Actionable Tips Inspired By “New Relationship Marketing” Thanks, Mari!

In a previous article, I advised every passionate content marketer to become a restless bee that tastes the best of the best and finally comes up with a wholesome honey.

If you asked me about my favorite experts and what I like most about each of them, I would say…

• Jay Baer is an “Aha!” expert. I always learn something new when I read his blog
• I love Chris Brogan’s effortless authenticity
• Mari Smith is a success-driven expert who leads by example
• And the list goes on and on…(I will be writing a future tribute post about influential social media figures and the precious lessons I learned from each of them)

Recently, I was so fortunate to come across the second chapter of Mari Smith‘s latest book The New Relationship Marketing.

The chapter was fittingly titled: “The New Business Skills Everyone Needs”. As you would expect from Mari, she promised and over-delivered. The chapter was a joy to read.

Today’s article will be divided into 3 sections:

1. Summary of the key takeaways of Mari’s chapter
2. The one tip that I have taken to heart and applied immediately
3. A Garious-flavored tip inspired by Mari’s book!

Are you fired up with enthusiasm? I know I have that effect! Let’s get started…

Key Takeaways Of Mari’s Chapter

1. Build Empathy

Mari recommends taking the following easy, yet effective steps to build empathy with your social network:

• Find people’s first names and use them in communication
• Dig for an interesting fact about your contact and bring it up naturally
• Humanize your business by adding your signature at the end of all Facebook posts that you make from your business page

2. Express Genuine Care

Mari presented Gary Vaynerchuk as the “epitome of genuine”. She noted that when asked to justify how he monetized social media, Gary’s response was: “Because I care.”

3. Give to Others Without Having an Agenda

Do NOT try to squeeze a sale out of everyone you interact with on social media! Give selflessly and your happy network will pay you back generously. Think of it as “the law of Karma or law of reciprocity in action.”

4. Have an “Inclusive Attitude”

Think win/win and always consider what’s in it for the other person.

5. Use Discernment

Cherry-pick people you associate with. Think strategic! As Mari beautifully sums it up, you need to be “particularly discerning people and brands (1) whose content you choose to share online, (2) with whom you choose to interact, and (3) with whom you choose to associate.”

6. Communicate Clearly and Concisely

Make sure to send clear messages and minimize using “text talk” – dialogues that are commonly used in text-messaging that include abbreviations and a mix of alphanumeric characters.

7. Check Spelling and Grammar

Mari indicated that Michael Stelzner, the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com, filters all guest blog posts submitted for his site through 5 editors! You must be this meticulous about your spelling and grammar. (Mike’s greatest asset in my opinion is that he also leads by example. I detailed that in a Garious review of his book “Launch”.)

8. Take Radical Responsibility

“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge” – Dr. Phil

If something went wrong in your business, step up to the plate immediately and claim full responsibility to rectify it.

I’ve barely touched the surface here! The book is loaded with great tips. I particularly loved the section about acceptable Twitter abbreviations. I will be using it as a guide from now on. What are you waiting for? Go grab your free copy. I am not going anywhere!

Welcome back! Can you guess…

The One Tip That I Have Taken To Heart And Applied Immediately

I decided to take few moments to search for people’s real names and use them on Twitter.  Back in the day, I was content with @mentions but Mari’s strong case prompted me to include a person’s first name even if I had to “shrink” the tweet a bit.  This tip is very simple but its effect is so profound especially if you are striking up a conversation with a new person.

For example, this is how we used to send tweets thanking people that we feature in our monthly top 20 picks post:

Thx @juntajoe your @Junta42 article was featured in #Gariouscom Nov. Top 20 list. Keep up the good work!

After Mari’s advice,  revamped the tweet and will be something like:

@juntajoe Thanks, Joe. Your @Junta42 article was featured in #Gariouscom Nov. Top 20 list. Keep up the good work!

This brings us to…

Garious “Bonus” Tip!

When you read a book loaded with actionable tips as in Mari’s case, have an open document handy. And when you come across a tip that resonates with you, don’t just say: Wow I like this.  Stop reading and get writing! Take some time to think of specific ways to apply this tip to your business and write them down immediately then on to the next tip.

This is how you can make the most out of any how-to content you come across and that’s exactly what I did with Mari’s chapter.

Mari’s tip of using people’s first names to build rapport with them is not new to the marketing world. For example, email marketing softwares were designed to automatically include first names of mailing list subscribers in the email subject.

What Mari did was taking a timeless tip and thinking of creative ways to apply it to social media. That’s what makes her book invaluable.

Mari has a track record of using social media innovatively. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think she was the first who hosted live webinars on Facebook and conducted Q&A sessions on her Facebook page.

As I said earlier, Mari’s greatest asset is that she walks the talk. Trust me, I am not saying that because she’s a fellow Canadian! Yes, I am biased to Canadians,  but she is still awesome. Don’t you agree?

Which tip(s) resonated with you the most and what are some of the exact steps you are going to take to make them work for your business? Your valuable contribution is much appreciated.