Secrets to Social Media Enchantment

In a recent HubSpot webinar, social media fanatic Guy Kawasaki talked with attendees about the value of social media enchantment, “a process of creating a relationship with people that is deep and delightful, mutually beneficial, and also voluntary.”

You can watch the webinar here, but if you’re short on time, check out Kawasaki’s best strategies and tips below.

3 Pillars of Enchantment

You need a firm foundation on which to build all of your social media interactions, whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, or any other platform. The pillars listed here should guide your every move on social media:

1. Always be likeable - Have a bright smile, a strong virtual handshake, a humble sense of humor and self, and treat your followers as equals. Do not equate this with being a pushover.
2. Always be trustworthy - Be willing to give trust, and work hard to earn it in return. Default to a “Yes” attitude, and always be looking for ways to help your followers.
3. Always be DICEE - It’s much easier to enchant people with great products and services than with bad ones. Make sure that your product/service and interactions are Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering, and Elegant.

Email Enchantment

Bet you didn’t think that emails count as social media. But if a prospect fills out your website’s contact form asking about your services, the interaction you have is indeed social, and may be the deciding factor in whether or not that prospect becomes a customer.

• Answer your emails within 48 hours. If you do nothing else, do this. It’s the simplest way to enchant people, many of whom are tired of sending emails into the void and never hearing back.
• Treat everyone equally. Answer an email from Bob the Plumber as quickly as you would an email from the President of the United States.
• Be consistent. Answer quickly and equally all the time.

Twitter Enchantment

Let’s be honest: there’s a lot of junk on Twitter. “Stuck in line at the bank.” “This hangnail really hurts.” The easiest way to separate yourself from the crowd and gain more followers is to be interesting.

• Always be linking - Twitter is a linking economy. Share links to your own content, of course, but also take time to find great stuff written by others that you know would be of interest to your followers. Not sure how to consistently be sharing? Use tools like StumbleUpon, SmartBrief, or Alltop to help you find relevant content to tweet.
• Always be monitoring - What are people saying about your or your business? Are they asking you questions that you’re missing because you’re not monitoring interaction? Use tools like Hibari (a Mac-only app), HootSuite, or TweetRiver to track when someone asks you a question, mentions you or your company, or Retweets your links.

Facebook Enchantment

When you visit the Digett Facebook page, you’ll notice that we post pictures as often as possible. This is because Facebook is a photo economy.

• Always be photographing - Share pictures of your company office, of the CEO’s birthday party, an Instagram from your Team Lunch. Take pictures of amazing booths at a tradeshow, or of the great view from your new offices. Take time to crop and color-correct photos so they look their best.
• Always be commenting - Join in on conversations, answer questions, and generally be present. Not only will people appreciate your answering questions, they will also see that you are really there, not just broadcasting your content and never truly interacting. This builds trust and gives your followers constant good brand experiences.

Final tips

Kawasaki closed out the webinar with a few additional tips that you should keep in mind when interacting with followers on any social media platform.

1. Always be thanking - Thank quickly, thank everyone, and do it often.
2. Always be repeating - People check social media platforms on different days and times; if you post a link or a status update that gets great interaction (lots of clicks, Retweets, or comments), post it again at a later time or date. Use a link shortener like bit.ly to monitor how many clicks each link gets — if the amount of clicks drops off significantly with each repeat, move on to something else.
3. Always be disclosing - If you share information about a product you created, or about a company you have advised or invested in, disclose that. Be transparent.
4. Always be restraining - Resist the urge to constantly self-promote. Earn the right to do so by consistently providing excellent content.
5. Always be grinding - Be willing to do the hard, dirty work of consistently researching, sharing, monitoring, commenting, responding, and thanking.

Social media is all about developing relationships with people; if the relationships you create are backed by positive brand experiences and consistently strengthened by your providing helpful, relevant content, you will have a steady stream of new customers who are completely enchanted.

[Image: Marty]