Your immediate answer to the question may have been the classic marketing maxim Do good and talk about it and you’d be right. We’ll get back to this later on in the chapter. But first, when you want to draw attention to your business, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- What does my business do?
- How do I do it?
- Why do I do it?
Every company knows what it does, such as selling products or services. Unlike many other enterprises, some actually know exactly how they do it. But very few businesses can tell you why they do what they do. Are they only interested in making as much profit as possible? Or do they find a deeper meaning in their work? The question why describes your purpose or conviction and is the essential reason your company exists. You really need to be able to answer this question, to be clear about your personal motivation as it is the essence of what you communicate to potential customers and your employees.
In Questions 21 and 22, we will go into detail about the increasing numbers of employees no longer satisfied with simply doing as they’re told, holding any ole job just to earn cash. Nowadays, people want their work to make sense. A company’s sense and purpose is an increasingly significant factor in job selection, hence the term purpose driven organizations. These days, prospective employees will often decide whether to work for you or not based on your business’s environmental impact, social benefit and/ or sustainability. Choosing to work for a company they can identify with makes these employees powerful market ambassadors. Their faith in their employer’s products or services is reflected in enthusiastic conversations and positive ratings on employee portals. Ideally, without lifting a finger, your company not only gains a qualified applicant, you also gain a priceless public image with charismatic potential. In contrast, dissatisfied employees spreading their discontent over social media can seriously damage your business by attracting negative attention.
Apropos social media: When you aim to get your business out there, a detailed social media concept should be a matter of course. This not only includes adapting your website – a precise description of what you company offers – to your profiles on Xing, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc., but also providing an exact description of your target group to initiate activity in relevant, related networks. Users 18 and under prefer Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, while you will find 40+ executives and managers primarily on LinkedIn or Xing. If you cater to a younger target group, you should keep tabs on the constant shift in networks with new ones opening up while others become old hat.
Furthermore, both your website and social media profile must be updated regularly with new content. It’s a tell-tale sign when your last Twitter post was two months ago. Be creative! Post your company’s news – introduce your new trainee, describe a successfully completed apprenticeship or advanced learning program, honor your director’s service anniversary, birthdays, your summer festival and/ or team events at the end of the year. Give a glimpse behind the scenes, enlightening readers on how your products are made. Anything attractive, from sweepstakes, virtual Advent calendars to rebate campaigns, has an influence when it has the right zing. Skillful use of storytelling, presenting your news and information in an entertaining manner, arouses users’ curiosity and they become fans or followers of your sites.
Fans and followers are undoubtedly a good indication of your range. However, you increase your continuity by building relationships with those promoting you. For some time now, social media has ceased to be a one-way communication channel where you post and people read. Therefore, we recommend taking every possible chance to interact with users, responding to comments or complaints quickly, generating personal contact. A rapid, simple reply can stabilize your customer’s bond and deepen satisfaction. You can measure your strategy by monitoring user behavior, keeping an eye on changing follower numbers, which posts have reached the most users and how often content is shared. This data allows you to steadily improve your social media concept and adapt to your target group’s needs. Social media engagement is more than a sideline, so you should calculate with the time and money it will cost you. This means your employee(s) responsible for social media must have the necessary competence to render professional content. For heaven’s sake, avoid opening a social media account with poor photos or videos! If you don’t have a social media expert in your ranks, you must definitely call in an external service provider.
You’ll also need stamina and patience. Social media activities do not render short-term results. Your first goal is to get your company out there, to increase recognition of your name, your products and your services. If you’re hoping to win new clients via social media, be prepared for a marathon, not a 50-yard dash. It’s quite possible, though, that you will soon be able to generate leads – an interested party who voluntarily releases her contact data to your company’s site. For example, when I network with someone on Xing or follow someone on Facebook, my data, or at least part of it, is released to that site.
An excerpt from the book “Leadership is More – 27 Questions We Too Can Answer” written by Gianni, Jan & Marcello Liscia, 2022
