Believe me, I know about corporate growth, business acumen, and marketing. I understand the need for a healthy bottom (line, that is) and strong branding. Social media has become an invaluable and unavoidable tool of business strategy, and it absolutely should not be ignored. It is a free engine to connect with and listen to the people who truly matter—your customers, both current and potential. Why would any intelligent businessperson place on a shelf a tool with these qualities?
Well, they ask, what is the ROI of social media?
But I would like to ask: what is the ROI of a restaurant server making small talk when checking on you during a meal? What is the ROI of sitting in church?
More applicable, still: what is the ROI of a billboard? …of your golf date? …of those imprinted pens and magnets?
Aren’t you tired of the social media selling machine? What if social media for business became more about visiting, relating, knowing, and courting than selling? What if we learned to gauge at least some ROI by the residual halo effect of our authentic online social interactions?
Hello. My name is Linda. I am more than a business, and I’d like to be your friend.
Do you remember the heart-felt scene in Miracle on 34th Street when Kris, aka Santa Claus, told a bewildered and angry mom where she could find the toy for her son—at another store? What seemed to be a horrible mistake for an employee of Macy’s ended up becoming their brightest customer-centric marketing endeavor. Now, I realize my anecdote is based on a fictional movie from 1947, but that suits me just fine.
In all of your efforts to figure out the magical Facebook to website conversion equations and the best Twitter auto-DM messaging*, I encourage you to remember the most influential part of the social media selling machine:
Friendliness.
*By the way, turn off those DMs now.