Social Networking Know-How: The Trust Me Strategy

This is one of the most effective strategies to build a successful social media presence and can be easily translated into offline success as well. The Trust Me Strategy is all about increasing your credibility by providing value content in a consistent and persistent manner. Remember that social media is the BRAN in your marketing plan!

Value content means sharing your expertise and experience widely through nuggets on Twitter, posts on Facebook, comments and discussion posts on LinkedIN, and of course, your blog. You want to establish yourself as a trusted resource and a GoTo Guru. The good news is that you don’t have to know it all, you simply need to know who does and be willing to share both your information as well as theirs to become a one stop resource.

Excellent examples of this at the top of the market include Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop as an aggregator of top stories throughout media; Pete Cashmore’s Mashable featuring everything there is to know about social media. Now, I’m not suggesting that you have to create a site like this, but you want to be the expert in your industry that is sought out for your knowledge, your resources, and your generosity in sharing key information.

The greatest advantage is that once you have established this level of credibility and Trust Me status you will be top of mind to prospects and clients. Even when they don’t need your services or product specifically, they still think of and need you as their GoTo Guru. This means that when they are ready to buy your product and services, you will be positioned as the only one to go to, and you will have established a relationship and created a feeling of reciprocity so you are the no-brainer choice.

Your comments are invited and welcomed!