Doctor's Life Magazine, Tampa Bay Doctor's Life Tampa Bay Vol. 2 Issue 1, 2014 | Page 21

relationship wouldn’t work. The same holds true for business
relationships, they too are based on the “what’s in it for me”
mentality. Are you providing what your client needs? How do you
know?
Besides person-to-person interactions or speaking over the
phone, social media is an extremely effective tool in furthering the
client-business relationship. Let’s take a look at how Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, FourSquare or any other
platform can help you develop better relationships with your
current and future clients, other professionals, and leaders in your
industry.
As we mentioned, people share their experiences, opinions,
and even suggestions—good or bad. Now, they’re doing it
online, with 757 million daily active users on Facebook, 400
million daily Tweets, and over 259 million LinkedIn members,
45 million users on Foursquare, and 117 million monthly visits
to Yelp. People are talking!
The benefit for you is that since
these platforms are public, you have the
ability to join in on the conversation.
Better yet, if you are proactive, you can
develop relationships with these people
that are lasting and beneficial to your
bottom line. Remember, when you’re
in a relationship with someone, they
are much more likely to be loyal to you
and tell their friends about you. A loyal
customer is your best sales person!
Logically, some of the keys to a good
personal relationship are; taking an
interest, listening, meeting basic needs,
having positive interactions, and good
problem solving skills. Are you doing
this with your business relationships?
Let’s look at each of these in terms
of social media. Are you posting on
social media with the goal of helping
people to solve problems rather than
gain sales? A great quote is, “People
don’t want quarter-inch drills—they
want quarter-inch holes” by Ted
Levitt. This means that people do not
necessarily pay for a “product” or
“service,” they pay for the solution to a
problem. In fact, what we do in business is rent those products and
services to our clients to get jobs done in their lives.
Have you developed good “listening skills” online? One of
my favorite true stories involves a famous steak house. A man
had a same-day round trip flight from New Jersey to Tampa for a
business meeting. While waiting to take off in Tampa that evening,
as a joke he tweeted: “Hey @Mortons - can you meet me at
Newark airport with a porterhouse when I land in two hours? K,
thanks. :)” And guess what? They did. You may have heard of this
very true story—it generated a lot of press, and a LOT of business
for the steakhouse, not to mention some very loyal customers!
(Read more here: bit.ly/MortonsCRM ). What can you do to be
sure you’re “listening?”
Obviously, part of listening includes handling in-person
complaints, suggestions, and compliments. But as we mentioned,
people may be more comfortable simply posting these things
online. How can you catch them?

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF IDEAS!

• Go to Google and search for, and set up, alerts. Enter all of
the keywords and key phrases that describe you and your business,
things like your name, company name, specialty, location, ZIP
code, and even specific search queries that people may enter to
find a business like yours. (You may even want to set up alerts for
your competition to see what they’re up to!)
• To find conversations on Twitter that you might want to
be involved with, go to twitter.com/search-advanced. Enter the
criteria you are looking for, for example if you sold cars, you
might search for the key phrase: “I need a new car” and your ZIP
code. You’d be surprised at how many entries there are there.
Responding to that tweet could have excellent results! Take a look,
and see how you might modify it for your business! Another great
tool is TweetDeck, a very inexpensive tool to help you manage
your social media.
• On LinkedIn there are a
plethora of groups that you can
join that are dedicated to your
specific niche. Find the groups
that are right for you by typing
in your keywords and start some
discussions, or get involved with
some current discussions! It will
elevate your status as an expert in
your field. It’s a great networking
platform that can be dialed in to
your target audience and location.
• Look in on Foursquare and
Yelp to see that your information
is there, and updated—then check
in from time to time to see what
people are saying.

People share their
experiences, opinions, and
even suggestions—good or
bad. Now, they’re doing it
online, wi Ѡ