Sound n' Sight

Social Media Marketers: Are you talking to your fans or with them?

The following is a guest blog article by Lindsay Fultz. If you are interested in guest blogging for Sound n’ Sight, please read my guest blogging guidelines .

It's not hard to identify the person you'd want to work with in the above video. Erin Brockovich knows her clients, their phone numbers, the details of their daily lives, their hopes and dreams. If any company knew me the way Erin Brockovich knows her clients, I would be a customer, new brand ambassador...a friend for life.

Whatever happened to Quality over Quantity? I’ve noticed as of late, an alarming rate of Facebook fan pages popping up with only Twitter bits as updates and when you fan their pages they spam you with countless emails, webinars, seminars and live event invitations which are taking place clear across the country. Whatever happened to actively listening and engaging your online community? Or creating a one of a kind customer service experience? Facebook pages seem to be the new domain frontier. Facebook fan pages, come get ‘em while they’re hot!

Lately I have been getting fan page request after request and the fan page postings are completely one sided Twitter stream posts with sales funnel links to 0 fan interaction.

 (Photo by Esteban Hadji)

 Twitter and Facebook are two totally different social networking sites with different demographics. If you are trying to make money off Facebook and you think these shortcuts won't hurt, you need to re-evaluate your approach.

Attention Facebook spammers!

The “hide” button has become my new BFF. Yes, there actually is a “hide” button on Facebook. By not actively engaging your online community you are actually doing more harm than good to your business brand reputation because you are impersonal and annoying and people are “hiding” you. If you are managing a Facebook page for your company, you must use it as a tool for interacting with your customers.That's what it's designed for. It may take a bit more time and effort to actively engage your social media community, rather than spam them, but there's help out there.

Hootesuite, is one of several all in one social media dashboards available and is great for busy people managing multiple social networking accounts. Currently you can monitor Facebook profiles, fan pages, Twitter, Wordpress, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping and Myspace. (However PLEASE do not update all sites at once with the same information.)

If knowledge is what you are lacking then I suggest you consider actively listening to your community. You’ll be amazed by how much you will learn about the needs of the people in your own industry. Some of the listening tools you might consider are Twitter Search, Google Alerts and Social Mention. They all allow you to enter words or phrases that you would like to monitor.

People want to work with people they know and trust. The only way to get to know people in your online communities is by talking with them. Notice I did not say TO them. Engaging with people builds rapport, which leads to trust. Rapport + Trust = Referrals. This will not happen overnight and your engaging needs to be genuine. You are transparent online.

Facebook spammers: Would you approach someone on the street or knock on someone’s door and yell “BUY MY STUFF” in their face? Unless you like doors slamming in your face, I'm guessing not. Call to action: In hopes of cutting down on Facebook spamming, let's help them out. What are some ways you actively engage your online community?

Lindsay Fultz is the obsessive compulsive Manager of Sales and New Media Marketing at Grosh Scenic Rentals a scenic backdrop and drapery rental company located in Hollywood, CA . When she is not cracking the whip at Grosh, she also coaches Track and Field and Cross Country at a local high school and enjoys cooking vegan/vegetarian dishes while listening to Aerosmith.

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