Hi,
Brand loyalty. It's a funny thing, but do you know my favourite cold (fizzy) drink is Coke -- and it has been since I was a nipper. And the shocking thing...I've never been to the Coca-Cola website in the 30 years I've been drinking Coke.
And do you know what's caused such brand loyalty in me? It's not because they have a Facebook 'fan' page, or because they Tweet, but because I like their product. I find it tasty, and it quenches my thirst. [And, yes, I can always tell when someone tries to palm me off with Pepsi.]
That's the kind of brand loyalty I want from my customers.
My worry about the social media craze at the moment, is that you tend to end up spending all your time networking with people who are mainly offering the same service as you, which is fine, but I've got forums like this to do that on.
Do businesses really use Facebook or Twitter to find professional services? In my experience, they come through personal recommendations or via a search engine.
I'm not averse to promoting my business, but I do want to ensure I'm not wasting my time and effort by promoting it somewhere my prospective clients won't be looking.
And I keep in touch with my clients personally, not via some generic 'social media' platform. So once I have signed up a client why would they need to follow me on a Facebook fan page?
I'd be interested to hear from anyone on this list who has gained a long-term client as a direct result of having a Facebook fan page, or for that matter, via Twitter.
And before someone posts it; yes, I do have a Facebook page. I'm also on Twitter and LinkedIn, and various business forums and networking platforms.
Are you spending more time on social media than actually conducting business or improving your services?
I try to spend my 'quiet' moments honing my current skills
or learning about new technology and thinking about how it can be used to improve my services or those of my clients.
And a bit off topic, but only slightly
The Internet is becoming cluttered with repetitive content and, worse still, a plethora of banal comments and advice
. I'd hate the Internet to suffer from over capacity and start affecting Internet-based businesses, such as the virtual assistant industry.
Don't get me wrong, I know getting your business name out there is essential, but perhaps we all need to
stop,
re-read, and
consider whether the information we're just about to post is useful, is well presented, and has not been provided elsewhere in much more detail, and by someone with vast experience and knoweldge in the subject at hand. Basically, we all need to know when to do this
.
So, is having a Facebook 'fan' page a productive marketing tool for people involved in the virtual assistant industry? I'd like to hear your success stories.
Cheers,
Tracy
Re: How to get "Fans" for my facebook page
It's a message you can send to people on Twitter, but there's a limit on the characters, just as there is a limit to a post. You can set up a direct message to be sent to your new followers. This can be done on SocialOomph. :idea3: Let me know if you need help on how to do this. 
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