Whether you own a business or are simply an important part of someone else's business, the reality is that you need to interact through social media in order to make progress in that business. Connecting with prospective clients can be challenging but it is most effective when you network in person as well as online.
Identifying the perfect client for your business
As you are setting up your strategy, you may be wondering exactly how you should go about connecting with your perfect client through social media channels. Of course, undoubtedly, the first thing that you have to do is to identify exactly who your perfect client is. Next, you need to determine exactly where that person can be found on social media.
However, you shouldn't lose sight of the fact that connecting with your perfect prospective clients can be accomplished in a variety of different ways. Although it is true that many business people do all or most of their business online, there are still many other people who have brick and mortar stores and you have all sorts of opportunities to interact with them there as well, provided that you are in the same geographic location.
At the same time, it is important to remember that, depending on your demographic, your prospects may hang out online exclusively. That is where your strategy comes into play and why careful planning will yield much better results than doing things on the fly.
It is also important to bear in mind that connecting with people exclusively online may possibly keep you away from some of the opportunities that you could be taking advantage of. It is important to keep an open mind and to think as broadly as is appropriate for your particular business.
Marrying social networks with the needs and wants of your prospects
If you are on the most popular social networks, the chances are very good that you will find your prospects on those social networks as well. After all, those particular channels are popular for a good reason. However, if you have done your homework and are well acquainted with all that those particular social media channels have to offer and all that they can do, it will be pretty simple to match them with your prospects, considering that you have also done your homework when it comes to your prospects and have figured out exactly what they need and want and how they think.
However, it is important to keep in mind that even if you find that your prospective clients are interacting on the popular social networks, you shouldn't dismiss the possibility that there are other less-popular social networks that may provide a great deal of added value to their business and to yours. This is where your open-mindedness will come into play. Your choice of those additional social networks will all depend on the particular business that your prospects own.
What's next?
Once you have managed to determine who your prospects are and where they hang out, the next thing that you need to do is to get more specific about what that prospect is doing and to learn about what that person is passionate about.
Another helpful thing to do is to find out who they interact with. Maybe you can start to connect with those people as well. You really don't know what benefits those relationships may yield. The fact is that your choice of social networks must be very careful, very specific, and very effective. Now that you have done all that, it is time to tap into your listening skills. A great way to achieve this is by searching for focused keywords and key phrases that will bring you to those prospects. In many cases, listening is more important than speaking.
Of course, conversations (and relationships) must be two-sided; however, it is critical that you make the other person's needs and wants a higher priority than your own. If you are able to meet the other person's needs, yours will be met as well.
Connect in a smart way
At this juncture, it is extremely important to choose the right approach. The last thing that you want to do is to come on too strong with your prospects. After all, you are trying to establish, nurture, and solidify an important, long-lasting relationship. The only way to do that is to go about it in a normal, respectful manner. You will need to demonstrate (right from the get go) how valuable you are to the other person and how sharing a relationship with you will benefit the other person tremendously. You want the other person to understand clearly that knowing is much better than not knowing you. The only way to accomplish that is by growing the relationship in the normal way. It takes time, effort, and a great deal of patience to accomplish that in a way that makes the relationship endure over a long period of time.
It is important to remember here that if you find that a particular social network is not working the way that you hoped it would, it may be time to give it a long, hard look and you may, in the end, decide to abandon it for a social network that is more effective and has better return on investment (ROI). However, remember that you won't see immediate results. You should probably give it a year and if you don't see results by that time, you should probably reconsider that particular social network.
Conclusion.
The steps that have been outlined here bring you to the point where you are about to connect with perfect prospects for your business. Once you have gotten to that point, you will need to interact in ways that turn your prospects into clients. You will want to engage your prospects effectively and that will deepen your relationship. Of course, your ultimate goal, as it has always been, is to get the other person to buy what you are selling. That doesn't just mean that the person will buy your product and/or service. It also means that the other person will buy into what you represent and what you believe in.
