Conclusion
Just Be Likeable
A major paradigm shift in marketing, media, and communications is well under way. Facebook and social networks have ushered in a new era marked by increased transparency and the most empowered consumer of all time. There is no doubt that this shift creates massive opportunities for the organizations that are most able to adapt their thinking and strategies to successfully implement plans via social media.
All of the new social networking tools and sites can be overwhelming, and so-called experts, sharing opposing information or telling you to emphasize different priorities, make it even more challenging. In your company or organization, you’re driven and measured by results. Since the results of leveraging social media are often not immediately apparent, it is tempting to rely on traditional marketing tactics that have been proven to generate immediate results instead of utilizing social media. Resist that temptation.
KEY CONCEPTS TO REMEMBER
An understanding of the 18 concepts outlined in this book will guide you in your conceptualization, creation, and implementation of a social media plan. Familiarizing yourself with Facebook, LinkedIn, and the other social networks that your customers use can help guide your decisions about where and how to allocate your resources. And knowing the tools available through social media will make your job easier. But the process can be overwhelming. The contents of this book alone are likely difficult to digest and implement, so I suggest that when you first explore all the possibilities social media has to offer, you concentrate on these four key concepts: listen, be transparent, be responsive, and be likeable.
Listen Up
The biggest paradigm shift of all that social media represents is that it gives you the ability to listen to what your customers and prospects are saying publicly. You can start listening today for free, and your ability to do so will inform and prepare you to best accomplish all of your social media marketing and advertising objectives. Acknowledging to your customers that you’re listening can endear you to them forever. Before you talk, be sure to listen, and once you start talking, never stop listening.
Transparency Is the New Default
People like it when others are honest and transparent. You like it when other people are honest and transparent. Yet somehow, so many companies and industries are secretive, even dishonest, about aspects of their business. Embrace transparency and openness. Be honest when you mess up and when things don’t go as planned. The Internet becomes more transparent with every day that goes by. For you as a consumer, this situation is incredibly beneficial, and it can also be a great thing for you as a marketer, if you can embrace it.
Respond to Everyone
The world is talking about you and to you. People everywhere are discussing their problems that you can solve better than your competitors. The world is telling you about their wants and needs that your organization can help them with.
Every time a customer or prospect talks publicly on a social network, it’s an opportunity for you to respond and engage. Whenever you don’t respond, you either make a negative impression or you give a competitor an opportunity to reply. Whenever you do respond, you have an opportunity to make a positive impression on customers, prospects, and on all of their friends.
Just Be Likeable
In the end, succeeding on social networks amounts to your ability to be likeable. There are two fundamental aspects to this term: likeable business practices and likeable content. Adopting likeable business practices means treating customers the way you’d like to be treated. You need to follow the Golden Rule in each decision you make affecting your customers. Posting likeable content means that you share only those updates on Facebook or Twitter that would make you click the Like button if you were on the receiving end. Create and share stories, text, photos, videos, links, and applications that you as a consumer would want to like, comment on, and share. To be likeable, you must always respect and add value to your community.
THIS ISN’T THE END; IT’S THE START
Now it’s time to get out there and apply the contents of this book. Use social media to grow your company and meet your organization’s objectives. And I meant what I wrote at the beginning of this book: if you have questions, suggestions, compliments, or complaints, tweet to me anytime at https://Twitter.com/DaveKerpen, or Facebook-message me at https://Facebook.com/LikeableLocal. I hope to have the opportunity to prove to you that I’m as transparent, responsive, and likeable as I know you will be.
Be amazing, and be likeable. I’ll see you on Twitter!