We all can’t have little “monsters” following us around admiring our every move and decision, but the power of a loyal fan in indisputable. As Lady Gaga well knows, it’s critical she connect with her audience and continually give them something new to, well, go gaga over.
Your business should also be connecting with your target audience and building raving fans. Granted it’s hard to make a venting system spell-binding with an Instagram or portray your accounting services on Pinterest as the next cool thing, but thousands of businesses figure out ways each day to wow their fans using technology, creativity, and social media to solve problems and address pain points.
Creating a WOW Factor
Let’s take egg salad for example. Does it have a “wow” factor? Not particularly, but when paired with an edible flower (photo below; used with permission) one could argue a case for Instagram or Pinterest. I’m a fan of egg salad and creative ideas, so when my friend Audrey at Heirlooms Tea Room shared this photo from Tea Paparazzo it grabbed my attention like a Lady Gaga meat dress.
Cows are Cool Topics Too!
How on earth does a farmer make planting corn or feeding cows seem exciting and new? The answer includes a parody of a popular tune, a video camera and some willing youth, as the Peterson Farm Brothers did in Kansas . The result turned a lot of heads and put modern agriculture in the lime-light, as new found fans shared the YouTube video and mainstream media scrambled to cover the story. The target market of farmers is basically all consumers in the United States, and the Peterson’s found a way to connect with 6.5 million of us, didn’t they?!
People Passionate About Plumbers
Let’s take one more example and talk about plumbers on social media. How would a plumber connect with fans on social media? Is it important? What if I told you this topic is well debated and discussed online, and there are some very passionate people out there who believe they would ultimately choose to let someone into their home based on recommendations of others and how the plumber demonstrates his or her relationships through social media. In one discussion I found, someone mention he wasn’t looking for detailed plumbing pictures on the Facebook page or how-to articles, but rather seeing that the plumber (whom he was considering) recently ran a 5K with his family, gave back to the community or posted pictures with other customers showing the relationships and integrity of the plumber. Simple things are much more powerful than we think, and connecting with our fans can be as simple as showing the human side of our businesses, no matter what industry.
How have you connected with your fans? Share an example that has worked well for you.
At Procare Software we work with child care businesses to help them track enrollment, parents, accounting etc… So we recently started reaching out to our child care customers via facebook. We try to keep marketing messages to a minimum and simply try to engage with them. We solicit product feedback in a fun way, for instance we asked last week “If you had a magic wand, what feature would you add to our product”. We were surprised by the genuine responses!
Excellent example. Yes, when you ask for feedback it is interesting what people will say. What is your Facebook page? I’d like to come on over.