Step 3 of the Success System for Facebook: Deliver Value Before You Ask For A Sale

There is a proven formula that you can use to market your business on Facebook. One of the key advantages of this system is that you and your staff don’t have to spend hours on Facebook, and you’ll still get great results.

The steps are:

  1. Create a sales-orientated Facebook page.
  2. Find your ideal audience.
  3. Deliver value before you ask for a sales
  4. Get contact information.
  5. Market to these people (sell them something).

In the last article we talked about finding your ideal audience and what’s involved in that.

If you missed the article outlining the entire Success System for Facebook, click here to read it.

Now, we’re moving on to Step 3 of the Facebook Five and covering the process of delivering value before asking for information or a sale from your audience.

The ability to show a post or content of value to an audience and reconnect with it, based on what audience members do, without them providing any information, is a key component of Facebook and this system.

Why Deliver Value First?

The online world is a reflection of what happens when you meet people face-to-face. Whether you meet someone in a casual setting or in a business setting, it’s rare that anyone asks for assistance or a sale from a complete stranger.

I don’t know how you interact with people, but I find that when I meet someone new, I spend time getting to know that person before I ask for anything.

We might meet, introduce ourselves, state what we do, and then talk. Depending on the situation, we may talk about our families, what our companies do, what we do, or our past experiences, and when we find something in common, we will tell stories of our own about that experience.

All of this helps us create a relationship that is a basis for all our future interactions. I’m sure you realize that people do business with people they know, like, and trust, not with entities. It helps if they trust the entity you’re connected to, but their trust in you is just as important.

We need to create this situation online, too. We often forget that behind the screens and the email addresses and the clicks on our web pages is a person. A real person, not an online person. When we’re setting up our systems to sell our products and services, all of us frequently overlook this.

The question is: How do we accomplish this relationship-building online vs. face-to-face?

The Easiest Way To Do This Is To Tell Stories.

Telling stories is a powerful way to communicate with your audience. Plus, everyone loves a good story.

I’m going to suggest telling stories in a video. When people can both see and hear you, they develop trust in you faster.

The challenge with creating a relationship via a video is that you don’t get feedback when you’re creating the relationship. You must create your video and tell your story without seeing the audience members’ reactions to give you clues as to how they’re receiving your information.

This does make the process less efficient although there are some guidelines we’re going to talk about that make it more effective. The advantage is that you only have to create the material once, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people can view the content with no further time commitment from you.

Make your story more effective by making sure it relates to the topic you’re talking about. All of us have stories we like to tell, but in this case, limit your stories to only those that will move your audience that you identified in step 2 closer to you.

Give Your Audience Something Of Value.

You may think what you’re teaching is of value, but the value that your audience members place on the information is what matters. As long as your audience finds it valuable, you will get great results no matter what it costs you to produce.

People don’t care what it costs you, especially compared to what they’re paying; what they care about is what the product does for them. Some of the most effective items I see offered and that I’ve offered cost very little to produce but are of great value to the people receiving them.

Here is a link to one of my most popular early pieces of information. It’s a one-page PDF titled “11 Tips For Creating The Ultimate Facebook Marketing Machine”.  CLICK HERE to snag it for FREE!

What Transformation Are They Getting?

When you’re talking to your audience, audience members don’t care how they’re getting the material. What I mean is it doesn’t matter to them if they’re downloading it or streaming it or reading it or whatever.

What they do care about is what it does for them.

Knowing this, it’s to your benefit to talk about what the results your audience is going to get.

One thought to keep in mind is that you need to make sure you “sell” your material even though it’s free. While your audience isn’t yet paying you with cash for your work, audience members are paying with their attention –  and sometimes that’s harder to get and keep.

People often access great information but don’t consume it. Until they consume what you’re offering, they won’t see how you can help them. Keep selling the value and the transformation they’re going to get from consuming your information.

What Kind Of Value Will You Deliver?

To be effective, you’re going to need to give your audience something more than a 500-word blog post. These are a dime a dozen and can be found anywhere. If you can give your audience a short piece filled with life-changing information, do it, but most effective posts will take more effort from you.

I like to refer to this type of content as “epic content,” which is content that is so valuable that consumers can’t believe it’s free. You need to strive to create and offer content that your audience feels it should be paying for.

Here is a list of some possible ideas for you to consider as you’re creating the content you’re giving away:

  1. Blog Post
    When I write a blog post for this purpose, I fill it with content that others I’ve worked with have found valuable. It usually ends up being longer than my average post. I often combine these with other pieces from this list. When you provide great information along with tools to put the information to use right away, you’re separating yourself from the crowd.
  2. Tools
    These are tools that audience members may not know about. What tools do you use to do the work you do? Providing examples of tools you’ve customized or links to free or inexpensive tools that are used online can be of value to your audience. Another tool that is often valuable is a spreadsheet template set up with a formula that will help your readers complete a task faster or with better results.
  3. Templates
    Can you provide something to your audience members that they can take, customize for themselves with a few tweaks, and use right away? If you can, you have a valuable piece of content that your audience will clamor for. Some examples of this from my business are: Facebook ad templates, how to make headline templates or a blog post template.
  4. Lists
    These don’t have to be long lists. In fact, a one-page list will often get better results than a multipage report, and again, I might use this in conjunction with a blog post related to what I’m talking about in the list. Some examples of popular lists we’ve used are “Top 5 Tools That We Use to Manage Our Social Media Pages” and “3 Best Microphones We Use When Creating Videos With a Smartphone.”
  5. Video
    This is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. Getting in front of a camera and talking to your audience face-to-face creates trust and a bond. Fill the video with good content and you’ll be a hero to your viewers.
  6. Mind Map
    This is a diagram of what you’re doing and the various offshoots of each process. Many people are visually oriented, and this gives them a visual of what you’re describing. Mind maps work well on their own or in combination with a blog post.
  7. Process Map
    Closely related to a mind map, a process map is a visual of an entire process that shows the steps that need to be accomplished and the order in which they must be done. Along with a mind map, process maps are offers to the visual learners in your audience.

What Can You Expect From Giving People Value?

The more value you offer people, the more successful you’ll be when you ask audience members to do anything, such as providing their contact information, scheduling an appointment, visiting your store, or buying something from you online.

You’ll have started establishing a relationship built on more than sand. Your audience members will know that you want them to succeed.

If you look at the most successful Internet marketers, you’ll notice they deliver something of value before they ask for a sale. It’s worked out very well for them, and most of them have profitable businesses and are well thought of by their clients.

Providing an introductory video and another piece of content before you ask your audience for anything will create a strong foundation that you will be able to work from for a long time.

Have a great week!

Brian Hahn

 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Jan 5, 2016 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness

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