Social Media For Any Business Means More Than Selling, PPC & Talking To People All Day 

One of the biggest changes to hit the online world was the invention of social media. Many balked it at the beginning, but that's usually the case with anything new. Now that I've been working online for more than 14 years I've come to realize that things change so rapidly that if you don't like change you really should just go home rather than even attempting to work an internet based business.

I love change. I love things moving forward. This is why I love the internet.

When I first heard of Facebook back in 2009 being used for business I thought it was going to be a complete waste of my time. I was working through high-level copywriting projects and couldn't figure out how anyone could actually use something such as Facebook to make money. My only experience prior to this was MySpace and I quickly understood why so many people called it SmutSpace, as it was full of  garbage and fake relationships.

But Facebook was quite different. It didn't take me a long time to 'tune in' to the fact that people were not only connecting online, they were able to connect with people they had never met before and people they needed to meet! Just ponder the possibilities. 

Many of you know my friend and partner in our 2012 Coaching Program, PJ McClure. You might not know that we met on Twitter. Later meeting in person and having him guest speak for us we grew to be very fond of the work PJ does with his clients. But the relationship started on Twitter.

Our top SR Client Care staff member, Superstar Miss Rose Mis was also a social media blessing! We met Rose through Facebook and the first time I did a web audit for her site I knew she was really a special lady. As is my habit, we asked her to work with us, very shortly thereafter….. especially since she purchased every single thing we published! 

The list goes on….. many of our clients like Charlotte Siems and Beau Henderson and Victoria Gazely and Tiffany Johnson and Coach Jimmy Nelson all came through relationships made on social media!  I met Guy Kawasaki, Chalene Johnson, Rabbi Lapin and Shane Ellison ALL through Twitter!

Why am I telling you this?

Because these are real relationships with real people with real stories that we were fortunate enough to connect with through platforms like Twitter and Facebook. But mark my words, it was not by luck, coincidence or just 'out of the blue' happenings. 

The connections we have made with our clients and colleagues are very strategic and were the direct result of paying attention to who our ideal client is. We didn't just 'accidentally' bump into them online, we knew what they wanted, what they were looking for, as I teach in my latest book, "Read Their Mind- How To Hear What The Marketplace Wants & Build A Huge Business", we were very focused on connecting with the right people….and still are. 

What a beautiful business it has become! You guys are like family to us!

So what are the Best Practices when it comes to using tools like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Squidoo, Technorati, YouTube, Vimeo and more for business?

Here are a few "Social Media Business" tips you can use immediately in your business

#1- Relationship must be your primary focus. If it's not you'll be found out quickly and it won't work. Even if you get the best content management person it won't get the result you need if you are not having a relationship beyond your content.

This is the thing I see many professionals and home business people struggle with the most. So much so that I'm creating in 2012 a business course for those in the medical industry! In plain English, the letters after one's name and the accolades that came with college don't mean a thing when it comes to social media. People could care less.

They want genuine!

They want real…. and many doctors, dentists, chiropractors, massage therapist, acupuncturists, nutritionists and the like have gone belly up because they don't know HOW to do relationship the way the social media culture demands! Their entire practice has been focused on ailments and fixing things. They can rattle off conditions more than they can share their stories of clients lives. Sadly, this was the norm of business in the past…. but it won't stand today, online, at all. 

#2- You have to do more than just talk all day! People ask me all the time just WHAT are they supposed to talk about online? This is usually a clue for me that the only thing they are thinking about is paying off their next Mastercard bill! They aren't thinking of creating a long term business, they're only thinking about how to make money so they they they THEY can have the life of their dreams. Sadly, they usually never get there.

Some of the biggest breakthroughs our clients have had begin in the school of blogging.

You can teach someone to write REALLY good copy if you can get them to blog regularly. But then again some of the biggest wrong belief systems are also revealed through blogging! If someone starts talking about their card system, their makeup, their diet product and their whatever it is all day long, on the tabs, in the articles, in the emails, on their social media all day long…. they will bore the bajeebers out of even the most curious of clients.

Angela Brooks as many of you know has taken this to the point of even publishing her first book this Thanksgiving! Replacing her current income, she did what most won't through a blog. She turned her blog into a place to share her life…. and ironically? Was able to sell more products. And even though everything she does is evident in plain site even people who watch her at the current company she partners with STILL believe "She must be doing something else, it can't be this simple. " Fact of the matter is…. social media is simple. That might be why it's so hard for so many people. It demands we drop the ego and really care. Some people can't seem to get to that point. Ever. 

#3- Be consistent. Care, really care. Loving your customers isn't a marketing term you rattle off to sound smart in the company of other bloggers. It's a reality that those who succeed through social media will do or they will die.

We've been blessed to be able to do more than $ 1million dollars worth of business in under 15 months through social media and it is NOT because I'm selling something every 5 minutes. It's because we really do care.

We ask questions and we give what we are asked for. We pay attention when people tell us they want digital products over physical products and we take notes when people say a CD set would be better, on this product, rather than an MP3.

Our relationship with our 24,000+ clients on Facebook and 52,000 on Twitter is so genuine that when I am just a tad late in my arrival online in the morning they are ASKING where I went to!  Quite frankly, it brings me to tears to know that so many people have turned to us as the #1 Resource in Direct Response Marketing and Copywriting. It MOTIVATES me to do more, create more jobs, impact more lives and change the economy of thousands of people in 2012.

That did NOT happen because we did it the 'normal' way.

Truth be told, I honestly don't consider myself a Social Media Marketing Expert. I'm a people person who listens and cares. I just happen to be passionately driven to build companies and am also driven by the challenge of marketing. But I didn't wake up one day and think, "Oh that would be neat, let's go make a lot of money on social media."  No… every single day, without fail, I ask myself this question,

"What can we do to help you do better in the marketplace?"

And the results are irrefutable! We have done this together, you and I! We are a team.. YOU our customers are the A Real Change team and family! 

#4- Drive people to your website. Give them your best content. Show people where they can find what they need on your website!

Relationships through business on social media are much stronger and last longer if you are directing the path that people should be taking so they can have the results that you know you can deliver. Don't expect your customers to just 'figure it out!" They won't. They need YOU, the company owner to help them.

Be sure to be full on. I see people who are just trying to 'play social media business owner' a few hours per day. This doesn't work in ANY area of life, let alone on social media. Stop copying what everyone else is doing and for crying out loud, find out who YOU are, who YOU weren't meant to be and who GOD designed you to be in the marketplace! 

That's when everything will change.

You can't keep copying what everyone else is doing and show up full on in the world. Your customers will see through it. If anything, they'll get exhausted. People want real, they are tired of fake and this is NOT the place to follow Guru #1 and copy their header and their message and call yourself an expert in marketing.

A spiritual principle of promotion is you must be willing to learn first before you'll be called to lead. You have to be one who can be taught, before you'll ever be entrusted to teach. You need to be 100% with yourself, and who you are, before anyone will trust you to help them with what they need.

Social media is one of the most powerful forces of change in the world I've seen in a long time. And as the internet used to excite me so much, 14 years ago…. I couldn't wait to see what people were doing, how things were growing, how things were changing…. I'm watching social media the same way. It excites me! YOU have changed me and helped me to be who I am today!

Let's bring A Real Change to the world in our own companies and give the marketplace what they want!

With love,

Sandi Krakowski