Social media sells

Lee Odden grew up in a small Minnesota town, picking rocks out of fields in the summer.

Today he owns Top Rank Marketing in Minneapolis, and is a new author of the book Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing.  

On June 1, Odden was the guest speaker at the monthly Social Media Breakfast, Redwood Area, discussing ways social media and the internet can be used to sell products.

One tidbit to get around: Google sites handle 88 billion searcher per month, worldwide.

With that much information out there, how do you stand out in selling your product.

Odden suggested some ways to attract people to your website:

• “Facts tell, stories sell.” What’s the story behind your product?

• The main points to always have at the front of your mind on social media: what do you want to be known for? What solutions do you offer?

• How can you motivate people to act on the information you give them? By “act,” that can mean to buy your product, or to pass the word along to other potential customers.

• “More isn’t better. Better is better.” Simply producing more content won’t make you stand out.

Odden started by imagining a product he wanted to sell: house-cleaning robots.

Now, how to make yourself stand out in the vast house-cleaning robot market?

Odden suggested various ways to proceed, all based on two simple questions: who are your customers, and what do they actually want?

If you’ve got that figured out, it’s just a matter of tailoring your sales pitch to the people most likely to be receptive to it.

“Marketers think they can put a plan together, put it in action, and it will be perfect,” Odden said, adding, “It never is.”

Instead, a good marketer needs to constantly monitor the plan’s progress, and be read to tweak it at a moment’s notice.

Odden gave an example of how being tuned into social media builds a wave of interest.

Odden was going on a trip to New York, and promised his son a fun day.

The problem is, Odden didn’t know of any kid-friendly places in New York to visit.

His solution: he went back and forth between Facebook, Twitter, and Google, asking the simple question: what are some kid friendly places in New York?

He very quickly racked up a list of suggestions from friends, relatives, and complete strangers.

After having a fun day with his son, Odden was able to document the day’s experiences on his personal blog, drawing even more notice to his website.

Odden’s final takeaway: discover what your customers care about, and stay on top of social media to let them know what you’re all about.