Do you know how to use social media for marketing? Would you like to learn how? Here is one way to do it.
One of the greatest success stories on social media today is Gary Vaynerchuk. He owns an online wine store which become famous through its Wine Library video blog. It's a place where Gary shares his opinions and tips about wine. Why this is an interesting case for successful use of social media?
Besides Wine Library's impressive growth numbers, there points which are worth studying closer. When Vaynerchuk took over the wine store, it grew from 4 million to 60 million in revenues. According to Mr. Vaynerchuk he uses social media not for selling, but for listening. "Twitter is the ultimate listening device" he says.
Listen to your customers. And not just your own, but your competitors' customers too. Think about what the customers are saying. Probably there are people complaining too. Find out what it is, and try to understand why. Only then you try to solve their problems.
If you repeat "the Google drill" once a day or even once a week, you will know more about your customers than most marketing directors and CEOs who are too busy doing "real work", like having meetings with each other. You may want to consider free tools like Google Alerts for automated reports from your keywords activity.
Just because something is free doesn't mean it's good for you. Success won't happen overnight. WineLibrary.com was launched in 1997. Sure, the internet is fast and powerful tool, if you know how to use it. But, even the internet takes time. Once more: start from listening.
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One of the greatest success stories on social media today is Gary Vaynerchuk. He owns an online wine store which become famous through its Wine Library video blog. It's a place where Gary shares his opinions and tips about wine. Why this is an interesting case for successful use of social media?
The wine guy's secret
Besides Wine Library's impressive growth numbers, there points which are worth studying closer. When Vaynerchuk took over the wine store, it grew from 4 million to 60 million in revenues. According to Mr. Vaynerchuk he uses social media not for selling, but for listening. "Twitter is the ultimate listening device" he says.
Listen to your customers. And not just your own, but your competitors' customers too. Think about what the customers are saying. Probably there are people complaining too. Find out what it is, and try to understand why. Only then you try to solve their problems.
Free weapons
Free tools are everywhere. You can start by googling topics and keywords which you are interested in. Don't just read what comes up on the first page. Try to read feedback and comments from all possible sources. Discussion forums talking about your products are worth looking into.If you repeat "the Google drill" once a day or even once a week, you will know more about your customers than most marketing directors and CEOs who are too busy doing "real work", like having meetings with each other. You may want to consider free tools like Google Alerts for automated reports from your keywords activity.
- Listen to your customers. (Many who complain, may not complain directly to you)
- Analyze. Think about their motives for negative or positive responses.
- What can you do, if no one is talking about you? (Hint: it's not a good sign)
- Don't jump in and start to use new tools. At first, listen and try to understand your customer's behavior.
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