social media posts

Until recently, most marketing was “push” marketing. Advertised sales and special promotions pushed consumers to act; telling us when, what, and where to buy. Products and services were pushed into the marketplace with the goal of an immediate boost in sales. Branding was based on product lines, not on the company culture. In the last few decades, the internet has fueled the rise of “pull” marketing; a subtler conversation with consumers that invites us in as friends, rather than demanding our attention.

Here’s why “pull marketing” should be a major part of your marketing strategy.

Be interesting…

Sit in a room full of puppies or children and shout, “come over here, come over here, come over here.” Odds are, they will ignore you, or even run away. But if you do something interesting, entertaining or otherwise engaging, those pups or kids will naturally gather around you – and they will stay as long as you continue to pique their interest.

Target is a prime example of a retailer committed to pull marketing. Their commercials are bright and colorful – lots of movement and music and fun. Target is promising just the sort of experience that room full of puppies or children would run toward.

Build a rapport…

With Millennials (now the largest generation) and Gen Z flooding the consumer market, “pull marketing” becomes even more important. These digital natives can instantly learn everything about your product – and do a price/feature comparison between your brand and others in seconds. They already know how to buy, where to buy and what it will cost. You don’t need to tell them that. All you can influence is “when” to buy, “why” to buy, and “what” to buy – and you do this by using your marketing to build a rapport that pulls them in and builds a relationship.

Be genuinely social…

One huge mistake business owners make is ignoring the “social” in social media. They feel that the purpose of social media is strictly to get their own message out – to talk at people. Who is the person you avoid at a party? Is it the one who seems interested in you, the one who entertains you and makes you laugh – or the one who talks only about herself all evening?

Case in point: Wendy’s sassy Twitter exchange with a consumer who accused them of using frozen meat – complete with a mic drop ending – went viral last January and instantly turned Wendy’s Twitter feed into a “must-read” experience.

If you blast out posts that are the equivalent of standing at a party yelling “look at ME, look at ME,” you’ve written yourself out of the conversation.

Social media marketers follow various ratio rules, such as the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of your posts can be persuasive call-to- action pitches for your services and products, but eighty percent should be informative, entertaining, and sharable content. That’s how you build your brand, extend your reach and keep the attention of your audience. In Forbes.com, May 15, 2017 article “12 Of The Worst Social Media Mistakes And How To Avoid Them” the Forbes Communication Council wrote, “think of promoting your business as a “commercial break” among other content that provides value.” Yes, that’s a lot of work, but that’s how you get results. If your audience wanders off to talk to someone else at the party, you’ve lost your ability to talk to them at all.

Marketing has generally become more conversational and personal. Today’s consumers have high expectations and short attention spans. That calls for a fresh approach to your marketing strategy.

Tone.

It’s not so quantifiable.

But we know when somebody’s word usage or inflection is off.

Have you ever met somebody who drives you crazy? Every word out of their mouth makes you nuts. Try this trick: as you listen to them on the phone, the TV or at a meeting, write down every word that they say verbatim. Later, read the words in your own voice (try to take their voice out of it.) You’ll be surprised. Sometimes the words themselves are actually palatable. Sometimes (gasp!), they are even right. But their tone is wrong, whether it’s their inflection, their nasality, their body language, or just your rejection of them in general. No matter what words they say, they can’t (easily) reach you.

Part of every business is actually your brand and your tone.

Your tone can be your demeanor, your mien, as you interact with clients and patients. It can be the presence or absence of humor in your line of work. It can be the way your office is decorated.

Your tone should be reflected in anything that represents you: your social media posts, your website, any ads that you pay for and sponsorships of charitable endeavors all should reflect your business and your tone.

Retail environments can allow a certain whimsy and even off-kilter tone in their work.

Medical offices tend to have a friendly, but serious tone. Where HIPAA rules supreme, being too friendly in the waiting area is not advisable. Pediatricians can be a little more genial than oncologists.

Law offices tend to have an all-business demeanor in public shared areas, but the tone in each attorney’s area can reflect their interests and can be quirky, to a degree. The more corporate business you do, probably the less quirky you should be.

But that doesn’t mean that all blogs and social media posts have to be bland. Strongly held opinions can still be expressed. Humor can be injected when appropriate. And even heartfelt emotion can be expressed.

One tone that tends to fall on deaf ears in social media posts is a self-serving one. Blogs and posts can be informative or or entertaining and occasionally uplifting. But using these platforms to constantly toot your own horn gets old, sounds flat and may cause people to unlike your page or quit reading your posts altogether.

Check Your Tone: Use the same trick with the annoying speaker as above: Go back and look at a few months’ worth of posts and blogs. Can you discern a tone or a brand from the posts? How would you tweak it? Which posts or blogs do you feel represent your authentic voice and/or the voice that represents what you do and how you operate? Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t!

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