6 Great Ideas For Sharing Value Without Selling

You've heard and read again and again all about how social media is about being SOCIAL, creating trust & nurturing relationships with soft leads that with proper care will one day become solid leads for your business. The question is just how do you do that?

I've scanned the internet looking for ideas and clues of how other, already successful, companies and individuals are managing to do just that. Here are 6 great examples and/or ideas:

1 - Help your customers and followers find things they need

Zappos is one of the most successful online companies out there in the land of social media. This company provides a long list of products for their customers ranging from shoes (one of their most popular items) to eye-wear and accessories. Zappos doesn't spend all of their time using their sales force to push products. In fact, they spend significant amounts of time actually looking for products they don't even stock - despite the fact that they make no money from it. They have an approach to customer service that actually helps them build customer appreciation and trust in their brand, and they realize that the power of social media allows for disgruntled customers to reach millions on a global scale and effect their buying patterns in turn effecting the Zappos bottom line. They have a long term strategy of transparency and sharing with their customer that successfully nurtures the relationship and significantly increases the potential for a future sale as opposed to focusing on the immediate.

2 - Help your customers expand the use of their products

Pottery Barn has a YouTube channel where they focus on great ideas for how their customers can use their products (& sometimes the products of others). On their channel, they focus on how-to's for party planning, they feature designer profiles & products, they give advice and actually create/build/share a story beyond the products. These strategies of sharing beyond just what products they have available are serving to build a great relationship with their customers.

3 - Help your customers with tech support

Boingo uses their social media presence for the purpose of tech support, customer engagement and community building. They use a plethora of mediums from Facebook & Twitter to LinkedIn & Flickr to engage with their customers. They are transparent in their communications with customers, and their reps are right up front on the profile with their names and faces to add a personal touch. They spend time on Twitter scanning for customers who make comments about their brand and they immediately address and assist whatever is said in real time. They use their FaceBook page to troubleshoot with customers and though they do share company and product posts, the majority of their posts are relevant links, videos, discussions and questions that are of interest to their customers without an attempt to sell. They are there to help not to sell & that assistance creates the potential for both future sales and long term customer retention.

4 - Post materials relevant to your client's niche

Obviously, your niche is whoever your client or potential client happens to be, but what is your client's niche? Generally, if you take some time considering your client's niche you can post things relevant to them without any issue. For example, if you are a Pilates instructor, your clients are likely interested in fitness, they are likely women that fall into a specific age range etc. That niche would be interested in anything that would assist them in balancing their hectic schedules while still nurturing their ability to enhance their physical abilities. Highlighting vitamins & nutrients or recipes for healthy meals are a great way to add value to their lives and nurture your relationship with them. This is just one example but there's a plethora of ideas that will apply to your clients.

5 - Consider connecting your ideal client with contacts in your network that might benefit their business.

In your industry you have come across multiple contacts of value. Why not connect those valuable contacts with your customers and potential customers? Most people have a plethora of clients, potential clients and contacts who are not in direct competition with their business. With the economy the way it is, it would be a blessing to any one of them to get more business, not to mention the value you would add to the lives of your followers by connecting them with people of integrity who can serve their needs. Highlight some of your best clients and contacts in your newsletter or on your social media forums now and then. Everyone will be grateful for your willingness to share.

6 - Connect your followers to useful content across the web.

Science has proven that the sharing of good news and transformational stories actually inspires people to be better. It seems inspiring people to be better and in turn improving the world is one of the primary focuses of any spiritually tuned-in individual. That said, it only makes sense to share stories of inspiration and good news with your email list and social media forums. Share stories that inspire & then ask questions that prompt your followers to make changes in both their lives and the world. Share your own stories of inspiration. Write a blog or article about something that inspires you. By inspiring your followers, you improve their lives. There are sites such as DailyGood out there that focus purely on good news where you can find all sorts of great things to share. Ode Magazine is another great source for positive information. I say while we're all holding positive space for the transforming of the world we may as well create some positivity while we're standing there!! Bring Sunshine, Joy, Happiness & Love to your community.

Your Secret To Social Media Success

No matter what you are posting or where you are posting it, 80% of your online posts should be adding value to the life of the reader without selling to them. Think about it... We've all got someone in our FaceBook or Twitter feed who speaks of nothing but whatever it is they are selling. Social media is about relationships of value. That is something that every Spiritual Entrepreneur should understand isn't it? Who better to understand the value in relationships with others but someone who is deeply in tune to spiritual concepts? I can't think of any spiritual practice that doesn't talk about loving others in some way shape or form. Who feels love from someone always talking AT them rather than TO them?

When I first began spending time in the land of social media I spoke about what I cared about & paid attention to the same, but no matter what, I always took time to connect with people in some way. I always made sure to know who I was speaking to and how our interests were similar. By doing this, I began to form relationships and I began to connect with people about things that were relevant to them. By simply making connections relevant to what I was doing and what I cared about, I raised my ranking in social media to the top 4% worldwide never once attempting to sell a thing! Now I have formed a multitude of wonderful and sincere relationships with people who have come to know me in a way that allows them to trust what I say in particular areas. What do people value more than trust? There are, of course, a few things but not many.

