“Giving Them What They Want”—from Broadway to Social Media
In the musical “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” two con-artists, Lawrence and Andre, sing this ironic song about how they can get what they want simply by giving the people they want it from, exactly what THEY want (check out a clip from this song at http://goo.gl/pe908F ). We’re not trying to encourage you to steal from people like these two, but we think their logic might be able to help your organization’s social media strategy.
The idea is simple: identify your audience, figure out what they want, and Give Them What They Want. In social media, followers are seeking content that they value; things that are interesting, practical, or useful to them.
Think about the general type of people who are inclined to hire you.
If you specialize in providing marketing expertise to small businesses, then your target audience is likely to be small business leaders who can make the choice to hire you, as well as your past clients who you want to continue to engage and remind how talented your firm is so they can tell all of their colleagues about you. If your organization is a children’s summer camp, you want to target and engage parents of past, present, and future campers.
Once you have identified your target audience, you should begin thinking more specifically—what kind of information does X group of people value enough to stop, read, and share that you can GIVE them for free? Maybe it’s marketing basics, maybe it is computer usage tips, or maybe it is cute pictures of little kids having snack time at summer camp with uplifting messages, either way, Give Them What They Want!
When you provide your audience with information that is useful to them, you will become a trusted source of information to the people you want as clients or customers now or in the future. Plus, you will increase your visibility by motivating people to share your oh-so-valuable content.
The late Zig Ziglar, a master salesman and trainer, used to say “You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want.” Giving Them What They Want does not mean you should start giving away your businesses’ services for free (although your customers probably wouldn’t mind that). Just make sure your social media and marketing strategy is based on a solid foundation of being useful to your friends and followers, as they will become your most loyal constituency. Once you have decided who your target audience is and understand the kind of content they want to see from you-while it may take some trial and error-generating content will come easily to you.