SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 15: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Take Sandi Krakowski as an example of someone who is well on their way to social media stardom.
I’ve been writing about social media for five years and have nearly 7,000 Twitter followers. That’s poor for someone in the business. On Facebook I fare much worse – 650.
Sandi, who does not come from a social media writing background has over 1o0,000 on both. Here’s her Facebook business page. It is all about Sandi.
I asked her over email how she does it and here is a critical insight I learned from talking to her. Social networks truly reflect the broad diversity of cultures out there in society. When someone tells you how to do good Facebook or good Twitter you have to stop and ask – who am I doing this for? Who is my audience? And who do I really want to connect with? What types of people?
Because only when you think that way does this new democracy empower you. Anything else and you are living in old media land.
This tribal effect also means that social media gurus will crop up in every hue and form – because every community or tribe will have its leaders.
In terms of techniques for growth Sandi takes a simple route. In a nutshell, she posts regularly on Facebook – every hour. And she speaks in what she calls the voice of her ideal customers.
She also makes it personal, adding her religious experiences to her personal enthusiasm. Although she has a team, the social media presence is really about Sandi and how much she cares about her customers. It’s about love in a way that would have pleased John Lennon.
I said a few weeks back that there is a trend towards therapy in 140 characters. Social media is becoming online hugging, as more and more social media influencers use personal messages of hope, support, and good will to keep their connections going strong. That’s what you get with Sandi.
I find that a little off-key, at least for me. But it works because of what Sandi says – she speaks in the voice her ideal customers want to hear, a little like those of us who write about tech trends tend to focus on the stories that people are reading.
So here is Sandi’s story. I interviewed her as part of a series I am doing while I compile the social media power influencers list with Peek You. See more on that here. I edited the interview for readability.
Sandi:
Initially my FB page was a way to connect with clients and talk to them about our blog posts and products, as most businesses ‘were’ doing. It was a sales channel.
(Sandi now sells social media services) What was her background in online media?
Sandi:
I’ve run 11 successful businesses online. My first company being an online newsletter using the old school Major Domo email which led to an ecommerce business in 1997. It was a kitchenware business, that was built in the same way of communication as I’m doing social media today-good ole fashioned customer service and caring about my ideal clients, and speaking their ideal language.
I’ve run ecommerce businesses in kitchenware, vitamins, bread making forums, went onto becoming a copywriter, online marketer and pay per click specialist. My first pay per click campaign was in 1998.
On social media she says: “Social media is a process of good relationships, copy that speaks to your idea
clients and truly caring about your audience.”
I asked if she had good personal Twitter and Facebook reach before she began building it out for her business?
Sandi:
We went from 10,000 on Twitter to 114,000 because everything we do works synergistically together. My personal FB reach was at 5000 (FB limit) but only 1118 of my friends are connected to my FB business page. (We shouldn’t spam our personal pages with business) This shows that the clients we’ve attracted to my Facebook page are there for business and not just friends ‘hanging out’. Our model teaches, “Loving Your Customers” just as the merchants of old used to do when everyone came on horse and buggy. Giving personal touch on all of our platforms built substantial growth overall.
What kind of plan did she come up with?
Sandi:
The ‘typical engagement’ of 4-8% on a Facebook Page that so many experts said was great didn’t resonate with me. In my mind, these were pathetic engagement rates for email, a blog or any other communication. How could it be acceptable on social media?
The biggest step towards increasing our engagement and growing our community we made was by being very intentional in not being a ‘typical’ social media marketer. We didn’t want to just speak to people when we had something to sell, only post when we wanted them to ‘opt in’ or give us feedback.
Relationship, which has been the golden thread through all of my successful online businesses, was the motivating and directing compass here as well. We made a commitment to post every hour, something motivating, encouraging and speaking to our clients directly, about things that would benefit them. Our greatest marketing campaign was and still is, “How can I help someone get a result today?” Some of these results may be tangible, others intangible. But either way the main purpose, for which we are driven, is to help people to create a real change thru their business, is accomplished.
How did you launch the plan?
Sandi:
To be very honest with you, we just began to do more of what we were already doing on my very successful blog and email messages every hour on Facebook. The effect was nearly instant! I had just gotten back from a family vacation to Hawaii. That trip created some serious engagement and I began to think, “WHOA… they are very interested in the personal side of business, as well as really having a relationship with us. Let’s bring them ‘all in’ to our culture and see what happens.” The rest is history! And what a rewarding fun time it is every single day!
I must note that the clients we have who do the exact same thing: posting regularly, getting involved, motivating, answering questions, posting pictures and building a community as opposed to a ‘sales’ page also see amazing results
nearly instantly.
What were the distinct phases in your success?
Sandi:
When we saw people asking for more help, bringing us results that their once ‘unseen’ business was now on the first page of Google. Results that came in from people who said they were writing more, speaking, blogging, and stepping into things they never thought they could learn like PPC. Ironically we get some very personal stories that inspired us and caused us to continue on this path.
We’ve had a few people who told us our daily posts on Facebook kept them going through a job loss or a serious challenge in their life. A few people have even told us our regular posts gave them hope when they were struggling with depression after so many disappointments in the recent economic struggle.
Our audience even includes some young people who want to build a business in their future and along with their parents find our material great educational content in that growth. As a mom who has homescooled for 24 years, all of my children work with my husband and me… our FB culture is about EVERYTHING it takes to really have a successful business AND a successful life.
The big distinction that I have seen recently is that our audience is populated with just as many men as women. This means we’re helping everyone and that is a personal mission and purpose of mine! Not just attracting people who are ‘just like me’ that so many marketers seem to focus on. We have companies and clients who follow and work with us.
What are the major lessons you would pass on to others?
My biggest Facebook Marketing tip would be – Be yourself. Be true to you. You’ll attract clients who are the same. Even if you’re a big brand, get to know your clients more than you do your products and have relationship with them. Have your client care team become a ‘Facebook Team” that supports, encourages and engages daily.
Be unique, be intentional and have fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re a small mom and pop type business or a huge corporation. Social media has CHANGED the way people do business. They want to have relationships with us. More than 1 billion people are active daily on Facebook. As business owners it’s our honor to serve them, live, daily.
So that’s Sandi’s perspective. How can you spend a fruitful weekend boosting your own Facebook presence? I’m tempted to do this myself:
1. Ask, between spoons of cornflakes, who are your ideal clients. Who are the ones you really connect with and feel on the same wavelength as?
2. On the morning stroll open up about your shared culture? Is it driven by zeal or skepticism, passion for what your are doing, pragmatism? How that culture shapes up in your mind will shape your messaging.
3. Come home and plan out those hourly posts. Information about you are who you are, advice and support for the people you rare reaching out to, messages about your journey together in business, short form on Twitter and on Facebook.
4. Transfer that messaging to a small 2 x $10 pay per click ad campaign on Facebook. 2 x $50 if you really want to push the weekend.
5. Engage for 48 hours (no forgetting sleep), messaging your day to the people you want to work with
6. Get ready to test reaction. Who answers, comments, tweets, what you are saying? How do the PPC stats look?
7. It’s Monday morning – how’s it going?
“One thing I teach,” says Sandi “is check-in for 5 minutes, every hour.
Then if you’re posting 8 x per day, that’s less than an hour per day. 5
hours per week on social media. We won’t lose our life or our focus
that way. It also keeps us very connected. As my following grew I made
it a priority to spend 2-3 hours per day interacting.
By Haydn Shaughnessy, Forbes Contributor
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