Karthika Gupta, a photographer I know, recently did a blog post titled “Entrepreneurial Lessons From The Field.” She shares some lessons that she learned from three female entrepreneurs living in India. Karthika pointed out that these women are running businesses without some of the tools that most businesses take for granted, like business cards and websites. However, even without the use of a computer I feel we have lessons to learn from their “social” media.
Know your customers. While these three women business owners in India have gotten to know their customers through frequent personal interactions, that might not be an option for people in virtual industries. However, even in our technology driven world, we can understand our customers by trying to understand their needs. We can engage with our clients (and potential clients) on their social media pages. We can subscribe to their newsletters and know what promotions they are offering (and even share those promotions).
If some of your clients live near you, you can get to know them better, perhaps over a cup of tea. Offer something unique. In addition to your promoting your products and services on social media, remember the PIC principal. Your social media interactions should be no more than 20% promotions, at least 40% informational, and at least 40% conversational. The informational items should focus on what best services your market.
Keep your customers “top of mind.” One tip often offered in social media classes is to keep yourself “top of mind” for your clients and potential clients by offering great content or encouraging social media interactions. But a tip I’ve rarely seen for staying in your customers’ minds is to stay aware of your customers. You can help to fill your clients needs by helping them help their clients.
For example, I read numerous articles per week. If I find something that I think would be of general help to my clients, I’m happy to share those in my social media channels. Sometimes, however, I find articles that are not of general interest to my clients, but things that might be of interest to their clients. If I find such information, I will always make my clients aware of this through a private message (and then I might even see that appear in their newsletters, in their blogs, or on their Facebook page).
Related articles
- Entrepreneurial Lessons from the Field. Karthika Gupta (memorablejaunts.com)
- 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing. Susan Gunelius (entrepreneur.com)
Photo courtesy of Karthika Gupta at Memorable Jaunts