Social Media Success & Relationship Building

• Decisions are Emotional
• Relationships Foster Positive Emotions
• Develop Relationships with Consumers through Social Media

When anyone is marketing a product, what they are doing at the most fundamental level is trying to convince the consumer to make a decision to purchase that product. That decision might be whether or not they need the product at all, or whether one version of the product is more desirable than another.

At their core all decisions are emotional decisions. We like to think that we make decisions based on logic and facts, but rigorous scientific study does not bear out this fact. We make decisions based on how we FEEL about the choices more than how we THINK about the choices. Choices are more centered in the pit of our stomach than in our head. If we feel good about the decision, that is the most important thing. In fact, people who have brain damage affecting the emotional part of their brain have great difficulty making decisions even with all of the basic facts in front of them.

What does this mean for marketers? It means that creating a state of positive emotion surrounding your product is much more important than presenting a set of logical facts about why they should use your product or why your product is better. The consumer has to feel good about your product and feel good after making the decision to buy it.

One way that you as a marketing professional can instill these “feel good” emotions in consumers is to develop a RELATIONSHIP with them. We tend to trust those with whom we have relationships and we feel good about making a decision that includes them.

In business, we have all seen the power of relationships for good or bad in politics, business and our own families. We may find it frustrating, but if we acknowledge that it is real instead of trying to fight that you can work within that reality that emotion trumps logic for success.

Here is the real power of Social Media. Your focus in all of your social media interactions as a marketer should be built around the idea of building a strong relationship with your followers. Posts to your Social Media platforms that develop that “relationship” feeling are very similar to the types of information you share with a person when you are trying to develop a relationship. We share stories, feelings and intimate details about ourselves hoping to create a connection through shared experience and humor.

So talk to your followers like a friend. Tell them your intimate secrets, embarrassing stuff. They will love you for it. Every 5-10 posts or so, you can put in a plug for your product, but do it in a very conversational tone including an offer or special event or some other reason you are bringing it up. Other times talk about the weather, sports, television, news, tell jokes, relate funny stories. ASK QUESTIONS, just like real people, your followers like talking about themselves most of all.

Then when your followers are making a decision about what to buy, where to go or what to do…they are going to do it with their “friend”, YOU!