Path of Presence Podcast - Episode 03 - Social Media and attraction marketing on the Buyers Journey

Today we’ll we talking the impact of social media on the buyer's journey and how it has the power to empower the buyer in every stage.

In our last episode, we talked about the three consecutive steps involved in the buyer’s journey:  (1) awareness, (2) consideration and (3) decision.  We discussed what goes on for the buyer as they take the journey of these three steps. 

The norm of business today is about attraction marketing rather than push marketing.

Today, we’ll answering the following 3 questions: 

1.  What is attraction marketing?

2.  What role does social media play?

3.  What is the relationship between social media and attraction marketing, and how this affect the buyer's journey?

Attraction Marketing

Attraction marketing is simply sharing your expertise, the information you know.  You know those facts that you’ve put in snippets on you VC or resume?  Attraction marketing is demonstration of those bullet points, along with your sparkling personality.  As the expert in your field, you are to share your expertise with the world.

We might think of the content you create as an online portfolio, or repertoire of your knowledge.  In today’s digital world, we call this plain old content.  Your core content is a reflection of your expertise and you practice attraction marketing by simply sharing this content.

The medium you use for distribution can vary – and you have many options.  Vehicles for delivering your content might include email, blog, video, audio, eBook, interviews, appearances and so forth.  By simply putting out to the world your perspective, by teaching it in bite-sized snippets and sharing your knowledge, training, education and experience, you are establishing yourself as a expert, and those to whom your message resonates will become your followers.

We have evolved as a cultural norm to no longer push to sell a product, but to build rapport and relationships with our potential customers.  In this day and day, with real time delivery of postings, videos, and news, we have never seen such amazing opportunity to embody who we’ve come to be – to empower ourselves, and others to be seen, to be heard, and to be known.

People will know your energy before they know who you are.  The idea of attraction marketing is so that those who see you, and know you… will love you.

And because you can ONLY be yourself, those who truly know you, LOVE you.  This is the time – the right and perfect time – to step up, be known in community and share your heart with the world!

When people trust your energy, when they know your intent, they will engage with you and come in to relationship with you, and not simply to buy your product (Be it a book, coaching, program, class, retreat, etc). and what you have to sell, but because they are simply attracted to your energy.

Role of Social Media

Okay, so how does social media fit in to all this? Think of social media as your outreach department that, if planned right, will mirror your energy and foster goodwill to your audience.

Social media has tremendous power and reach to help you become visible not simply to those who you have “friended” in your network(s), but to those friends of friends, growing the possibility of your exposure exponentially.  The algorithms in today’s networks are a tricky thing. 

There are three foundational concepts you must master about social media.  Those practice these three concepts on a daily basis find the most success.  Those who do not in practice of these three concepts are totally missing the mark.

Social media requires of you the following 3 things: 

(1) consistency,  (2) plan and (3) engagement.

CONSISTENCY The most important rule of social media is to post CONSISTENTLY.  Why is this important? The more consistent you are at your posting schedule, the harder the algorithms of network visibility will work for you.  Visibility (showing your post on the feed to your audience) is the network's way of regarding a higher value to those who share relevant content.  

The more consistent you are at showing up, the higher your engagement, the more people particulate on your postings.  The social algorithms are coded to recognize this as relevancy, which favors community building, and your posts will be seen more often than those who post every so often. 

The lightbulb in my head went off, and I chuckled a little when I really got this concept.  Consistency on social media is rewarded the same way in real life.  If you show up, 80% of the work is done because you are committing to taking action something and the universe responds in kind.

If constant posting sounds exhausting to you, let me affirm with you – yes! Who wants to stress about what to post every day, twice a day?  This is why exhaustion is a good segway to point #2.  In order to be success through social media, one MUST have a plan.

PLAN I’m all about efficiency and effectiveness, working smarter, not harder.  I think that when I went to gather my gift and talents before I dropped through the veil, I must have really wanted to experience efficiency in life.  I seem to function at my best when I can streamline what I’m doing.  Even if it takes me a bit longer to get set up, I must be able to see the big picture, and have a plan to get from point A to point B.   I’m not one to have a strict unwavering plan, because changes might arise (I do have children, after all !).   However, I do love appreciate direction - a sense of where I am going. Having a calendar gives me a clue and gives me a road map as to where I am going.

