There are all sorts of information about how to create compelling social media marketing campaigns. Combined with SEO and online advertising, businesses stand the chance to become as successful as they set their minds to. There is one factor that determines that ultimate success and while marketing “know how” adds to that, it is the final determiner about what sort of potential your business will reach. That most important factor is likability.
When speaking of likability, this is not about how nice your business is, how many freebies you give away or how engaged you are with charitable causes. Instead it is the kind of likable that is about being perceived as genuine and trustworthy. In fact, if you are genuine and can create a high level of trust, you don’t have to go out of your way to win popularity contests, although working on that will add icing to the cake.
Being likable in a way that builds trust will help your business overcome the believability crisis that leaves potential customers from buying because without trust, there is no sale. Unfortunately, consumers are more careful than ever now days to make a purchase because of the high percentage of them who have had a bad experience, especially with buying online.
Obviously to increase your business’s likability, you must tell the truth and even if that puts a duller spin on your product or service, telling the truth will allow customers to know you will be a good bet. If your product is so poor that you must lie about it in order to sell it, then go back to the drawing board and recreate it in a way that the truth can be more exciting.
Along with telling the truth you can increase your likability in showing how unselfish your business is. That’s in part where freebies can come into play, but make sure they have an end result such as gaining email addresses for your mailing list. More importantly though is being unselfish with time and helpful answers. Businesses that spend time on social media accounts answering questions for people who aren’t yet customers in an unselfish way of sharing information are perceived as caring and showing you care will go a long way in winning business.
As your likability grows through coming across as honest in all dealings and demonstrating how unselfish and caring your business is, keep your sales pitches simple, clear and direct. Then sit back and keep an eye on your analytics because you are sure to see a pleasant increase in engagement and conversions.
