If you are working and living a life of professional services, you might understand the thought-crushing difficulty of marketing services to the outside world. Services are tricky because you don’t have a physical product to market. No specifications, no pictures and nothing your client can hold onto to understand the total value of what you are selling.
When you’re selling a service, you’re selling ideas. You’re asking a potential client to invest in you and your promise that you’ll add value to their business. Convincing a client to invest can be tricky when everyone has a story of how they’ve paid someone somewhere and were disappointed by the service they received.
However, marketing a professional service is not an exercise in futility. And whilst there might be a lot of different strategies to follow, one of the best tools to use is social media. The secret lies within relationships vs transactions. When you’re buying a product, you like something, pay for it, receive it, ending the transaction. But a professional service is marked by an ongoing relationship. A built partnership between the professional and client, where the client must trust promises made before the relationship starts. So, how can you convince a potential client that you will fulfil your promises and more? You need to showcase your biggest marketing asset: your relationships. And the best way to do this is on social media.
Social media has completely changed the nature of doing business. It’s now easier and less expensive than ever to network, reach potential clients and build new leads. The foundation of social networks comes down to connecting and sharing with people, or in different terms: building relationships. And every facet of your social media platforms should embody this.
So how do you incorporate relationships as the main feature of your social media strategy?
1. Look at your ratio of knowledge, informational and promotional posts.
Everyone knows that one self-absorbed individual who always talks about themselves. How good they are, how they own everything and how they’re always right. It is almost as if no one else in the world can contribute anything worthwhile to life except for them. It could just be a natural reaction, but you don’t really listen to that person talk anymore after a while. And it might sound ridiculous, but there are a lot of companies that fall into the same self-absorbed social media trap. Every post and every image is about how incredible they are, how their service is superior and how no one else can get close to them in any possible way. But unfortunately, these companies are missing one key component of their success: their clients.
Any relationship, including the ones your company is building online, is a give-and-take scenario. Mostly more giving than taking. The rule of thumb is that your promotional posts and services advertising should only be between 10% and 20% of your entire content strategy. The rest of what you do on social media should be sharing knowledge and information, be it your own- or third-party shares—furthermore engaging, seeking out industry leaders and talking to your existing and potential clients alike.
2. Show you’re willing to build up businesses.
This part can hardly be stressed enough; one of the most crucial parts of how you should guide your participation on social media is: be generous with your expertise!
Sharing your knowledge is your own controlled form of word of mouth. By answering frequent industry questions, offering seasoned advice, and debating freely about best practices, you are allowing potential clients to listen in on your way of doing business. In addition, you are showing them your industry knowledge and soothing a bit of disbelief when you talk about what your company can do.
Sharing knowledge counts for your content strategy and engagement. Free advice shows other business owners that you are more interested in seeing them succeed, building up communities and creating a beneficial environment for everyone, more than just making a sale. The moment these participants become overwhelmed and need professional services, chances are they will come to you. Showing someone the ingredients doesn’t mean you’re giving away your secret formula. There’s a reason why you are the expert.
3. Let’s talk about variety.
In the same way that each individual has many sides to their life, every company has so much more to them than just the service they provide.
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You have employees (or maybe even just yourself) responsible for the relationships that make your company a success. Remember, people buy from people, and you need to show your people off.
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You’ve entirely transformed clients’ companies to a point where they can validate your service and what you stand for. Their stories need to be told.
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You’ve built up enough knowledge to help companies avoid mistakes, or you might just read something you know will benefit others in your field. In short, share it.
These days, social media is often the first point of contact for clients to a company. What you share on your platforms is what will either attract potential customers or keep them searching for someone else. Your platform needs to share a holistic view of the entirety of who you are. Social media is more than just a portfolio or a business card; it’s a voyeur’s window into who you are.
The days when social media was mostly seen as something to do on tea breaks are long gone. In a recent study by Mention on social media marketing trends, 68% of B2B companies increased their budgets for social media between 2021 and 2022, showing how important social media has become to the marketing mix. There is no contest, though; harnessing the opportunity social media provides can boost you to a new height and scale of business. Doing social media well will increase your potential leads, boost your digital profile, and give your business credibility, leaving you to do what you do best: build your professional service.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you manage your digital profile, create content for your company or help you to network through social media, we at buu.st would love to help you.
