If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 3+ years using Social Media, it’s this:
When it comes to being read and relevant, it’s all about value.
Of course, “value” means something different to every person looking for it. And some “value targets” are easier to hit than others.
But if there’s a pattern to be found here, it’s this: before you can hit your bullseye with consistency, you have to throw a lot of darts.
So it stands to reason that those who start on the outside of the target board and work their way in stand a much better chance of achieving their ultimate value goal, whatever that may be.
I’ve illustrated my target progressions above. I’d suspect that yours is similar, although the exact values and the number and size of the circles (i.e. the ease of achievement) may vary.
My first ring is “Keep My Faith in Humanity” - that is, I value things like common courtesy, respect, hellos, goodbyes, and general adherence to the Golden Rule. A big circle because it’s pretty easy to hit, and it doesn’t need a whole lot of substance behind it. Note: this needs to be personalized more often than not, however – automated replies are better than none, but not much better.
Next is “Make Me Laugh (or Sing)” – I highly value the ability to laugh and take a lighthearted view of things. I also love music and it’s ability to effect mood. So, if you post or tweet something that can make me smile (or reach for my iPod), you are hitting that target. This is also fairly easy to do, since there are a zillion jokes and songs out there. But it’s good practice for the next level.
Information is important to me – and so, the ability to “Inform Me” is an excellent value target. I can’t read every blog or every newspaper out there, so when someone points me to something that I ultimately find interesting, they’ve certainly created good value. The degree of difficulty has certainly gone up at this point, because to do this the provider has had to learn a few things about me.
Which leads to the next level, “Teach Me”. I love to learn new stuff, and if by informing me you also add to my knowledge base or understanding in a meaningful way, you have hit quite a value target. You are establishing yourself as a reliable source of learning – and you are ready to zero in a little further.
Now that you’ve piqued my interest in what you have to say by being polite, funny, and most informative, you can “Inspire and Challenge Me” . You post or Tweet something that is so good that it spurs me to action, or really forces me to sit back and reexamine myself. That’s quite a degree of difficulty, because I have to trust that you are being sincere, and not calculating, or not being provocative for its own sake (or to drum up attention to yourself).
When trust is established you can go for my ultimate value target – to “Sell Me” something. Your product, your service, your book – whatever it is. Because you’ve thrown enough value darts at me you will begin to hit the center mark with your pitches. Because I believe what you have to say, I’ll either buy from you, or, if it’s really a product I already have or don’t need, I’d be happy to recommend it to somebody else.
Can someone hit my center target right off the bat, or with only a few hits off-center? Just like darts, its always possible, but unless it’s the best written and presented sales pitch I’ve ever read, I’ll ignore it. (Kinda sounds like direct mail or e-mail and Twitter spamming, doesn’t it?).
Finding and hitting all of my value targets from the outside in takes a lot more work, but it’s really worth it. Ask all the folks I’ve met through Social Media that I have bought something from, or hired as consultants.
And as I’ve noted, I bet there are a lot of other people like me out there.
Darts, anyone? 
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At first, I read this and thought that maybe it should be the inverse, but I see your point. In the level of relationship-building, selling is probably the deepest, if done right. I think it all comes down to how you and I view selling versus others. We think of sales as a relationship-based thing. Others might think you’ve got this skewed because they’re willing to sell anyone anything, regardless of fit.
What do you think?
The problem is that people have to allow themselves to be sold, it’s not something you can do honestly.
I think that by offering value (inspiration/information) with the pitch is the honest approach as an honest sale is likely to be more than a one time thing!
The first thing you have to agree upon is that your intent using social media is to sell.
In my opinion, there’s still a large percentage of people who aren’t participating in a calculated way but genuinely enjoy social interaction.
So, their target may look different.
I had the same initial response as Chris– not quite sure that ’selling’ should be at the heart of Social Media. After all, there is a lot of social media at work out there trying to do something other/in addition to getting people to purchase stuff or to recommend purchases to others.
