\nIf you have daily contact with your customers, you can easily ask them to tell their friends about your business. Other business owners look to create networks on social media sites like Linked In,
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<\/a>Facebook, and Twitter. I\u2019ve recently chatted with one kitchen store owner, Lisa Hartwick<\/a>, who keeps a computer terminal at the register that customers can use to sign up for Hartwick\u2019s Facebook fan page and Twitter feed.<\/p>\nHartwick was posting flyers in her store advertising the social media sites, but an employee recommended that add the ease of using the computer terminal. She reports that many people log on and sign up while waiting for their purchases to be gift-wrapped or while they\u2019re waiting for an employee to find a special order in the back of the store.<\/p>\n
Make It Worth Their While<\/strong> Some business people take all new sign ups and do a random drawing to award a nice gift, such as an iPod, to new users. Another idea is to do a two-fer\u2026if one of your \u2018fans\u2019 or \u2018followers\u2019 gets another person to sign up for your Facebook page or Twitter feed, both parties get a nice discount.<\/p>\n Make It Interesting<\/strong> If people agree with you, they\u2019re likely to respond. If they don\u2019t agree with you, they\u2019re also likely to respond. A realtor in Salt Lake City, Dave Robinson<\/a>, told me that sometimes when he was just posting good things, he\u2019d get a few posts here and there.<\/p>\n But one time he talked about something controversial: how a client that he was working with bought a home without using him after he had invested quite a bit of work, and he got a lot of people fired up\u2026and got a lot of responses in the meantime. Dave says he tries to keep his posts mostly positive and enthusiastic, but tosses in something controversial every so often to stir up passion among his network.<\/p>\n These ideas are all fairly simple and require little effort to implement. Do you have any ideas to share on how to build your network? I\u2019d love to hear them!<\/p>\n – Kim<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAn incentive to join a network is always a good thing. I\u2019ve seen examples of restaurants giving away free meals or salons giving away free haircuts to the 500th follower on Facebook or Twitter. This gives someone a nice surprise, and people get excited when someone they know gets mentioned on a Facebook page or Twitter feed.<\/p>\n
\nOnce people are in your network, communicate with them and give them interesting information to share with their friends and family. One way to do this is to be somewhat controversial in your messages. And when I say controversial, I don\u2019t mean to jump into debates on religion or politics. What I would suggest is take an aspect of your business and comment on it in a way that shows your point of view.<\/p>\n
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