Many business owners find social media challenging because they don’t see how to make money off of it. There’s no immediate return on investment. And as a result, many are quick to give up. But if they would just be patient, the rewards can be great. The key to making money online, especially through social media, is to generate engagement. Once you can engage your audience, it’s much easier to turn them into fans who will buy your products and services, and recommend you to others.
That’s the premise of the new book, “The Fan Factor – 20 Slam Dunk Secrets to Engage Your Online Audience” by Meredith Oliver of Creating Wow Communications.
Social media gives every business the opportunity to connect with customers and potential customers. These people are going to talk about you with or without your participation. Doesn’t it make sense to be part of the conversation? The Fan Factor is designed for serious sales and marketing professionals, and the author’s goal is to teach you how to grow your business and reach new heights with Internet marketing done right.
What to Expect
The book begins with a look at how difficult it is to engage consumers today because they are so bombarded by different media. The challenge for marketers is trying to find a way to reach though consumers’ distraction and engage them.
Then, the book moves into the “Game Plan.” The author walks you through a definition of a fan and what a fan wants. A nice touch here is that the book includes questions for you to answer such as:
- Which aspect(s) of the DNA of a sports fan do you see in your fans?
- How can you use that insight to increase your sales?
- What changes do you need to make to your marketing (if any) to connect more to your fans?
Part 3 of the book gets into the meat – delivering 20 “slam dunk” secrets for fan engagement. The secrets are divided into 5 groups that business owners and marketers should focus on – identify, self-esteem, escapism, state change and sense of belonging.
At the end of each secret, Meredith gives you a series of questions to answer to help you formulate a game plan for your social media marketing. The last part of the book includes information on equipment a marketer needs, such as using a social media dashboard to monitor and manage various social networking profiles, as well as the importance of analytics to track fan engagement.
Overall, this is an excellent book with a ton of useful tips and advice. If I had to nitpick about anything, it would be that the book only includes examples from major brands. These companies have huge marketing budgets and staff to monitor and engage fans on social media effectively. It would have been nice to include examples from smaller companies that aren’t household names, but have successfully used social media to grow their businesses.
I have known Meredith Oliver for over 3 years. I heard her give a social media presentation at WOAMTEC, a women’s networking group that we both belong to, and was impressed with her knowledge and sense of humor! She is a warm-hearted, down-to-earth person, and that personality comes across in The Fan Factor. I’m also grateful to Meredith because she is one of my first clients. She hired me to write blog articles for her clients, which I still enjoy doing today.
