Cultivation pools are your Facebook pages, your Twitter profile, it’s the places where clients and potential clients, let’s call them followers, meet you in a social space.
At online cultivation pools you and your followers can create trusting relationships because off very little resistance.
Instead of throwing out bait catching big fish – as you do when you advertise – you invite any and all fish — your followers – to become part of your online cultivation pool. Ok. I know “any and all” is may be over the top but you know what I mean. The cultivation pool is your social media places. These include your blogs, your Facebook, your twitter, your LinkedIn, your YouTube.
Initially people confronted with all these social networks are overwhelmed. However , the number of networks is irrelevant. Rome was built one brick at a time. The real issue is your social media strategy and your goals.
I have a very simple approach when it gets to the strategy:
- You must be seen as the experts. At the moment you are the expert but your expertise is not shared online. Because it’s not published online, in dialog form. Your followers may find it difficult to learn more about your solutions.
- Traditional business is currently not doing enough to educate followers in social ways.
- Many potential clients may not even be able to phrase the questions they have about your methodology. For example: The followers may not even be aware of the problems they face when they implement the latest Human Resources solutions. It’s with education, involvement and discussions that you can cultivate your potential clients. Remember there are many people looking for solutions; they may not be ready to spend millions but by being out there and socially cultivating them in your cultivation networks, you have the opportunity to educate and create trust. This should turn into future business.
- Many businesses have complicated solutions and no amount of advertising will ever be able to explain your methodologies, services or products. This is where simple online tools like blogs can help you create expert status. This is where gurus are created that unconditionally educate followers. Many of these followers become your advocates. And because you have online content they can amplify your message using their own social connections.
- As you will read (in the attached eBooks ) all your potential followers are not at one social network; they are at LinkedIn, they are at Facebook, they are at twitter, they are watching videos and some still use email. You have to go where the people are. —- Today, you don’t have to have a presence at all of these networks. At least not today. —- Keep it simple: You start were it’s easy.
- The plan is that you generate content once and then share it with all your social profiles. Say one of your people create a short video on testimonials from happy clients; she publish it on YouTube, she takes the video code and publish it on her blog, she shares the link to her blog on Facebook and twitter. This is where integration is critical. See attached.
- If she knows what she is doing she can schedule educational updates to all these networks.
- A content generation plan and an agreement with your key staff are critical. They become personal voices for your brand and their own guruships. It’s important that they realise that if they create their own personal brand they will collaboratively create your brand. You can take this a little further and get your followers, associated businesses and associations to create content under your social banner. Then you start winning….because you spread your influence.
The proposal:
First read the attached documents for the following to make more sense.
- Create central niche social networks under one banner. I am busy creating such a network for Tourism and Travel. Let’s call it TTBlogs.Org This is the place where the Travel & Tourism community can be invited to create free blogs, join forums and groups. Assume this is your network: This is where you and you staff start sharing quality content. See the eBook called "Why Businesses Are Today Creating Their Own Niche Social Business Network"
- TTBlogs.Org is integrated with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube and other. Communication between these exists and all social networks are updated with content from (1)
- Content strategies are negotiated with staff. For example; if they are already on Facebook or Twitter then they start there. They agree on the number of updates, the frequency, the involvement with followers and potential followers.
- Then we decide what training is needed. Initially people think content generation is difficult. What they quickly realise is that they are already generating content. They are just not making it publicly available.
- Plans are made to invite clients and potential clients to the social networks. There are few options. You already have a database of contacts; most of them will agree to receive blog updates. These blog updates are like a newsletter, but the blog info is send via email when new info is published to a blog.
- I can foresee an opportunity for business where they teach their community how to use systems like TTBlogs.Org. Teach them how to create their own integrated social media solutions; blogs etc. Again you spread your influence
I have attached three books on social media that I have compiled.
- The Fisherman’s Secret: explaining the philosophy I follow with regards to marketing.
- Why Businesses Are Today Creating Their Own Niche Social Business Network.
- Learn How Traditional Businesses Can Unlock The Success Of Social Marketing. This eBook explains many of the traditional marketing issues, the way and how to establish an integrated social media strategy.