Jay Baer was invited to present at the Social Media Club of Dallas on November 13. He was also there to promote his new book, Youtility. During his presentation, Jay offers some excellent advice on how to fully utilize social media as a means to assist customers rather than pushing a sales pitch at them. Helping and providing information will bring a positive perception to your brand and new customers. Below are some tweets I curated thanks to Social Media Club members that attended. I hope you find these very useful. You can follow Jay Baer and more of his insights on Twitter at @jaybaer.

• Brands want to be associated with a solution: Helping not selling.
• Content is fire. Social is gasoline.
• You can’t just rely on data. Business insights are still the king.
• You can sell something and make a customer today, or help someone and make a customer for life.
• Finding ways to help — even if they aren’t your customers or looking for your business! — is Youtility marketing.
• Help people when they need help, without expectation of an immediate return.
• Create marketing people want, not marketing that companies think they need.
• It’s not all about winning dollars today, it’s about winning hearts and minds eventually. Be a farmer, not just a hunter.
• Customers aren’t stupid…if you are of value customers will reward you.
• When you lead customers to water, you don’t have to hold their head under water until they buy.
• Youtility is required today because personal and commercial relationships have converged in unprecedented way.
• Our personal and commercial lives have merged.
• Are you helping? Or selling? Do you think you’re helpful but your message is just noise? Know the two letter difference.
• Everything you post in social media either builds your brand, or detracts from it.
• It’s not whether or not your company is better AT MARKETING, it’s whether or not you are more interesting than everything TO ME.
• People are totally selfish and possessive about their newsfeed. They evaluate how your brand “takes up their time and space.”
• You are competing for attention not against other companies but everything.
• More realistic than “go viral” is to just be useful.
• If you create Youtility, your customers will keep you close.
• Friend-of-mind awareness is replacing top-of-mind awareness. Are you being useful or helpful? If not, people will ignore you.
• “‘Be viral” is very seductive advice. Being useful is more realistic advice.
• We have so many options. What makes you special? You may stand out because…you’re actually helping, not just selling.
• If you make a bad decision (about your sweater, hotel, car, etc) you’re just lazy. You have all the info you need in your pocket.
• We need more information to make a purchase decision because we have more information to make a decision.
• Smartphones give all consumers access to all information they need for a purchase.
• People don’t want to hear you talk. They want their question answered & problem solved.
• Are you helping or pushing an agenda? When was the last time you had a positive experience with a brand that wasn’t just seeking their own good?
• We are the most connected generation, who doesn’t make face-to-face contact a priority before they’ve consulted their search bar.
• Self-serve information is an important part of Youtility marketing.
• Questions create uncertainty & that keeps people’s money in their pockets so answer questions.
• Relationships are created with information not people.
• On average customers have over 70% of the purchase decision made in B2B sales before contacting a sales rep.
• Trust is the prism through which all business success must pass. Without trust you have NOTHING.
• The truth always comes out. Be transparent.
• Run towards tough questions not away from them.
• You’re better off being massively useful once.
• Than being kinda useful all the time.
• Brands with guts and transparency will make real connections.
• Worry less about selling better and more about teaching better.
• Find a way to insert yourself organically, helpfully into the lives of prospective customers.
• Transcend the transaction: How else can you HELP? Where are your customers or what are they doing besides using your product?
• Advertising isn’t your enemy; it’s your enabler.
• Social media is about winning hearts and minds one at a time.
• Content marketing is not a replacement for good old advertising. You need an integrated strategy.
• Market your marketing. Treat it like a product.
• Social media is critical.

Related articles

• Jay Baer: Create Marketing So Good, People Would Pay For It (shoutlet.com)
• Should Brands Use Social Media to be Useful? (sysomos.com)
• Youtility: useful for your brand, or not? (wheresthesausage.typepad.com)
• Show 439 – Smart Marketing is about Help not Hype (theengagingbrand.com)
• 2 Simple But Brilliant Content Marketing Examples from the Great White North (convinceandconvert.com)
• Are You Missing Youtility’s Biggest Marketing Opportunity? (convinceandconvert.com)
• You Ask, Experts Answer: Email or Social Media? (getresponse.com)