Connect. Engage. Respond.

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It sounds like a war cry – but this is NOT about battle. It’s about business!

In a management book about STARBUCKS, I first read this 3 word mantra – and instantly saw how perfectly it applies to social marketing and business building online, in any niche or area.

Intuitively following this approach has kept me excited and enthused about working in my online business as an Internet infopreneur, as I enter my FOURTEENTH year of operation in a niche where attrition happens at a shocking rate, and 99 of every 100 players drop-out in under 3 years!

The first part of the 3-word formula is easy and logical. That’s why many people are in a mad rush to build lists, grow them as big as possible and try to reach the greatest number of people with their message.

But that mindless activity is also at the root of most failure – because the mantra is NOT… connect, sell, profit.

Engaging your audience is hard work. If it comes natural to you, you’re lucky. If you enjoy it, your audience will feel the joy. If you work at it, you’ll get better.

Still, merely engaging isn’t enough in an ‘attention economy’ where limited time is wooed by multiple alternatives.

To stand out as special, worthy of being noticed, and better still, listened to, you need to respond.

Respond intelligently and with empathy, not in an automatic, impersonal or cold and hostile corporate style.

Respond promptly and with courtesy, reaching out to your listener with useful, helpful, interesting or entertaining value.

Respond with integrity and honesty, creating trust and confidence in someone who might become a customer, a client, a partner – and in time, an evangelist.

Social media makes this possible for everyone. Yet it is NOT intuitively obvious what to do.

First, there is a lot of confusion about the tools. Is Facebook the best? Or does Twitter trump the others? How about LinkedIn? And don’t forget MySpace! There are many myths about social media, I explore them further on this lens here.

Next, there is the issue of resource limitation. For most small business owners and start up entrepreneurs, there is an opportunity cost involved. Which to try, which to shelve for later, which to ignore? It’s a tough choice.

Finally, not many have or follow an integrated strategy to tap the power of social marketing. Of the 3 things, this is the most vital – because it governs other choices. My short guide, SOCIAL WINS, offers a primer to evolve your own.

After studying your options, define your strategy and pick your tools. Decide how best to use them. Focus on a few, scale up if you can, but all the while, keep the powerful 3-word mantra firmly in mind… because it is the key to social marketing success.

Connect. Engage. Respond.

Do this right, and you can’t help winning!