Social media delivers to you the most economical way to communicate with your target market which is made up of your avatars. It’s about making them aware that you exist. The most effective way to make them aware of you is to give them what they want. The word “give” here, is used literally. You can give them answers and good advice but more powerfully, you can give them stuff that they want. You can give them samples of your product or gifts in the form of prizes. It’s all about giving people what they want. As the famous motivator, Zig Ziglar, has said: “You can get everything in life that you want if you help enough other people get what they want”. If you approach social media with a giving attitude, then your marketing will be successful.
So, what should you give them? Your gift must be tailored to the need of your ideal customer. Customers buy solutions therefore your ideal customer has a problem that only your product will solve. By giving your product as a prize then that singles out those people who see your product as a benefit to them. Giving chocolates, free meals or travel vouchers doesn’t single out your potential customers. The mistake many businesses make is to give out products unrelated to their businesses. They gain a long list of contact details but mainly from people who want free stuff. By giving away your product you are gaining a list of contacts who like what you sell. The value of the ideal prize should be around $500 or more to make it worthwhile for people to give you their contact details. They must want your prize more than they value their privacy.
Choosing the prize can be difficult. If your products retail for less than $500 then that’s OK, but what if your product is a $2,000, $10,000 or $50,000 item? Giving an associated product is the answer. If you sell cars, for example, then you can give away a free test drive but offer something that other dealers don’t offer like use of the car for a day. Accessories related to your product is another way. With the car example, there are many automotive accessories from which to choose. The important thing is that the gift is perceived as good value.
Some businesses owners struggle with the idea of giving away expensive product. The way to understand the give-away principle is to calculate the value of one customer. Experience should tell you how many warm leads it takes to gain this one customer. Doing the math will reveal how many warm leads you need from a give-away to make it worthwhile. Marketing companies sell lists of leads for specific markets. What you are doing is using the give-away technique to create your own list and your list will be better qualified. Having completed one campaign you will be able to calculate exactly what each customer cost to attain. Furthermore, you have a good list of names for future offers to attract them to your business.
There are many methods of gaining a list of warm leads, but social media has given us tools to make it much easier to grow these lists quickly. Data collected by social media platforms gives us a forum to go straight to our target audience. Offering an attractive incentive is the way to encourage them to give you their contact details.