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Before the days of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, and so on, companies created static websites. In the early days of the internet, these websites were navigational, meaning they offered static information through one-way information delivery. As the internet evolved, business websites became transactional, and consumers could actually make purchases online. However, online communication remained primarily one-way. Businesses talked “at” consumers.
Everything changed with social media.
Suddenly, the world of communication between businesses and consumers was wide open. The audience of interested consumers that businesses paid hundreds, thousands, and millions of dollars to get in front of in the past was talking about products, brands, and companies on the social web—and companies could talk directly with those consumers.
In Content Marketing for Dummies, I wrote, “The most successful business websites are now customer-centric, and the content published is created with consumers’ wants, needs, and expectations as the top priorities.” I also warned, “Consumers are fickle and impatient. You need to give them information that makes them smarter customers and helps them in multiple aspects of their lives. Create a website and other branded online destinations (i.e., social media profiles, content, and conversations) that are customer-centric. In every branded interaction, give customers a reason to want to visit your website or social media profiles and engage with you and your content by adding value to the online conversation. A destination-centric content and social media strategy that focuses more on your business than on your target audience won’t get the job done anymore.”
One of the basic tenets of marketing is this: Consumers build brands, not companies. If your content and conversations through social media aren’t customer-centric, your target audience is unlikely to care about them. That’s why social media participation shouldn’t be self-promotional. A fundamental rule of copywriting is to understand that no one cares about you. They care about how your product or service is going to help them or make their lives better or easier so they can decide if they’re going to pull out their wallets and spend their hard-earned money on it. That means your content, copy, and communications must be laser-focused on your target customers’ real and perceived needs and wants.
Don’t publish anything on your branded social media destinations because you like it. Ask yourself this question first: “Is this piece of content or conversation useful or meaningful to my target customers?” If the answer is no, think twice before you hit the Publish button. If the answer is yes, pat yourself on the back and click Publish, because you’ve got a customer-centric and shareworthy piece of content that can drive word-of-mouth marketing and successfully build your brand.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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So simple, yet so important — focus on your audience and what they want. Great reminder.
Thank you, Steve!
What a joy to read the brilliant insights of Susan Gunelius. This is a sterling example of Susan at her best. Why? Because everyone else will tell you what to do and even how to do it but you walk away that unsatisfied feeling and lack of conviction because you are driving blind. They didn’t tell you why and you were not convinced. Not so with Susan. Here is proof. Susan, in the above article, put me a customer first in the following ways:
By fulfilling my real needs: 1. She explained something I needed to know. Namely, that my customers don’t care about me, thank you. 2, Now I know why they act like they don’t care about me–they really don’t.
3. So, and I needed this, now I can stop wasting my time telling them what I think is interesting. 4. Real and perceived needs–this helps me too. 5. One simple question to keep me on track. 6. Where to go to learn more–Susan’s books. She is simply the best marketing and branding expert I know and I hope you realize this too.
Thank you Susan for making this point so clear–“no one cares about you…”. It is so obvious but so many business owners miss the point.