Service with a smile,” has long been the mantra of corporate leaders and sales people. Successful businesses add depth and value to their organization by delivering a solid product or service pleasantly. But that limits the beneficiaries to your current client base. “Social media with a smile,” allows your brand to share its passion for its solid product or service (pleasantly) with clients and non-clients alike.

Looking back, I know exactly why my Dad was so passionate about the Rotary Club he belonged to – he met some of his best clients there! Now, that was not his focus for participating. His primary focus was to genuinely be of value and to offer support to the community and to the charities that were important to him. As a result of his earnest efforts, his ideal audience and prospects would seek him out, anticipating the same level of earnest and professional commitment to their needs.

It was “old school” social media. Now with “new social media” the business itself can have a voice and is able to inject its personality and energy to their corporate identity. The brand can now leverage social platforms to genuinely engage prospects, clients, and peers in a broader conversation.

How do you create engaging content that will attract your ideal audience and showcase your business’ passion? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. If you were to just sit and chat with your clients, without applying any sales pressure, what would you talk about? What would they talk about? What would they want to know?
2. When clients contact your customer service team, what are they looking for? What are the most common topics of conversation?

That’s where the value is; talk about that.

To be able to build and grow your business successfully, you need to interact with your community.  Remember “Service 101”. Smile. Be helpful. Add value. The more value you deliver to your community, the more likely it is that your community will be attracted to working with you, to seek you out for products and services.

We used this exact tact recently for a client of ours, with great results. We worked closely with the client to launch a new brand and a new product offering.

1. We utilized an aggressive pay per click campaign to drive buyers to their ecommerce site based on product searches.
2. At the same time, we used social media to create a voice for their brand and add value to the conversation.
3. We created a strong strategy that tied Facebook, Twitter, and blogging together.

The value of this social media strategy became apparent within 4 months. Monitoring their site traffic revealed an important trend, visitors who came to their website by way of the brand, established through social media, were more engaged, stayed on their site longer and converted to buyers more frequently. By giving their brand a voice, and adding value to the conversation, they were able to attract new clients and achieve a very successful ROI.

Still not convinced?  Check out this white paper just published by comScore.  They worked with Starbucks, Bing, and Southwest Airlines to understand the power of “like”.  The numbers are impressive and really support the conversation of being a voice of value.

Utilizing Social Media isn’t hard. Everyone in business and sales is already involved in social media on some level; it’s just new tools. So flash that social media smile and generate some brand buzz!

I’d like to know: What’s the strength of your brand’s voice? How do you bring value to your social media community? What are your “old school” social media techniques?

Guest blogger, Kathy Hokunson, has two decades of experience in sales, account development, client retention and marketing. She is the Vice President of Sales at Site-Seeker and under her direction, the New England territory has become one of Site-Seeker’s strongest, and most promising markets. She was one of the earliest adopters of the business uses of social media, spending her career making the bottom line case for Internet marketing, including social media. Called “The Queen of Business Social Media” in Southern New England, Kathy has worked with numerous clients and was awarded Platinum Club status as a top 10 new business producers and client retention expert. 

Tags: Community, engagement, Guest Blogger