Social Media Marketing – Be Thankful For the Followers You Have

by | Nov 25, 2011

One of the most common questions around social media marketing from businesses – especially smaller brands –social media marketing is how to build more followers.  Many of us are still on the holiday turkey high and bloated feeling from Thanksgiving so I feel I can squeeze a bit of a lesson in here:  If you’re trying to gain followers, you’re in it for the wrong reasons.

I know it sounds odd but if you want more followers you have to stop trying to get more followers and focus on other things.  When I say followers I’m not just referring to Twitter.  This covers Facebook “likes” as well.

Social Media Marketing – The Problem with Asking for Followers and Likes

In order to improve your reach through social media marketing you need to have followers and a large Facebook fanbase, but many business make the mistake of flooding their community and other forums online (even traditional media) with comments, links and requests to follow them or like them.

It makes sense, since you have to fire off a call to action if you really want them to click “like” or “follow”.  The problem is, too many businesses are focusing their social media marketing efforts on calling people to action and they’re not giving them a reason to do so.

Social Media Marketing:  You Say “Like Us”, I ask “Why?”

When a brand present a commercial online, a YouTube video, a custom page or a direct mail piece that has a “Like us on Facebook” message I find myself wondering why I should do that?  I’ve noticed a lot of businesses simply slapping the social media logo on their ads as if by simply announcing their presence in social media, fans will magically manifest.

Unfortunately many business owners find that’s not the case and they wind up with a wasted ad budget on ineffective social media marketing.  So what’s fix?

Social Media Marketing – Sell the Benefits

When you’re marketing a product to your customers, you don’t hold the product up and show it to them.  You explain the benefits of using that product, the solution is provides and how they can benefit from buying it.  Social media marketing is no different, but instead of a product, you’re selling your brand and the concept of a community.

For your social media marketing to be effective, and to gain more followers, you have to stop worrying about the numbers and think more about providing value.  If you can make people see the benefit of your social community, the benefits of being a member or a fan, and the real value in following you, then building a fan base will be simple.

Not only will more people be more likely to click “like” or “follow”, but you can expect more followers to share the value of your community with their own social circles.

Focus on giving, create a sense of value for your followers, and you’ll find a lot more success with your social media marketing.