We’ve been attending an excellent seminar series in the Chicagoland area by Jim Treleaven of Via Strategy Group and Steve Greenberg of Strategic Growth Specialists entitled “16 Secrets For The Economic Recovery- How Successful Companies Are Positioned For Growth”. Their seminars have been focusing on sales, marketing and customer service strategies for the business-to-business sector. (If you’re in the Chicagoland area, the next seminar is on June 21, 2011- sign up here: http://vfm2.eventbrite.com)
According to Treleaven and Greenberg, the reasons that businesses may want to buy your products and/or services boil down to three needs:
1. Increase revenue
2. Reduce expenses
3. Mitigate risk
If you are a small business that is trying to promote your products and/or services to other businesses, your social media marketing strategies and tactics need to address at least one of the above reasons. Addressing these reasons answers the “so what?” question that is always asked by businesses but is not always answered in social media posts, tweets, status updates, etc.
Every time you go to post something that promotes your business, put yourself in the shoes of your target business and ask the question, “So what?” You may need to tweak your message a bit, but your audience will take a closer look if your promotional content addresses their primary need at a critical point in their buying cycle. This doesn’t mean that all of your content should be promotional; in fact, you’re wise to also create content that promotes others and offers helpful and relevant information that brings people back for more.
Does your social media marketing plan address the primary needs of your target market?