She said “I tried what you said about having fun. So I started to post fun questions and silly pictures, and it worked. Suddenly people started talking to me and paying attention to what I was saying. I am engaging with my customers like I never have before!”
It’s comments like this from my customers that make me feel good about what I do. One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make in networks such as Facebook for example, is that they forget to have fun. One of my most oft repeated pieces of advice that I give people is ‘people don’t want to do business with business, they want to do business with people.’ That means making a personal connection with people. Having a conversation with people. Sharing things that THEY care about, not things that YOU care about. And that’s hard, because we all want to grow our business, increase sales, and make more money. And therein lies the secret: if you want to make more money, then have more fun.
Wait a minute, Steve. That doesn’t make sense, right? You don’t make more money by having fun… you have to work to make more money. Right? Hear me out.
Think about it. For small businesses especially, your lifeblood is attracting customers and keeping those customers. It costs way too much money to get a new customer as opposed to keeping a customer. How do you keep them? You make a personal connection with them so that they feel they are doing business with someone they know, and someone they trust. I pay to get my car repaired at a place that is a little higher than other places around town. I get my hair cut with the same guy every time, even though he charges more than most. I do these things because these people are my friends. I trust them. We have, at least on some level, a ‘relationship’.
So I want you to try a little experiment for me. The next time you get ready to post something on your Facebook page about your latest sale, or a boring announcement of some kind, stop. Instead, post something fun. For example, if it’s hot outside today, ask your fans what their favorite flavor of popsicle is. Or maybe when your cat drags something into the house that looks like it came out of a horror movie, take a picture and tell you fans about it. Just trust me, everything will work out. Just do it.
Then come back here and tell me what happened. I think you’ll be quite surprised just how much business you’ll end up getting by just having fun. Trust me, people don’t want to do business with business. They want to do business with people. So quit acting like a business and act like a person. You’ll thank me.