How to Create a Successful Social Media Marketing Plan

Social Media Marketing  - 3 necessary paradigm shifts you and your client must make for success.

I am just home from attending the Mentor With Mari VIP Retreat in San Diego CA! What an incredible opportunity it was to rub shoulders with 17 other committed Social Media evangelists like myself. And then to be led by none other than Mari Smith, whom Fast Company has dubbed the Pied Piper of Facebook, I cannot express my gratitude!

Wow… I believe this event was life changing not only for each of our businesses but for our personal growth as well. Mari has been championing her special concept of Relationship Marketing for over 10 years. In fact she jokes that she has become an overnight success 10 years in the making.

News Flash! Keep an eye out for Mari’s new book titled,

The New Relationship Marketing: How To  Build A Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using The Social Web due out September 13, 2011

It is amazing to me that even before Facebook and Twitter were available Mari Smith was teaching about the concepts of Relationship Marketing and how they would change the marketing world for the better. I love her concepts of relationship marketing because it places the emphasis on the consumer and what they truly want and need.

During our retreat I learned about three distinct paradigm shifts that we and our clients must embrace before we can create a successful Social Media Marketing Plan.

First, the relationships must always come first. Your intention says it all. Are you creating a false sense of a relationship only to sell your products and services or are you developing a relationship with people who actually need access to what you are selling? If the relationship is real, you will not need to “sell” them at all because they will naturally come to you pre-sold.

Secondly, Social Media is a tool not a magic bullet. This is a difficult concept for most of us as social media evangelists because we are so excited by the possibilities we see.  Social Media is only a tool and the value of a tool depends on how it is used. There are many people jumping on the social media bandwagon right now because it is fashionable or cool. We must be careful, as evangelists, not to push people into Social Media before they are ready because if they do not get the results they expect they will only generate negative press for the industry.

Before Social Media Marketing can be effective your business needs to address all traditional marketing pieces such as a clear niche, target market and unique selling proposition.

Finally, Social Media Marketing is still sales so if you are uncomfortable with that concept you will need to get over it to be successful. (This is the one lesson I had the most problems with but thanks to Debbie White I am beginning to understand the concept). The fact is, we are all selling ourselves all the time if we are in business. If we don’t need to make sales then we have a hobby not a business.

The difference between ethical and unethical selling is in your intention. Do you really have a product or service that is the answer to a problem that will help your prospect or are you only trying to persuade them to purchase your product so you can benefit your bottom line?

I want to thank everyone from the Mari Smith VIP Retreat for your part in my education process and most of all I want to thank Mari for bringing us all together for those 3 magical days in San Diego CA.

Lauren

p.s. I would love if all the other Mari mentees could share in the comments below what your most valuable takeaway was from our time together at the retreat.