By Sharon Hill
Referral Marketing is my term for passing along a service or product to a friend, co-worker or company. Back in the day, this was done by speaking in person or over the phone. “I have a leak, can you recommend a good plumber?” Successful realtors are experts at Referral Marketing.
There is much written about viral marketing, what it is, where and when it originated, how it is used for good and not so good purposes. Bottom line it is a planned campaign. Referral marketing comes from people wanting to share experiences. I seriously doubt that any businessperson would dispute the value of a referral regarding the reduction of time to close the business and dollar value of the business (i.e. less negotiation.)
How do social media tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and blogs) achieve the same results as Referral Marketing? Downside risks (certainly not all inclusive by any means) are included so that you can better understand the risk versus reward ratio.
LinkedIn is all about recommending this person or recommending that company very publicly. Going on the record and making a statement about services. Local, regional, national or international does not matter to LinkedIn. A referral is a referral. So what does it cost to have a LinkedIn profile $0.00. That’s right zero dollars.
Downside risk – none. According to LinkedIn Q & A:
How can I view and manage recommendations I’ve received from other LinkedIn users?
You will have the option to accept and ‘Show this recommendation’, ‘Accept’ and ‘Hide the recommendation’, ‘Request a replacement’ or ‘Archive’.
You are in control – enough said
Facebook is a great place to form communities. You can start a “West side business community” or a “Downtown Business Community”. Promote the area with the coordination of fellow businesses. Decide on who will be the administrator(s). Offer specials to customers who come to the area. Use store signage or handouts to let customers know about the community on Facebook.
Create a Facebook page for your business. Here you can offer tips and let customers interact.
Downside risk – some. These pages will need to be monitored. There are privacy settings that you can use. The goal is for your page to be public so that it can be found and seen. People can post comments to the page. You can remove them. This requires the administrator(s) being proactive.
Remember when stores had Sign our guestbook to receive offers and mailings when you checked out? Your customers can follow you if they know you are on Twitter. Put up a sign. Make your Twitter address something memorable (there is a limitation of 15 characters). Don’t forget to tweet something of value such as a sale. “Twitter 1 hour sale (12/15/09) today at 1 PM to 2 PM – 20% off!” or “Call in the next hour and receive….” Limitation 140 characters.
Downside risk: Carefully proof your tweets. You would not want to send out a tweet stating your sale is from 1 PM to 2 AM.
Writing blogs can be fun, rewarding and tedious. Start by creating a list of subjects and then let circumstances and experiences fill in the rest. Your customers and employees will most likely provide you all the material you need. Be the local Subject Matter Expert or SME (see our blog: Local Subject Matter Expert Using Social Media) in your area of expertise.
Downside risk – Very little. You can update or delete a post and control the comments (Approve, Edit, Reply, Spam, Delete) before it ever becomes public. If you blog is copied and pasted into someone else’s blog site (which is considered bad form) changes and updates are not within your control. Most often, an excerpt (which you write is posted) and then linked back your blog site.
All of these vehicles become places for your current and potential customers to find you and learn about your business. How it becomes Referral Marketing is simple:
LinkedIn – Person A is connected to Person B and sees Person’s A recommendation for your business. Since Person B knows Person A they trust their recommendation.
Facebook – With community page and/or a business page, customers can see what is happening in your area and at your location. They can interact and let others know of the page. They can easily pass along the fan page address to their friends.
Twitter – No guestbook to maintain, no costly mailings and they choose to follow you. It does not matter whether you have 5 or 500 followers. Each one is a customer. You can be retweeted by one of your customers to their followers and so on.
Blogging – I have never met a successful business owner that did not like to share their knowledge. Blogs have their own search engine keywords known as tags. Blogs are shared, linked and posted on other blogs.
Final thoughts:
If you truly have limited funds, be a do-it-yourselfer. If you have some funds, hire an expert in social media marketing. Ask a ton of questions and use the opportunity to learn so that you can possible take over some the activities yourself.
Take a new and long look at time and costs currently allocated to promote your business and attract new customers. Is it still effective for the money being spent?
Social Media Marketing will probably never be as inexpensive (FREE!) as it is right now. What are you waiting for?
@social_dynamics
