Building an Audience

When starting up a business, there are so many factors to consider, but the most important will be “How do I make money?” People don’t start up businesses to lose money and work hard with no compensation. Everyone who starts a business does so either because they want to do something they love and make money doing it, or they found a need they can fill and make money filling it.

Either way…it’s to make money. How do you make money? 

Customers.

With the online platform available worldwide, social networking and social media marketing are the key ways to make a business accessible to not just the worldwide users but even to specific demographics and target markets.

A few important things to consider when launching into the online madness of social marketing are:

1.     Be specific in your marketing efforts

2.     Focus on your end consumer

3.     Build trust

1. Be specific in your marketing efforts

One of the worst things a new business owner can do is spend thousands of dollars into marketing through social media in the hopes of capturing the attention of whoever happens to see in the hopes that it will stick.

This comes back to the ideal of the funnel. In business you will always take any business you can get, but what is the business you really want? That’s the business that your marketing efforts should be focused on.

Source: http://bnisoutheast.com/ga-northwest-ga-nw-bni-in-town/

That’s especially important online, where it’s easy to spend so much time and money on marketing in the wrong places to the wrong demographic.

If you have a local business in Florida but your marketing online is getting routed predominately to Seattle, Washington, what good is it that they know who you are in Seattle if it fails to produce income for your business? 

Goal is to funnel down to your “ideal customer” not everyone with eyes who gets online to the platforms you are marketing on.

2. Focus on your end consumer

Make sure that everything you do online matches with your mission statement and the purpose of your business.

If you deviate from your purpose when your marketing and getting involved with social media, you can lose your ideal customer and money you’ve invested.

Stay on track with what your marketing goals are and who is the consumer you are targeting. This goes back to creating a buyer persona, if you haven’t done so already. Here are a few things to consider about your typical consumer:

·      What do they look like?

·      How do they dress?

·      Where do they work? Live?

·      What do they do recreationally?

·      Why do they need your services or products?

Keep that person in your mind when you market online.

3. Build Trust

The Social Media Examiner has a great article written about establishing trust. In the article by Michael Stelzner, Establishing Trust: How to Build Relationships With Social Media, he interviews Chris Brogan on the best tips to do this. Chris states that it is important to be vulnerable online.

He uses a theory by David Maister and Charles Green called “The Trust Equation”, shown in the image. 

The Trust Equation by David Maister and Charles Green

People desire face-to-face interaction, and since social networking removes that aspect, it’s important to create some form of intimate connection between the business owner and the consumer. This can happen in the About Page of the website, or through a video. One of the great things that Chris has done on his website has been telling stories.

Unlike most websites that are static, Chris has created a website that interacts with new visitors since “new visitors need to feel served and loved when they show up to your site.” He does that by including an immediate draw to signing up to receive his email newsletter on a weekly basis. 

In short, capture your target audience and make sure you stay true to your company's goals while doing so. If you do, you'll earn the trust and credibility of your customer and will build a solid following.