As any entrepreneur will tell you, and using a Mac, it’s about getting who you are out into the market among the rest of the businesses that you compete against. It’s also about connecting the dots when it comes to knowing your customer.
First. You have to have a product or service that you intend to sell to your ideal customer. This is a given, so I won’t belabor this point.
Second. You need social media to attract your customers to you. If you go to the Cool Infographics site you’ll find lots of sweet ways of showing information that you can learn from. But Willis Wee’s post about one graphic he described social media and how it is changing business communication. As an entrepreneur you need to address, as time and resources permit, to working some of these social media channels. But remember, the channel is NOT the customer, it is just that, a channel. What flows IN the channel is the communication between you and your customers and fans. It’s how you communicate with them.
So where do you start first? I enjoy Derek Sivers blog posts and when you watch his TED talk about How to start a movement he gives you some insights about your first customer. He says basically to connect with them. Hint: It’s the people that are eager to connect with you in the first place, not necessarily those that you think you need to or are chasing. So be careful who you may casually dismiss. Why, because of the next item.
Third. You’re looking for your 1000 fans. The Long Tail is the number of customers as a young business have, and in the beginning very few. The chance they you’ll be another Britney Spears or Rolling Stones or a company like Apple is very slim, sort of the “Top Head” to the left of the of the graph versus the long tail to the right. Not that you can’t or could not get there, but the greater the success the greater the risk and efforts. Most are looking for the just the first sale, but by using the social media tools you can get your 1000 fans that will follow you on a regular basis. The 1000 fans are those that you will have the most influence with and those that will influence you and what you do. You need to be “the farmer” to them and take care of them like an organic farmer does to his land, keep them healthy with health interaction.
Your thoughts?