Social media is about providing value to people who you are speaking to or interacting with. The wide availability of internet connections combined with the sincere and real connections people make with friends from all countries and generations has created an unlimited resource for your potential customer. Most everyone on the internet now has a connection to someone (if not multiple people) who can give them a testimonial or opinion on whatever it is you're selling, and most of them are going to put the most weight with the person they trust the most. Not many people trust someone who is merely there to sell them something when their other option is someone with whom they've spent time forming a trusting relationship with. That is what social media is all about... CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS & TRUST.

YOU are the first thing of value that your potential customer needs to have access to, and the best way to provide that access, is to let them know you care by giving them something of value that will improve their life in some way.

I believe you are the perfect person to share what you value with the world, don't you? As you know, people in the spiritual community seem more aware than most, of the concept of providing something to others that is truly of value in that it gives people access to something that empowers them or brings them closer to the Divine. We in the spiritual community know all about bringing value to the collective. And we frequently tend to focus on whatever level of understanding we may have of the balance between paying our bills, and enabling humanity to achieve a level of awakening that will bring them closer to the higher power as we see it. We've all heard &/or participated in conversations about how to achieve this balance & where the line in the sand should be drawn with regard to what should and shouldn't be charged for with when it comes to spiritual awakening. It is for that reason that I believe the spiritual community has the most significant potential to use social media successfully. Share with others what it is you care about and before you know it you'll be ranked higher than you can imagine in your niche on whatever social media forums in which you spend your time. We all know that those things which are the most truly and deeply valuable things on earth cost us our time not our dime.

So get out there and start sharing that which is most valuable to the world and give the gift that is nothing short of divinely created.... YOU!

You've Started A Blog, Now What?

You've heard over and over again how blogging can bring traffic to your website, increase your brand image, establish you as an expert in your field, create relationships with current and potential clients/customers & bring you money so you decided to start a blog. You've taken the first step toward increasing your business and online image by creating a blog.... But Now What Do You Do?

Now it's time to decide what to blog about and how to do your blogging. The answer to this question should be as simple as consulting your social media specific marketing plan, but if you haven't got one of those yet, then you're going to have to spend a bit of time brainstorming. The first thing you want to do is consider just who it is you are trying to reach with your blog. Who is your customer or potential customer and what are their interests? Focus on your target audience and put yourself in their shoes. What is it that they want or need and how can you provide that for them? Your posts should be things that are totally and completely relevant to your customer without making your customer feel like you're trying to sell them something.

Before you start writing, you will want to keep a few things in mind. We've already addressed the concept of making your blog posts relevant, but there's much more to it than that. Whether it is blogging, articles, your newsletter or your posts and updates in social media at least 80% of what you post should be of value to your readers without selling them in any way. You should keep in mind that the focus of the blog is to increase your image as an expert in your field NOT to sell your products and services. If you are successful in creating a positive image for yourself the sales will come, however, if all you do is sell you'll only create an image for yourself as a spammer and a narcissist incapable of focusing on much more than yourself or things that benefit you rather than your readers. The best way to create value for your readers is to put yourself in their shoes, think like your customer and write about something they care about. As a spiritual entrepreneur this should be easy because your customers and potential customers care about the same things you do. There is a plethora of things you can do which will add value to the lives of your readers whether you are reviewing a book, turning them onto a person, business or product that will assist them in their own endeavors, or even discussing controversial topics such as religion and politics. Your insight is just what is needed to change the world and the lives of your readers.

When your piece has been posted on your blog keep in mind that the process isn't over. You will need to promote it by making sure to post it on your social media pages and scheduling automatic updates for future posts so you won't have to spend your every day posting updates on your pages. As long as the blog post is relevant you can promote it and it will circulate around the internet being read by potential customers & clients. Don't make the mistake of thinking it is only relevant for a short time or that you can't promote it, because as long as there is a link that will take the reader to it you can promote it all you wish. Additionally, you will need to periodically check your blog site for comments and moderate them appropriately. Over time as your blog becomes more and more popular, people will make comments and have discussions on your posts. Make sure you moderate those comments in order to prevent spammers from clogging your feed, and make sure you spend some time responding to those who post comments on your blog. Remember the point of online social media marketing is to establish relationships with your customers and potential customers, and no relationship can be properly nurtured without two-way communication. You will notice me saying this over and over again - SOCIAL is the first word in the phrase "SOCIAL media marketing" for a reason so don't forget it!!

This should help you with a tad bit of insight to get started posting. Good luck and please be sure to let me know if you have any questions by visiting http://www.JennieHowell.com .

Please note: if you've decided to make your blog a podcast blog or a video blog the information above applies equally to those posts it's simply a matter of changing the focus from writing to recording.