The importance and care of building a social selling community
A successful B2B approach is all about building and nurturing meaningful long-term relationships, and there is no better place to do that than in your own community. Another advantage of communities is that their members give you essential insights. This knowledge helps marketers keep up to date with evolving trends, hot topics, and customer challenges to refine their overall marketing strategy.
But how do you tackle the task of building a community on social media needed? If you have ever asked yourself this question, we have some exciting insights to share with you from one of our Straight to Business podcast episodes. We sat with Ronnell Richards - the host of the thriving Business and Bourbon community- to discuss the importance of social media communities. Read our key takeaways below:
What were some of the most important takeaways you learned early in your career in sales and business?
"If I were to think back about what I learned, that has really stuck with me throughout my whole career, it would probably be to make an impact with people through emotion," Ronnell states. In business, especially B2B, there has been an emphasis on figures, analytics, and numbers. This focus has created a lack of emotion in business communication. While statistics are critical, it is also crucial to remember that a person on the other side has hopes, fears, and dreams. And if you can tap into that and craft solutions that either help them achieve those things or overcome those fears, you will be more successful.
"If your decisions are only made on numbers and analytics, that creates an environment where you are not creating sticky customers," Ronnell explains. You leverage emotion by understanding or getting beyond the numbers to what matters to people. The key to having long-term success is building these types of connections. When you make that sort of impact with someone, that is someone that will do business with you, not just today, but well into the future.
How do you capture people's attention in today's business world compared to how you did it back in the day?
Back in the day, salespeople could influence customers in person, but now most of the influence comes before the sales pitch. People conduct their own research at home by reading product reviews and seeking recommendations before deciding and purchasing anything. This newfound initiative means online communities can play a significant role in this process. Many brands use these communities to familiarize prospective customers with their products, trust their brand, and build stronger and more personal relationships with current customers.
"I think it starts with understanding that people consume in different ways — your marketing strategy has to be multi-pronged," Ronnel states. There are several ways of marketing and connecting, which adds more opportunities to leveraging online communities. While this variation creates opportunities, it also allows a higher chance of failing. It is crucial to engage with your community; there is no waiting for success. Social media is an extremely fast-paced setting, so you must do more and put the time in. It is vital to consistently invest in your social networks to get something out of it. Your profile reflects yourself so that nothing can happen without your own work.
Community building can be aggressive. You may have to make phone calls, send direct messages, and do various other things to further build and nurture your community. On top of that, you must build with intention. This means building with people that will get value out of our network and community, as well as people align with.
"You really have put blinders on," Ronnell advises. There is a balance between knowing what other people are doing so you can be better at what you are doing and getting corrupted and distracted by seeing all of it. Before you start building a community, ask yourself if you will be a consumer or a creator.
If you decide to be a creator, you must be smart about your consumption. Create your own content and limit the amount of stuff that you consume. Limiting consumption allows your content to stay authentic, crucial in building better relationships, connecting with people more organically, and curating people aligned with you.
What can we expect from the Business and Bourbon community?
"It's an extension of me. It came from a desire to share authentic wisdom and experience," Ronnell explains. Ronnell was disillusioned by seeing people give sage wisdom to others without experience or credentials. He decided to create a platform where he could share his and others' stories and present them in a way that connected with people, the way that I would connect with someone at the end of the day, having a cocktail. This platform became Business and Bourbon. I like to put people on our platform who have wisdom to share, are willing to be vulnerable, and want to help others.
Ronnell's community talks both about strategies, as well as personal struggles. He finds it essential that we share our experiences and take inspiration from others. The showing of his life, difficulties, and vulnerabilities attracted more people with whom he could have a genuine connection. "Part of the heart of what we do is sharing and giving without expectation of return," Ronnell explains, "and I'm the first one to do that."
How do you walk the line between building the community and just pitching?
It is essential to be intentional about what you want when doing business. You could send automated messages to 1000 people that are managers in whatever industry, but you will not align with all 1000 of them. "Instead, take the time to do database work, look at people's profiles, make sure that you're connecting with people that you're uniquely qualified to serve, and be real," Ronnell advises, "you respect people's time and get to the point." Sometimes, there's no issue with pitching in a DM immediately. However, no matter if it's pitching or community building, not taking the time to research and reach out randomly is a waste of time.
How can you start a community, and how can social media help?
Starting a community will take time and consistency. When building anything, you've got to think about it in terms of one person at a time, which is problematic in this world of metrics. We believe real influencers have a million followers, but an authentic influencer is someone that influences even one person.
"Success is one person at a time," Ronnell states. "Be you, wherever you are, because there are billions of people out there who will connect with you." You don't need to do business with everyone, and you don't need to be liked by everyone. You just need the right people, your people. So, focus on really being you, leaning into that, and you'll grow a community of like-minded people. Don't worry about numbers; instead, create an identity into what makes you and your company unique, what your company culture is, and all those sorts of things. That's what you should be sharing.
What is your secret between normal life and community building?
"The secret is, I'm a work in progress," Ronnell states. On top of being an engineer, Ronnell is a parent and focuses on both his physical and mental health. However, he has also found his community helpful in improving his everyday life. When dealing with mental burdens, keeping everything in your head is very easy. However, Ronnell found that sharing his burdens with his community relieved the pressure of his own.
In conclusion, creating a community means being genuine and intentional. It's important to reach out to others; waiting for people to come to you can be wasteful, but make sure they are people who you align with. A parting piece of advice Ronnell leaves for us is the advice to only create a community if you have the time. While intending to build a community is great, you must also have the time and commitment to do so. Forging communities means looking out for both you and others, and without time and dedication, a community can fall flat with no support.