Promoting your products and services on social media

Nobody likes being sold at, it's that fastest way to turn people off on social media.  It doesn't mean that you can't promote your products or services, but you do need to be smart about how you do this.

If the only messages you post are sales pitches, it's hardly surprising if people stop following you and lose interest in you.  Social media is SOCIAL and people expect you to chat and be human.  That doesn't mean that you can't promote what you do, it's all in the way you do it.

Let's say you've got a fantastic new book out that helps people with their online marketing; what would you post on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Google+, Pinterest?

It's not going to be 'Get your guide to online marketing now (with the link to your sales page)', but any of these might work:

• Twitter and Facebook:  'I'm really excited that my ebook is now ready to go. I've put a smart purple cover on it; tell me what you think' (link to your sales page where there is a picture of the smart purple cover, of course).
• Linked In:  If you've taken the time to get involved in groups where your target audience 'hang out', then you could ask them if they would review a couple of chapters.
• Google+:  Pick an appropriate circle and ask them to choose a chapter to review.
• Pinterest:  Upload the picture of the cover from your sales page and write a few words about why you chose purple for the cover - this gives you an automatic link to that page.

You can also use 'teaser' posts like these:

'Did you know that you can upload 100 tweets in seconds? Find out how on page 35' (link to sales page)
'Discover how to write killer headlines for your blogs and much more on page 72' (link to sales page)
'Does your email marketing get a good response? For the secrets of compelling email read page 43' (link to sales page).

You get the idea!  This works for products too - just use the benefits to tempt people.

Online marketing one step at a time

I've been involved with an innovative approach to online marketing - a 30 minute session once a week.  There is so much to get your head around online from nearly 200 social media platforms to blogging on your own site and guesting on other people's blogs, then there's article marketing, press releases, not to mention the abundance of tools 'to make it easier'.

It's no surprise that many people go on social media training and then never put it into practice, there's so much information they are simply overwhelmed.  In fact, it's not just social media training, ANY training programme won't work unless you make the effort to put it into action.  How many great training sessions have you attended and still have the course notes somewhere, for when you 'have time'?

The nice thing about this bite-sized approach is that each week there's only 30 minutes information to digest and then there's a week to put it into practice.  It's not for super-duper online marketers, but for people who are just getting started and want to make it work.

Let's be honest, there's never enough hours in the day.  Either you're working in your day job and promoting your own stuff in your off-duty time or you're trying to run a business and there's so much to do that sitting for hours doing online marketing just isn't possible.

If you know anyone who sounds like this might help them, then send them to take a look at the step-by-step programme.  The weblink is here.

Keep your communication lines open

Social media can be deceptive.  Do you find yourself chatting for hours or do you stick to using it for business purposes only?

I work with business people helping them to get their online marketing right and there is a strong tendency to put their social media into boxes.  Business people think that they should be business only on Linked In and social animals on Facebook - they don't always realise that both platforms (and many others) have the potential for business and social interaction.

In today's world social connections are the way people get to know their future business suppliers and partners.  The days of finding new suppliers only from a directory or because they happened to cold call are gone.

Even 30 years ago most business people were more likely to do business with someone they either knew or who had been recommended to them.  There's a comfort factor in doing business with a known entity.  There's also the likelihood that someone recommended by a mutual connection is not going to let you down - if they want to keep the business from the person who made the connection.

Today that pool of known and trusted contacts has not just expanded - it's exploded!

Without access to your social media you simply couldn't keep track of all the people you now 'know'.  In fact, the chances of you finding out that they existed, let alone what they can do, what they're like and who they know would be minimal.

In today's world your connections online can run into many thousands - without too much effort.  In among all those people you either know the perfect supplier for you or you know someone who does.

What does this mean to you?

Firstly, always ask your connections for help and recommendations first.
Secondly, make sure your connections know what you do and share your expertise freely.  If they know your talents, they'll be able to refer you to their other connections.

Sharing your knowledge will win you business in the long run.