In my Shorthand series, I ask fellow social media marketing industry leaders for three quick and easy insights into their areas of expertise or interest. For this installment, I spoke with Erik Deckers, President & Owner of Pro Blog Service.
Erik has also co-authored several books, including Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself, No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing and The Owned Media Doctrine.
Let’s get to the questions!
1. Do social media relationships monetize?
Erik: Not automatically. They can if a seller can create a relationship with a buyer. Zappos is a good example of where it can. Their employees all have their own social media accounts where they can talk on behalf of Zappos, but they form relationships and online friendships with their customers. When it’s time to buy shoes, those customers think, “I’ll buy some shoes from my friend at Zappos.”
Book authors can do the same thing and build relationships with people who are potential readers. If the readers like and trust the author enough, they’ll buy from her when she does release a new book or other product.
2. You’re an influencer. How do you like brands to approach you?
Erik: As an individual. I like it when companies take the time to learn about me, and the share that knowledge. And I can spot when someone is trying to take a shortcut and send me a mass email using merge fields. It’s tiny little clues, like not quite understanding what my blog is about, or even formatting problems. In some cases, it’s just a stupid error, like using a consistent font, and not having the merged field in a different font.
3. Can you provide one tip to brands struggling with blogging?
Erik: Tell stories. Tell actual stories about your customers and the problems you’ve helped solve. Something with a conflict, and a beginning, middle, and end. These usually come in the form of case studies, but if they’re done right, they’re some of the most interesting stories you can find in the business world.
BONUS: Which is greater – soul or story?
Erik: Story. We get people’s attention and we keep it with stories. Think about how you get to know your friends and associates — you tell stories to each other. Without stories, it doesn’t matter how soulful you are, because I don’t have anything to share.
Interested in being featured in a future Shorthand post? Email me! Be sure to include ‘Shorthand’ in your subject line and let me know what you’d like to talk about.
The post SHORTHAND: Erik Deckers On Storytelling, Monetizing Relationships & Approaching Influencers appeared first on Firebelly | Social Media Marketing & Management Company.
