Ted Rubin is the Chief Social Marketing Officer at OpenSky and also one of the early members of The Social CMO Crew! Based on his previous work at E.L.F. Cosmetics and now at Open Sky, Ted is leading the way and becoming clearly recognized as a leader in the emerging field of Social Media Relationship Marketing and the rapidly growing phenomena of advocacy triggered sales known as Relationship Commerce. Below is a Question and Answer piece first published earlier this week by SMM Magazine.
1: Relationships: how do you build them online?
I believe everything we do in our personal and business lives revolves around relationships—now more than ever. With effort, an online relationship may begin from the request of a Facebook friend or following someone on Twitter. But make no mistake—that initial request or follow will never create the relationship. Trust is built upon interaction, when you’re true to your word, authentic, and genuine. To build relationships online, you (as a brand or individual) have to offer value in return.