What I would prefer as the central value is not “sell me” but rather “change or engage my behavior”. That behavior change could include buying something, but it could also include actions like doing something more sustainably, acting more authentically, or filling in a questionnaire.
With influencing someone’s behavior as the goal of social media, we could put together the commercial and non-commercial targets into the same conceptual system. With that, it might be easier to share insights across for profit and for purpose social media advocates.
I like your progression. Two questions for you. First, have you ever marked a “timeline” for how long of an investment folks have to make from first ring to bullseye?
And second, how do you know when you have permission to move from one ring to the next?
Would love to hear your thoughts on that too.
Thx
@TomMartin
The “Sell Me” could also be “Make Me Act” to include actions other than buying — sending an email to legislators, etc. As you said in the inspire/challenge me section, first you have to be inspired before you act when it comes to someone else’s idea. Does that fit, Terry? But putting “sell me” in the center is a great lesson for those who don’t get it — like people who try to sell you with their first follow-thank-you DM in Twitter, for example. Thanks for the visual, good guidance for a new social media expat like me.
Great visual Terry. The one thing you have clearly demonstrated is that using social media to influence behavior is a process, which takes time. There is no silver bullet or dart which hits the center target. It requires the potential influencer to get to know their target market and engage in it as a participant.
I also find myself agreeing with Chris Brogan and with CV Harquall. People are normally so turned off by the word “sales” that changing the final aim of this process to “modify behavior” might be better.
Thanks Terry
Hey Terry, very informative. I like the progression toward the bulls-eye, but I would change the title of the center circle to “Let me buy something”. When you are able to provide enough value and increase their desire for more, your SM “friends” will turn themselves into your customers.
Great post. I’m sure many traditional etailers would say that’s a long and expensive road to revenue. At http://www.energycircle.com, our view is that our social media elements–blogs, content, twitter, etc–serve to expose our humanity (in whatever way it gets interpreted), invite deeper exploration, hopefully with a laugh and some inspiration, and then a sale. Particularly for things like home energy efficiency products,that have an inherent educational component, we think it is a key differentiator. It definitely requires a long term view, and faith in lifetime customer value vs a quickie adwords conversion, but we think its the right strategy.
Well said. If I were to pare this down to a single phrase, it would be, “add value”. It’ a simple idea that’s so easy to lose sight of. Thanks for the reminder.
Well said. If I were to pare this down to a single phrase, it would be, “add value”. It’ a simple idea that’s so easy to lose sight of. Thanks for the reminder.
Terry, you hit the bullseye with this post. Many of us love the social aspect of social media but also desire to utilize the tools in our business goals. The ease of technology can lull us into believing that we can skip the steps required to build a relationship – and selling, or business for that matter is all about relationship building. Technology does not excuse getting to know others, listening, creating value. Your post is an insightful reminder that whether the handshake is real or virtual it’s still personal.
In response to @TomMartin.
Firstly I think you lay out all of your message for all segments and let the public find their own way. Working at the pace of the consumer allows freedom for users to adopt your message at will rather than when told. Also, writing the messaging in one project allows for coherency and flow that may get lost trying to pace it for each segment.
If the message is already out there, like train tracks, allowing consumers to discover it at their own pace, the permission question is somewhat moot. However it would be useful to know where on the track most consumers are so a pace of adoption may be measured. By monitoring, blogs, tweets and searches a pattern should emerge which will indicate where the bulk of consumers are on their journey. Knowing where the consumers are guides how you respond to their blogs and tweets allowing you to enhance and elongate the message cycle.
Terry,
Really great post, and I know I’m late to the game in getting to read it, but I think you hit the nail on the head in that if you’re using SM tools for business its important to build relationships and community first. Too many people make the mistake of using SM services as strictly a sales tool. Even on the web, its still all about relationships. So thank you for a fantastic post.