These days, there’s hardly anyone who doesn’t update their status on Facebook, tweet, or take selfies and upload them to their Instagram account. This is the world we live in. It’s the world where social media rules. And any business that isn’t taking advantage of this huge opportunity is literally leaving wads of cash on the table.
Social media marketing when used effectively can create a horde of raving fans, product and service evangelists, and most importantly, increase your profits tremendously. According to Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is … it’s what online sources and social media say it is.”
Your brand isn’t what you say it is … it’s what online sources and social media say it is.
I couldn’t have said it better. In that single sentence lies the dilemma of most businesses. How can you as a florist get people to say only good things about our business on social media platforms? The following tips are good starting points.
Avoid Over Promoting and Selling too Much
Social media platforms are meant to help people connect with and engage with each other. So, blatant selling all the time can backfire. If anything, tone down the sales messages and focus on building and connecting with your audience.
You can do this by delivering awesome value each and every day. Popular social media expert Gary V calls this the Jab, Jab, Jab… Right Hook Process. You keep delivering excellent content day in, day out and then one day, Bam! You present them with an irresistible offer.
Guess what happens next? The orders start trickling in, then they start flowing and next thing you know, you couldn’t stop the flow even if you wanted to.
Engage, Entertain and Energize
Yes, the 3 E’s of social media. You must make a commitment to engage with your audience, entertain them and energize them. People love businesses and individuals who can do all these three things. It doesn’t have to be all serious every time.
Sure, posting those insightful quotes is good. But, how about making them laugh? I’m willing to bet that doesn’t happen enough. There’s a reason funny gif pictures and jokes get shared over and over again. It’s because people can chill out and just have a laugh.
Learn how to entertain your audience. Create comedy slots, make a fool of yourself, be hilarious… it doesn’t matter. Dare to be different from all the humdrum and stoic businesses out there. All that matters is that your audience sees you and your business as amazing.
Be Real and Authentic
The secret to being different and unique lies in being real and authentic. If most florists understood this, they would know that there’s enough room for everyone. Create a business and an image that is real to your audience.
Having a great day? Let them know. Having a bad day? Tell them. People want to deal more with the small business owner than the big corporations. Dare to stop the fakery and start being yourself.
Want to talk about flowers, talk about them like you’re auditioning for the X-Factor. Learn how to force optimism even when you don’t feel it. Like it or not, people can perceive your optimism, even when it’s coming from behind a keyboard.
This is how you can rule your social media platforms. I know you were probably expecting me to tell you where to get likes, how to share content and all that. While they’re all okay, I’ve just given you access to the core of social media marketing success. If you adopt these three tips, I absolutely guarantee that all the other things will naturally fall in place.
As long as the individual knows the boundaries of being real and authentic, they shouldn’t have much of a problem with potentially fading away professionalism. And I think most businesses are afraid that a bit of a personal insight of themselves may backfire if they get into the habit too much. But like you’ve mentioned, as long as you know who you are, you’ll know how to apply yourself when communicating to an audience.
I guess people are afraid there will be the occasional Freudian slips that may have them regretting later on, or that their fans may become disloyal if they talk about something that may be controversial. Depending on the type of service, neutrality may be the standard that salvages services from potential embarrassment. But in this case for florists, being able to make a distinction means knowing how to really get into these people’s lives and intentions. It portrays that you genuinely care about them, and they’ll always be looking forward to your services because there’s a sense of belonging, and how they feel wanted by another individual that isn’t just out for their cash.
And not just that, it also gives the service provider constant streams of inspiration because of the feedback received from those individuals. It’s those core fundamentals all tie down to how mental preparation is key. If your mind can imagine it, you can definitely be capable of going through the mannerisms of making it a reality. As cliché as that sounds, that’s just part of the benefits of conceptual frameworks leading to breakthroughs.
Overpromoting and uninteresting content are the most apparent flaws in most small business social media. Many companies only put up advertisements and endorsements of their product on their twitter, Facebook etc. People like to follow groups that post entertaining content, a good example of this is Old Spice, while they aren’t a small business, their marketing is doing it right. Most of their posts don’t have anything to do with the product and the commercials are viral gold, which means that everyone is sharing and talking about their media. How you interact with people on the internet can really shape how your product sells.
Old Spice is indeed an excellent example. Whenever I hear about Old Spice, I usually hear things about the commercials being so funny, not “this deodorant works extremely well for me.” Even though people aren’t talking about the product itself, the word is being spread around and more people are aware of the products as a result.
I agree completely with every piece of advice. If you over-promote yourself, you will just ruin your online reputation. You never want to be seen as annoying or a spammer. Try give some allowance time and only post things that you feel are important and appropriate.
Thanks for this post! It tackles all marketing tips in good detail.
Yes, if you look around, on Facebook for example, at any page promoting something you’ll notice that the most successful ones are those that also entertain the users instead of spamming them with the same products over and over. By engaging and entertaining most of the time and then posting a call to action you can achieve more conversions and sells than someone that over promotes.
The point is to appear genuine, authentic like you put it, and people will stick with you and talk about you. Over sell and you’re just another face in the crowd.
All three points are incredibly accurate.Over promoting can get really annoying, to the point where the user dislikes the brand, which causes the opposite intended result! The three E’s are important as well, you want people to like and anticipate your product! As well as the realness and authentic value of the brand, no one likes false advertising!