04 – The Social Media Hat

From a business & marketing perspective, what we’re talking about here is personalization at scale. Disney put time and effort into coming up with a clever way to make everyone choosing to celebrate their birthday at a Disney property feel special and welcomed – so much so that they’ll want to experience that again!

While it’s unlikely the nature of your business will allow you to pin badges on your customers just to celebrate their birthday, there are ways that businesses of every size can create personal, 1:1 connections with customers and prospects alike. Determining how to do this successfully and creatively should take time to sort out, so don’t expect any easy solutions from me…

Except I happen to have one for you already. 😉

Despite being touted for years as the tactic businesses need to employ, live video still remains something of a challenge, perhaps even an enigma, to many business owners. Some don’t see the value in taking the time to broadcast a live video, let alone know what they might say. That, plus the uncertainly that comes from trying anything new, creates doubt and anxiety.

Perhaps you can relate to that?

Yet if you were to develop a routine and format for a regular live show, here’s what will happen:

1. You will begin to amass a library of video content which can be viewed, searched and consumed on multiple platforms, as well as repurposed into audio and written content for a podcast or blog (here’s how).
2. You will allow your fans and followers to see you as an individual rather than a brand, which makes it easier to develop personal connections and relationships.

While I’m sure that sounds great… where’s the one-to-one personalization and connection?

That, my friends, lies in the key difference between broadcasting live and simply sharing a recorded video: audience participation.

When you broadcast a live video to Facebook or YouTube or LinkedIn or Periscope or Instagram or TikTok (notice how virtually every platform now supports live video?), you as the broadcaster can see your viewer’s names and comments. You can address them by name, answer questions, bring comments on the screen and, if you really want to, even bring your viewers onto the broadcast with you.

And when you talk directly to someone in your audience, even if it’s just to say Hi and read their comment out loud, you help establish that personal connection we’ve been talking about. You acknowledge them and literally make eye contact – from their perspective. It’s like you’re saying “Happy Birthday!” to your viewers and making them feel welcome and appreciated.

If that’s something you want to learn more about, Chapter 7 in our book, Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing goes into depth, and you should definitely join the Social Media Strategists Facebook Group.

Meanwhile, I have a ton of other great resources and golden nuggets to share with you: