Today’s article from Digital Brand Marketing discusses a very important issue and a concern for many business owners or marketing leaders who have started to use social media. The issue is communicating with customer, while avoiding spam and hard selling techniques through social media.

There are about 53% of adults who connect with a brand online through social media (according to the Nielsen 2011 social media report referenced in the article).  This kind of person to business connection is one that is opt-in and can be terminated at any time.  A simple click of the ‘unfollow’ or ‘unlike’ button ends that relationship you worked so hard to acquire in the first place.

When consumers connect with a brand online you may wonder what they expect and want out of the relationship.  Do they want to hear about the brand’s products and services? Do they want deals? Do they want information? What about casual small talk?

This article gets into what users want and how to focus on building a relationship first, so that sales and referrals can follow. Part of building a relationship can include offering the occasional exclusive offer or deal for customers who connect or engage with you in different ways online. It can also mean providing valuable information that your target customers care about. Or photos and videos they’ll enjoy checking out.

Just keep in mind it is about relationship and value first and sales second.

Read the full article from Digital Brand Marketing here.