Michael Bennitt
Editor

March 2015
Volume 5, Issue 3
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IM Social Now Newsletter

Does Word-of-Mouth Matter?

You can talk all you want about how awesome your company and its products are, but is anyone listening to you?

Well, not really!

Thanks to the Internet and massive growth of social media, the days where people would gobble up whatever you say about your company are long gone. So, who do these people really listen to? Their colleagues, friends, family and even reviews by total strangers on sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp. In other words, they'd rather believe what others say before believing you.

Keeping this scenario in mind, how can you effectively reach out to your customers about vouching for you? With traditional marketing techniques proving to be ineffective by the minute, a better approach is to find and nurture customer influencers, increase their reputation, build their affiliate networks, as well as grant them access to valuable, up-to-date knowledge. Customer advocates are considered the new marketing messengers and their power is something that should not be overlooked. This is evident from the fact that several companies gain a majority of their customers through word-of-mouth and referrals.

That being said, here are a few different ways you can make your customers listen, as well as find out the things they like about your company:

Send out emails to customers on your list, requesting them to complete the online survey about what they like most about your company.
Instruct your support and sales reps to ask the customer to take the online survey after a good call or account review.
If your company has email newsletters, place a link at the bottom, asking if they would like to get featured. The link should take them to a brief contact form.

Once you find out their stories, you should:

Post their pictures and quotes on your website.
Show them some love and appreciation on social media.
Incorporate them in your press releases.
Write case studies and feature them on your blog and website.
Discuss them during meetings, so your employees are aware of their hard work and how it's helping your business grow.

Self-praise is no praise. It's time to embrace consumer advocates as your primary tool to reach your customers, and let them do your talking for you.

IM Social Now

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Tips For More Referrals From Social Media

If you want more referrals, your social media contacts can help. Here's a handful of tips:

Find out which social media site your ideal customers use most - and focus your efforts there.
Ask your customers to share your business. They know your next new customer!
Reward your customers for sharing. One good turn deserves another.
Make it easy for them to share your business - if you provide a message they can use, they will.

Who is Your Mentor?

Ask any successful person how they managed to get where they are today and it's probable they will mention the name of a mentor who helped and supported them throughout the way.

Over the past decade or so, mentoring has gained immense popularity. That's mainly because the experience and wisdom of mentors can help people evolve and grow, taking them to the next level and closer to success. However, if you want to find a good mentor, you need to be sure you're prepared to be a good mentee.

Be Prepared for Candid Feedback

Everybody says they want feedback. However, if you are willing to ask for it, you should also be able to bear it. Mentors will always give you candid feedback and it doesn't necessarily mean it will be something good every time. Even though you might get your feelings hurt, your mentor's duty is to tell you the truth. Nevertheless, when you take that feedback in a positive manner, you work on fixing it accordingly. This will eliminate any chances of you having the same problem or making the same mistake again.

Listen, Consider, and then Take Action

This is exactly what keeps a mentor - mentee relationship properly functioning. When there is open, honest, even if sometimes uncomfortable communication, there is room to break through and achieve better results than you've gotten before. Actually making that happen, though, means you've got to take action on what you've learned.

A good mentoring relationship may just be the opportunity you've been looking for to grow by example, to have a sounding board for your ideas, and to gain the kind of accountability that inspires massive action.

IM Social Now