Making Use of Chat Programs to Build Credibility
People do love to chat! ICQ was the first chat program but it certainly wasn’t the last and since that time chat programs have become much more sophisticated and much easier to use.
One of the things that are so amazing about Internet chat is that people will tell perfect strangers their deepest secrets and reveal their most pressing concerns to them…. things that they wouldn’t dream of discussing with their significant other or their closest friends. It’s the fact that they can remain anonymous, I think, that causes this unrestrained frankness on Internet chat.
You can make use of this phenomenon to help establish and build your credibility. You should, of course, use your own identity and join chat sessions, provide good and accurate information and thereby, help to establish yourself as a guru and gain the desired credibility. I have known of some marketers who joined chat sessions under assumed identities and recommended themselves and their products and services to others. That seems a bit underhanded but it could be effective.
You can set up chat pre-arranged chat sessions with your established customers to answer questions and give detailed instructions for the use of your products or services. People like direct contact. What they like even more is being able to give their direct input to the makers of products and services that they use.
During chat sessions with customers when you receive a compliment on your product or service, be sure to ask, “May I quote you”? Then follow through and publish the quote in the report of the chat session on your website. You will have made a good will ambassador for yourself and increased your credibility… all free of charge. It doesn’t get any better than that.