This is such a big topic so we’ll have to start at the beginning when customer relationship management burst through into marketing and that’s some way back in time now!
Since then, there has been a lot of fuss made about social customer relationship management but in reality all we are doing is applying the fundamental relationship and customer development rules to the internet.
In essence, the internet just makes our task easier and the message spreads faster.
Remember the days of the Encyclopaedia sales man? He trudged door to door day in and day out developing one on one relationships with prospective buyers. After that we saw the advent of mass marketing with the explosion of tools like the radio and TV but that meant that we were talking to undefined groups of prospective buyers, not individuals. The relationship altered.
Now it’s changed again and we can talk online to an individual, tailor making our message to each. The difference between us and the Encyclopaedia sales man is that it only takes us an hour or two of solid online activity to reach just as many, if not more, prospective buyers.
Before you begin any kind of social media activity online my advice would be that you explore them. As many as possible. There are hundreds out there in cyberspace so choose a few that stand out and are easily recognised like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and wordpress or blogger for blogs and websites. If you can use word and send emails you can navigate these applications quite easily and the more you use them the more familiar you’ll become and the quicker you’ll learn.
To start with, open an account on each and then spend a few hours playing around on them. Send a few tweets about what you’re doing. Start up a blog about something close to your heart like your hobby on wordpress. Open a Facebook profile and post some fun stuff trying the different tools they have. Later, if you’re looking to promote a business or your work, you can take a LinkedIn page too. But for now just explore them and enjoy them.
The whole explosion of social media is caused by allowing us access on an individual basis to our potential clients or buyers or interested parties.
For this whole exercise to work to maximum potential there is one rule. In everything you do online you must remember why people search on the internet. The answer? They are looking for information or entertainment! Consider this when you register on social network applications like FaceBook and WordPress when you define your blog. You need to be one or the other if not both!
I will explore online content i.e. what you should put on your blog and website in my next post and video pod so watch out for The Right Writer on YouTube or go to my site on http://www.therightwriter.co.uk for more information.
If you need help. Email me at jane@therightwriter.co.uk
I’ve been there!
