Internet Marketing Tips: People buy from people they know and trust. So give people a chance to get to know you first, then share your business.
Let’s talk about the kinds of social networking posts you like to read… quotations, links to interesting articles, pictures, questions, business promotions, etc.? My favorite types of posts are the ones where the writer gives you a peak into their lives and/or personality.
Recently I figured this out – I am very good about sharing information, but not too good about sharing myself. However, people ‘buy’ from people they know and like, so recently I’ve decided it is time to start learning how to share myself.
Think back to the most successful posts you’ve posted… posts where your friends (and acquaintances) took the time to Comment, Like or Share. The first one that worked for me was when my email got hacked into… I put up a post about how I felt violated and over the next couple of hours got at least 10 comments.
The reason that post was so successful was because I shared myself. That was in 2008, and since then I have given a lot of thought to how to write posts that impel people to Comment, Like or Share.
A word of caution; you can go overboard in the quest to share yourself… say you share all kinds of weird intimate details; how your life is falling apart, how you hate cats, minute details about your gall bladder surgery, etc. This kind of mind numbing chatter won’t benefit your business.
It’s a good idea to filter yourself a bit so that you can be sure that you’re not turning away any potential business connections. Pick and choose between all the thoughts that come into your head and maybe don’t post each and every one of them at your social networking sites. Be your own mental editor and choose the best of your personal (but not intimate) thoughts to share with friends and prospects.
For example, here are some things I’ve shared that have brought me unexpected ‘interaction’ with my social networking friends (and acquaintances):
- I shared that our home was burglarized
- I shared a picture of sunflowers and talked about my fascination with them
- I talked about dreading an upcoming birthday
- And, recently my husband and I nursed a couple of abandoned kittens back to health and got quite a bit of ‘interaction’ from friends and acquaintances when I shared the kitten’s progress and pictures.
All that being said, you can still share your business. The general consensus among the internet marketing experts is – share yourself first, about 80% – 90% of the time, and share your business no more than 20% of the time. So for every 4 personal posts, you can share 1 business related posts.
So just remember this – it’s important is to share your personality first, let people get to know who you are and how you deal with life. And, people buy from people they like, and we like people we feel we know.
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