Yesterday I attended a great webinar on retail hosted by Paul Greenberg, founder of online retail giant Deals Direct on the topic of social media and mCommerce.
Paul was joined in the webinar by his social media guy Tzvi Balbin (that’s his actual title!) to explain amongst other things how Deals Direct has been able to boost its Facebook “likers” from 10,000 to 80,000 in the last 12 months.
Paul and Tzvi had lots of great ideas – you can download the webinar recording here to check it out.
But plenty of start-ups asked Tzvi a more basic question: How do I build followers when I am just getting started?
This is clearly a big challenge. While Facebook and its 750 million members present a huge opportunity for start-ups, the challenge is getting anyone to stop on your page.
But Tzvi says that instead of targeting lots of people they don’t know, start with the people you already have a connection with – suppliers, customers, friends, family, investors and other stakeholders.
To get your following off the ground use your normal communication methods to let people know about your social media channels.
Stick your Facebook and Twitter details on your email signatures, on your invoices, on your account statements, on your business cards, on your newsletters and catalogues. Stick a Facebook plug-in on your website and consider whether you can change your packaging to include your social media details.
To really ramp things up, send a special email blast to your database offering them a discount or some sort of incentive to follow you on Twitter and Facebook.
You can get your numbers up quickly if you really put some thought in.
Get it done – today!
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