Ladders – What Are They, Why Should You And How Do You Take Part?

I’d pinged about a ladder I like on Facebook and then I got the above question from another fabulous business woman.

The idea of ladders is that you find a ladder and within the set time frame (usually a day through to about 11pm) you add your details to the ladder. The idea being that you go down the ladder liking everyone else on the ladder and in return they will like you. So its a givers gain approach.

It could look something like this (because I’m a friendly kinda gal, I like that to come over in all of my marketing. I always say “Hi” first, well I would if I met these great folk in person wouldn’t I?);

The good thing about ladders is it allows you to increase your likes for your page. Which looks good and means more people are seeing what you put out there. But the bad thing is it could be people just liking you for the sake of liking you. You’ve no way of knowing if these new likes are going to result in any sales. Or if they are even your target audience. On the other hand if they have liked you because they met you, or connected on Twitter for instance you know that person could potentially be becoming a warm lead.

So although it’s a great way to get known, I feel you still need to learn how to grow your likes on your page organically and with good marketing. Because otherwise it’s just a confidence boost and makes you feel like you are not posting into the ethos with no one reading anything you write.

For the seasoned networker there can also be the issue of “Does this mean that I’m automatically approving of this persons products and services?” I’ve seen a good few discussions about this very matter. And for me I’d say I like everyone’s page, because I want to be helpful and useful to people, which I feel online is a good place to start. If we were networking in person I’d share good contacts and people to connect with, so is Liking an extension of this? I like to think so.

Another great thing is that when you pop back, and you’ve got to pop back to like people lower down the ladder, you end up in great conversations, which for me, time and time again have led to sales. So there their true power can lie for you too.

So they have their pros and their cons.

But I definitely recommend you get involved because they really can be good for business.

I love #Bizicolchester and #Biziessex for starters and I regularly speak for networking groups and room fulls of business women where I will be sharing a ton more ideas on how to make sales with social media. If you feel your group would like an interactive, fun session that works let me know.