Roundtable Recap: Social Media Marketing

At our last roundtable discussion, we discussed about the many reasons a business would want to be present on social media, these reasons include: getting leads, raise brand awareness, garner followers or build communities, obtain sustainable sales (or so they assumed) and building credibility.

Last Sunday, I once again had the pleasure to host a roundtable discussion to share insights, in depth knowledge and experiences on the benefits on social media and how to win online without spending a dime or investing in boosting of ads. This time, Mike Li joined in to lead our conversations with enthusiastic learners, by sharing his experience and how he built his career in coaching using social media.

More about Mike Li

Mike Li left 2 cushy government jobs to pursue his calling in life - helping others achieve success and breakthrough in their career and finances. He specialises in helping professionals achieve the performance and outcome they desire through simple and practical strategies. He is best known for his career branding strategies that helps elevate professionals to the next level in their career and business.

"You don't have to be the best, but you can still bring the best together."

Mike shared this quote with us, that we may started out on social media as someone with no track records or credibility. Yet we can still carve our name by being associated with people who are already credible, influential and being associated with them contributes to our personal or corporate brand online. Of course, he also highlighted that while you can start a podcast series of interviewing others, be sure to also introduce yourself in between so the crowd that came to linger will also come to know you as well.

Think of the outcome (objectives) then work on shaping towards that direction.

Most people do not get the most of their brand or business brand, is because they do not know how to win it right. Their content though well written, can be fragmented in terms of direction and clear objectives. This results in their network being too jumbled with different audience, and when you sell to everyone, you sell to no one.

It is imperative to work out early, what is your ultimate intention being on social media. Although you may have one business, you might focus on winning different target audience of different social platforms hence putting forward different content. And these platforms (social media) are simply tools to help you communicate, engage, and connect with them faster hence making sustaining those virtual relationships you won longer.

Show the "What" and people would want to know the "How" - Mike

Put out content to tell others what you are doing, so it triggers curiosity in people wanting to know how you did it. If you are giving value in full, then there is no opportunity or reason left for them to be in touch with you. Transactions and opportunities can take place, where there is a reason to connect and demand/supply that fits. So keep showing the "what" and people who will identify your expertise, and the right people who needs it will make the effort to reach. And therefore, an opportunity presents.

People don't like to be sold, but they still love to buy.

Funny but true, people are still enjoying the pleasure of buying things and expecting services but they hate to be sold especially if they do not need that product or service at that very point of time. You need to give people a reason to buy those things, or services from you by amplifying how that will solve their problems. Instead of highlighting your services or pricing, focus on highlighting the pain points of a client you help solve and people resonate better when they could relate the information to their day to day business.

The Four Levels of Business Transactions

As shared by Mike, there are the four levels that happened before a business transaction happen. Of course, it can still happen anytime in between these four levels but this information serves as an understanding how people operate (including ourselves).

Level 1 - People need to know you. If you never broadcast to anyone you run a business, then no one know that. This usually happens when you start telling people what you do.

Level 2 - People need to like you. This often happens through your regular presence and postings, as well as engagement with them.

Level 3 - People need to trust you. Transactions can happen because there is some level of trust. Without trust, no one will engage your services or make an investment to purchase your products. This can be done entirely online, or supported by offline presence.

Level 4 - People need to want you. The moment they see fit your services or products into their lives to either add pleasure or solve a pain point, they will invest in you. And if you serve them well, they will be your advocates, give you more business or refer you to anyone they know.

People sometimes discover they have a need, they did not realize before. And with their support, you can expand by tapping into their network who are made of potential customers for you. As you can tell, to reach these 4 levels, there is a considerable amount of time and effort after each post. This is not just about writing good content, but to transform an enquiry /lead you got on social media and making that into an income revenue for your business.

Here is a video in summary of that gathering.

Our roundtable discussion happened in Singapore on Sunday, 23rd June 2019.

Your second connections are the most important.

Your first connection are those who already know you, from either or both your personal and professional appearance. They may or may not have used your services, but their presence is important to you on social media for they are the best people to rely on for referrals and recommendations. You want them, to advocate for your services by remembering what you represent or what you do very well that when an opporunity for you arises in their close network - they'd be mentioning your name.

Post as an experiment - and work out the strategy that fits you.

I know we've been reading many different strategies to win on social media. But honestly, that one most popular template still don't fit all scenarios. We all have different businesses, objectives and different kind of audience. With that mentioned, it's up to us to test out strategies within our growing network and learn what works or not, or what needs to be tweak or adjust. This is an ongoing learning process, and the simplest way is to bond directly with any many promising followers possible.

How to tweak content to impose a habit?

Understand the psychological behaviour of your audience helps you a lot with curating right content to keep them engaged and eventually convert them to clients. People find it easy to follow a routine, instead of a jumbled and unexpected schedule. So if you plan to do a giveaway every Monday to then promote a product, then do it every single Monday. People will eventually include that on their Monday's schedule to keep a look out for your give away and you'll bring about highest engagement then to sell anything at ease. If you decided to feature a story of an client every Wednesday as testimonial to vouch for your service, then do it every Wednesday so your potential clients currently considering to use you, can refer to these stories on a specific day for their affirmation.

Have love for your audience.

You never met them, physically bond with them or know a lot about them. But through your active post on social media, they know you! They've made time to read, follow and perhaps include you in their conversations with someone else. The only reason they keep on following you on social media is because you have impact them in some way by adding value to their lives. Hence, as means of appreciation for the support and their time investment - showing you genuinely care or love for your audience is a privilege!

Showing love means interacting with them genuinely, appreciating their feedback and take in their criticism constructively making it clear - you are intending to improve. Keep them involved, ask them questions, and make effort to plan content that fits them. Take that bond offline - meet in person, organize an event, chat about other possibilities and be open to learn from what they share as well. Building a friendship is easier now, and more opportunities automatically become more prominent than before.

Laetitia Wong, a professional B2B Sales and ex-Country Head for Euromonitor International, was present to give insights on how to excel in sales. Once an opportunity arise from online interaction and is now offline, hoping to be closed - how does one successfully earn sales? She shared her insights.

1. Listen more. Simply by listening, we would pick up valuable information that will make us understand the needs of our customers, hence offering them the right one solution.
2. Amplify Pain points. It's not about the great services you can offer, but how are your services going to help a client and make their job or life easier? Make them understand the implications that could happen if they are without your products and services.
3. Fit in their shoes. It's not just what you think that is important, but knowing what they think is too. And you can do that, by putting yourself in their shoes and understanding their limitations or issues.
4. Accept rejection. This is part of our lives, as we have rejected others before ourselves. Accepting that your service may not be a good fit or at the right time for a client, let it go and move on to other prospects to win more business. The more you dwell over a loss, or pressure an individual to sign up your service - the more business you will not win.

Roundtable discussions are initiatives by Spendless Academy for the purpose of intimate gathering of an industry leader to share in depth knowledge and insights, with small group of learners covering trending business topics. Currently happening in Singapore and Malaysia, please sign up on the pop up window on my website to be invited for the next session.

Spendless Academy is part of the ecosystem of Spendless Group.

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