They ask, “How can I get “RELEVANT” or “IN MARKET” fans/likes/followers to join/like/follow my fan page/tweets?”
ANSWER: YOU CAN’T TRICK SOCIAL MEDIA! First of all, the “relevant” fans/followers are the ones who WANT to like/follow you! If a human being made the conscious decision to spend time exposing themselves to your brand, why would you ever be so presumptuous to think that they are not “in market” or “relevant”? Do you personally know every one of their friends and know that they are all also not relevant?
Social media is not just about the individual fan or follower! What about all their friends and followers!? They just volunteered to expose your brand to their entire network and you think they might not be worthy!? This is insane! You want EVERY fan/like/follower you can get. Then you should thank the social media god’s (or me lol) for sending them to you!
When you say, “Listen, we only want the local facebook users to like our page. We don’t want to pay someone to get us fans that are ‘out of our market’.” That is just like saying, “We only want customers who live on ‘A street’ because we believe they are the only ones who will spend money with us.” What about the people on B Street? Why have you decided for them and guaranteed that they and the people they know will never spend their money on your brand? How do you know that they don’t influence any of the people that live on A street?
A Los Angeles Honda Dealer asked me the same question before they began a facebook campaign with me. I live in Marlborough, MA. I am a fan of Scott Robinson Honda’s facebook page, the dealer in this example. If they chose to exclude me as a “relevant” fan they would be missing out on the 27 friends I have who live in the Los Angeles area that respect my opinion when it comes to automotive related topics. Why do they respect my opinion? Because I’ve been in the car business for 19 years.
If I were to tell one of my LA friends that Scott Robinson Honda is a great Honda Dealer to buy from because they have a great reputation for providing excellent customer service, then that could potentially provide Scott Robinson Honda with more business than someone who lives a mile away but prefer’s to drive Toyota’s and is actually from Wisconsin and doesn’t really know anyone else in the LA area.
The mistake traditional marketing professionals make is to think that they need to “control” how social media works or “predetermine” the “important” demographics. In social media your demographic is ANYONE who wants to give you their money or pass along your brand to other people within their circle of influence.
EVERYONE in social media is relevant. EVERYONE who takes the time to like your page of follow your tweet is enhancing and increasing your brand awareness. You should personally thank every one of them! Don’t make this mistake!