“How can we use social media to attract new business?”
That’s a valid question that makes a lot of marketers squirm, especially when their widgets aren’t quite as attractive or in demand (could be do to cost) as another companies widgets.
But the thing is, I don’t necessarily think social media’s main responsibility should be to move widgets.
It’s more about creating relationships and conversations. If moving widgets is something that happens as a results of creating relationships and having conversations, that’s fantastic! And yes, it’s something that happens a lot.
For a moment though, let’s forget about the desire to move widgets, and strictly focus on conversations and relationships.
To do so, I’d like to share a classic Twitter example of how people help one another and use the network to connect with perfect strangers.
August 4, 2010 was my 31st birthday. I’d been living in New York City for just under three months and still didn’t know many people. For the first time in pretty much my entire life, I was planning to be alone on my birthday without any good friends to accompany me.
So there I sat, processing what was surely to be a very dull evening, when I sent a tweet that said something like,
“I’d like to have a steak dinner tonight for my birthday. Anyone have a suggestion for the Financial District?”
Within minutes someone I had previously spoken with on Twitter responded and provided a recommendation. Since this person was a previous contact, I trusted their recommendation and decided to try the restaurant.
Moments after the recommendation came in, I received an @ reply that said something like,
“Let me know if you find a good spot. My friend and I are here for blog her and would like a nice dinner.”
I then responded by saying,
“I’m going to X restaurant and you two are welcome to join me.”
Later that evening, there I sat at a restaurant that came as a recommendation from someone on Twitter, and was accompanied by two females that work in the marketing space. We had great conversations, and to this day we still stay in touch.
There are countless numbers of examples of that nature that could be given, but we’ll leave it at that for brevities sake.
The point is, social media is a great way to communicate, build relationships and create brand awareness. Those three things will not only strengthen your business and personal brand, but they’ll also help you move widgets.
