When companies think of staff or customers posting on their social media channels, they become fearful. What will be said? Will this hurt my business? How can I make it stop if it gets out of hand?
Phil Pallen, CEO of Phil Pallen Collective and the host of the Brand Therapy podcast joins Tricia and me in this episode to help you overcome these fears and see how social media can be an incredible sales tool, allowing you to use your team members and customers as ambassadors for your brand.
Here are some takeaways he shared:
1. Branding is simply recreating the in-person experience online, as closely as possible.
You should want to humanize your marketing, keeping in mind that social media types might change over the years, but they will always come down to interactions between humans. Don’t make it overwhelming and complicated.
Branding is based on how we communicate, how we connect, how we love, and how we find passion.
2. When it comes to marketing, make it a conversation, not a broadcast.
Listen to your customers. Really listen to them! Don’t be afraid to have a conversation about their experiences, interests, and life priorities.
When you do, your social media becomes less and less about traditional demographics and more about qualitative features and characteristics of your customers. Your customers will have interesting things to say if you will listen.
And when you do something interesting and creative, that's what people remember, and when people remember, that's branding.
3. Listen to yourself.
It’s all about content and personality. The content is what you say and the personality is the unique way only you can say it.
Phil uses a transcription tool called Otter that allows you to see your conversations and how you are reacting to different things in real-time. When you capture everything in this way, you’ll always be able to find little nuggets of wisdom that you might have forgotten about before. You can use those as social media posts!
Turn your socials into sales.
This week’s download is Phil Pallen’s popular download 100 Evergreen Content Ideas to Post. If you’re ready to create brand ambassadors and leverage social media for sales, this will ensure you never have to worry about what to post next.
Here are some follow-up questions for you and your team:
How do you feel about your customers, employees and leadership as brand ambassadors for your business right now?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your brand when it comes to social media?
Have you ever felt self-serving for posting something about yourself or company? Did Phil’s advice help? If so, in what way?
What are some current examples of brand ambassadors in your company?