Are you using social media to build know, like, and trust for your organization?
You were probably told to focus on one social media platform first and perfect its use before adding another to your repertoire. With organizations so stretched for time, this was most likely welcome advice. Alas, it is not the best advice, not if you want to quickly and easily build know, like, and trust for your organization.
A much more effective strategy is to focus on all the major social media platforms where a significant percentage of your members and prospects gather. Before you discount this strategy as a time waster, let me explain through an analogy.
Let’s say you are an insurance salesperson in a new town. Of course, one of the first things you do is join the local chamber and plan to attend upcoming networking events.
You go to the first event listed, the monthly chamber luncheon, and you successfully meet a few people who might become customers. You also see some of these same people at the chamber breakfasts and chamber after-hours events.
This is basically the advice of the “focus on one site” crowd. Stick to a channel!
The problem is that you only get to know the segment of people in the community who attend chamber networking events. With the single channel strategy, the group of people that know, like, and trust you will be quite limited for a long time.
Instead, what if you also participated in weekly Rotary meetings and joined a local church?
You would make new friends with service club and church members who aren’t regular chamber event goers.
Sure, some of the new people you meet would also be chamber members whom you met at networking events. The fact that you are seeing them in a different venue reinforces know, like, and trust (similar to discovering they went to the same college as you or that you both have three kids).
Having things in common or seeing people in multiple places is essential to quickly and easily building know, like, and trust.
That’s how it works with social media too.
If I only see your organization’s Facebook page posts from time to time, which is probably the case given Facebook’s algorithm, I wouldn’t really begin to know, like, and trust the organization for months, if not longer.
But, if I am seeing posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., know, like, and trust would be built that much faster, just like seeing friends at chamber events, Rotary, and church.
This strategy choice comes down to priorities.
If your organization doesn’t believe there is much value in building know, like, and trust through social media, it will probably do the bare minimum of posting and engaging. It will focus on one medium.
On the other hand, organizations that truly believe in the value of relationships jump at the opportunity to reach their prospects and members wherever they are, especially when it can be done as cheaply and easily as it can on social media.
To take advantage of this strategy, budget the necessary resources to be everywhere your members and prospects are. Your actions show what your organization believes.
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