Outright selling on social media is a sure-fire path to failure. Think about it: do you like reading a sales pitch? Maybe you will read a well-crafted sales letter. But generally, trying to sell is absolutely transparent and the fastest way to be unfriended. The strategy that works best is to provide your prospect with valuable information that they need and want.
So how do you do that? First Step: Determine who your ideal prospect IS. A helpful exercise is to sit down and write a paragraph or two as if THEY were writing it about what they want, what their concerns are, what information they need to make a decision. Writing as if you are your prospect talking to you about their needs will give you amazing insights.
Second Step: Go to Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends). Check out the buzz for today. Pick a topic.
Using exactly this strategy, Ramona S., one of our coaching club members posted a brief comment on Facebook about the $8000 Tax Credit. Within MINUTES, she had 10 people request additional information about it and ended up with 3 new leads. One of them was someone she didnt even know!
A more advanced strategy is to write an article and post it to your blog and to E-Zine Articles (www.ezinearticles.com). Writing a full article or a blog entry gives you instant authority and credibility. Nothing builds a relationship with your ideal prospect faster than well-written articles with great information.
There are a few pointers you will want to keep in mind when crafting your blog post:
The Headline
The most important part of your article is your headline. Think about how newspapers and magazines use headlines just to get you to pick up the paper and read it. And so it is with your article. You may even want to start noticing headlines that catch your attention and keep them in a file that you can adapt and use for later reference. Be sure to incorporate your keywords so that your article gets found on the search engines. (Bonus Tip: The tabloids that you buy while waiting to check out at the supermarket are absolutely EXPERT at writing attention-getting headlines!)
The Body
Ideally, you will want to keep your article between 350-500 words in length. Write in a causal, conversational style. Avoid technical jargon or formal language. At least 5% of your article should be your keywords. This means that if you have a 500-word article, try to use your keyword about 25 times throughout. Keep your paragraphs no more than a few sentences. Use bullet points and subheads liberally. (Another Bonus Tip: You can outsource the transcription to www.elance.com.)
The Resource Box
To close your article, you will want to include a call to action. THIS is where you FINALLY are allowed to pitch your product. However, if you dont offer a compelling reason for them to contact you, they wont! Be sure youve included a link to your website so they are able to contact you and request additional information. Dont go through all the hard work of providing excellent information only to lose them because youve neglected to tell them how to contact you.