What are the most profitable ways for you to use social networking, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and themed message boards? Among those ways is for you to contribute valuable advice to potential customers. When readers recognize the value, they'll build trust in your expertise and gratitude towards your business. Survey findings say that trust is among the most important determinants of which retailer a consumer selects. And gratitude opens up the consumer to award you their business.
For your advice to end up being seen as valuable, it must be both accurate and actionable. Regarding accuracy, notice how much bogus information appears on social networking sites. Many observers lament how gullible we all must be. They point to how readily so many of us accepted last week that six year old "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heene could be airlifted long distances in what a New York Times op-ed piece later called a "supersized Jiffy Pop bag." And a Newsweek article complains about former television personality Suzanne Somers, with no formal medical or scientific training, spreading wild ideas about preventing and curing cancer.
But it is this supposed gullibility which provides the opportunity for you, the retailer, to use social networking to your advantage. The active exchange of messages on these sites lets you visibly scrub out the nonsense. And that brings us to the second point: Give actionable advice, not just criticisms of what's been posted. If you sell products or services actually shown to help head off cancer, for instance, tell the world what to do.
Findings from consumer psychology research at Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve suggest that social networking users are most likely to put your advice into action when you reflect on the stories of others, refine what's already been posted, and explore alternatives.
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