2010 is the year of relationships. Social media will enhance those relationships. You will need a social media strategy in place before you can use social media to strengthen your business relationships.
Social media is all about connecting with your customers. You will be building relationships with potential customers and continuing to strengthen relationships with existing customers. You should think about social media in terms of relationships rather than advertising and promotion. Eventually, your customers will want to market your products and services to others, which is the most powerful type of marketing that exists.
Social media is often thought of as a marketing effort. That is partially true. However, it should be used for customer relationships as well. In your company, you should be totally concerned with customer relations. That means that everyone in your company should be involved in social media and how it works for your business. Social media = customer relations = increased business.
A winning social media program is one that centers on the customer, not the business. The focus definitely should not be on promotion, advertising, and selling. When building relationships with your customers, you should do so along the “A-Path” (Attention > Attraction > Affinity > Audience > Advocate).
Attention: It is extremely important to have a strong understanding of your target market. You need to understand your customers’ desires, needs and wants. You should be connected to the networks and communities where your customers like to go to obtain information and you should connect with whom and what influences them. You can use what you learn to communicate message teasers in the appropriate social media sites to get customers to pay attention to your business.
Attraction: After you have gotten the customers’ attention, you need to attract them. Find out which communities they are a part of and join those communities. Initiate discussions with them. Listen to them and learn about their needs. Publish content that answers their questions. Give them sound, valuable advice.
Affinity: Invite customers to join your community by offering them something of added value in your network, some additional in-depth information or something similar. If you do this, you will have caused your customers to have an affinity for you and your business.
Audience: Your goal is to turn your customers into your audience. An audience that returns to you on a regular basis. The more value-added services you give to those customers, the more likely it is that they will become your audience.
Advocates: Once you have established your audience, you need to establish one-on-one relationships with your most vocal and most social customers. Focus on their needs. Give them what they need. Get them to trust you. This will result in their becoming your advocates.
People will buy from you if they trust you and feel comfortable with you. You can make your customers feel confident in their decision to buy from you by constantly delivering valuable information to them through social media within your areas of expertise. This will build loyal relationships and your customers will become advocates.
The reason that you are working so hard to establish valuable relationships with your customers is so that they trust you, believe in your products and services and care enough to want to speak positively on your behalf. Before you know it, your business will increase and you will become even more successful as a result.
We are pleased to provide you the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.
About the Author.
Carolyn T. Cohn is the Chief Editor of CompuKol Communications. Mrs. Cohn has a wealth experience in managing people and projects. She has run several editorial departments for various companies. Mrs. Cohn has 25 years of editorial experience and her expertise covers a wide range of media, such as online editing, editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Throughout her career, Mrs. Cohn has established and maintained strong relationships with professionals from a wide range of companies. The principle that governs her work is that all words need to be edited.
Mrs. Cohn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. 
