As promised last week, we’re going to spend the next few weeks looking at increasing your business one of two ways: by getting more customers, or getting existing customers to buy more. Let’s start with getting more customers. [level-members]
We live in a social world. The vast majority of our customers are connected to their own social networks through online services like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and others. You can ignore these channels, but you do so at your own peril. There is simply to much influencing being done via social media to sit out the conversation.
And don’t think it’s not a conversation. Simply having a Facebook page or Twitter account isn’t enough. You have to participate in the conversation in order for social media to help you grow you business.
Take a look at your own personal social media feeds and you’ll see what I mean. Notice that the items that get forwarded are items that are interesting. They’re funny or informative, or simply offer a look into a friend’s world.
You should strive for that same feeling in your own social media posts. Forget about selling. The sale comes later. Your goal on social media needs to be to let your shop’s personality shine by establishing a voice and exercising it regularly. Use Grapeseed’s weekly articles as inspiration for updates about food and wine pairings, or interesting wine-related features on other websites. And don’t forget the local angle. It doesn’t all have to be wine-related. It has to be related to what interests your audience. And things happening in your community are definitely of interest.
Done well, social media provides a way for you to strengthen existing customer relationships and, in doing that, expanding your network of relationships as your existing customers share or engage with your great content.
Next week, the importance of customer experience in social selling.
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