When this episode is over, please download a done for you social media posting content calendar to take planning what to post of your hands.  It'll give you some content ideas to spark your creativity and get your started, or catapult you on your way!

ENGAGEMENT  The 3rd item that is required for a successful social media campaign is engagement.  Engagement is another world for active participation.  Engagement is important for so many reasons.  When you engage in your social media accounts, it will get your post ranked and visible.  The more you engage your audience, the more relevant you become to their profile.  Not only will your post show up on their feed, but when others engage on your post, you will be shown to friends of friends, which will increases your organic reach. 

An even more important reason for engagement is to understand that when someone responds to your posting, it is beginning of relationship building and dialogue with this person.  A series of conversations creates an experience.  They are talking to you – and when someone talks to you in "real life," offline and face-to-face, do we not respond back?  In practice and on the streets, we would not ignore someone who is talking to you.  So, please do not ignore someone on your social channel.

It is amazing to me when I see postings that have comments, with no reply from the originator of the posting.  If you take nothing away from today’s podcast, but to really get this, know that certain social norms online is the same as they are offline. 

When someone says “hello” please say "hello" back.  In fact, start a conversation - engage with them!  When someone asks you a question, please engage with them by reply, and do not ignore.  Nothing builds relationship than a courteous and sincere reply.  It takes a lot to repair a potential relationship if you continue to ignore people who are talking to you. 

If someone shares something you’ve posted – give thanks - publicly, if you are willing.  Do so right in the comments section on the link that they have shared.  It is the decent and polite thing to do, at the very least.  To return goodwill, and as a courtesy, share something they’ve posted that is genuinely interesting to you in return.  Here’s my motto for the day:   Do not set it and forget it. Set it and build!

How does social media and attraction marketing affect the buyer's journey? Where does it all fall in place?

The 1st stage of the buyers journey – if you recall, is awareness. This is where they meet you – and see you, perhaps for the 1st time.

Offline, for those of us who are old school, this involves: word of mouth, radio, tv and print ads, postcards, business cards, traditional networking, etc.

You are letting others know that you are around, that you are alive and exists.  “See me” please, “I’m here, I’m here!" is what you would be saying.  In a not so needy way, of course.

So how would you let others know that you are in business?  I've listed some modern ways to tell others you exist in the digital world.  Options are the following:

• Posting on your social media channels,
• Strategically placing online ads,
• Writing and distributing press releases,
• Pay per click ads (purchase advertising),
• Digital bill boards and
• Email campaigns.

You want to be present where people can find you: 

• search engines,
• blogs, vlogs and videos,
• 3rd party sites,
• review sites, and of course,
• social media ads, to name a few.

Where ever you may be found is research for your audience for Stage 2 of the buyers process – consideration.  Whatever they can find about you is part of their experience of getting to know you – even without talking to you, your audience will get a sense of who you are, and what you are about.

So I’ll repeat for you that you want to be present where people can find you - search engines, blogs, 3rd party sites, review sites, and social media ads.  To this list, I also want to add SEO which stands for search engine optimization.  Use keywords that you want to be found for. 

You’ll want to use key words on your sites and all your content, including any photos or graphics you post so that when people do a search, your content, graphics and information appears.

Finally, when buyers are ready to purchase, when they reach stage 3 of the buyers cycle, they will remember you, not simply by your product, but by the energy of who you are, your service, your company, and what you stand for. 

People want to buy from those they know, love and trust.  And when they are ready to purchase, when they are at stage 3 – you want to make the purchase experience as pleasant as possible for them, assuring that our website and checkout carts work, that they are all mobile optimized as more than 70% are using their mobile devices for online purchases.

I hope today’s episode was enlightening and fun for you as we talked about what attraction marketing is, and the role does social media plays in attraction marketing & the buyer's journey.

I know this has been a lot of information. Our aim to inspire and uplift you, adding balance and focus – clarity to your personal and professional ambitions, all the while, helping you stay awake through this process … and more!

Feel free to listen to this podcast again and again.

Please please submit your questions / requests for the show at: Light@PathofPresence.com.

Download the freebies that I mentioned in this episode, and if this information has served you in any small way, please rate it – rank it, like, it, share it…use it as practice for a new way of being until liking, sharing and ranking becomes 2nd nature.

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