Fans are not necessarily shoppers
When it comes to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s vital to consider an important distinction between user’s attitudes between social media and any kind of static, sales-based website, and it’s this: fans and followers are not necessarily going to be shoppers.
If you’re keen on affiliate links and if you use Facebook and Twitter as vehicles to distribute nothing other than affiliate links, you might want to read that again.
Personally, I’m a fan of lots of things: Marmite; the mini Cooper; the writing of John Pilger, and fried egg sandwiches. But I don’t buy or consume, let alone think about these things every moment of every day.
Does this mean I’m not a loyal fan or follower of any of these things?
No, it doesn’t. But what it does mean is that these things are not a large part of my everyday life because their story lines don’t cross my mind on a daily or weekly basis.
So, how do you gain a larger following on a Facebook or Twitter page? Well, pretty much the same way you’d gain a larger following in the offline world: you set out to engage people by asking them about the most important things in the world.
Themselves.
Or more to the point, you feature the stories and links that you either know or have learned that the person you’re interacting with will appreciate and perhaps even get a kick out of. But whatever it is, it must be sincere; it must be honest, and you must engage the person one on one, otherwise your message comes across as a sales pitch.
But whatever it’s based on your message must be interesting. It’s got to engage people and it’s got to pique their attention and you won’t do this by being dull, or by being a pain in the neck.
The other thing about social media is that mostly, the people you’re interacting with are generally not in any kind of shopping mode: they’re in social mode.
So to connect through social media, make your message “social”, and if you must link your message to a sales pitch, at least make the thing you’re offering relevant in some way.
Why?
Because the best way to use Twitter and Facebook is by engaging people so that you create a relationship based on emotion.
If you must use twitter to push traffic, at least push traffic from Twitter to Facebook. Then, use Facebook to push traffic to your blog, website, or online store. And use your website, blog or online store to funnel traffic to your bricks and mortar store if you have one. But at every step, remember to create and support a relationship, not a sales pitch
And along the way, offer value-laden up sells that are too good to pass on, but make them opportunities to connect rather than sales pitches, that way your new friend won’t feel they’re being sold on something.
People buy for their reasons, not yours, so stop bashing them over the head with your sales message and start talking to them as people. This way you’ll gain three vital strongholds: trust, belief, and credibility.
