If you are a “digital immigrant” (someone over the age of 30), you may think social media is a waste of time. How, after all, can you bring in business when you spend your life online? My response: If you’re not using social media, you’re missing the boat!
Have you been to a networking luncheon? You introduce yourself to person after person, only to find at the end of the meeting that you have a stack of business cards and no appointments. Social media maximizes your time and effort by taking networking one step further. Social media gives you an opportunity to:
Build a community of like-minded people – Say, for example, you’re starting a fitness business. The best thing to do is join existing groups online where others are also into fitness. When I opened my Rochester, New York, USA, office, I didn’t know anyone in the city. I immediately joined Rochester business groups on Facebook and started to reach out to people in those groups. As a result, I now have an ongoing networking group.
Market to that community in a non-salesy way – Use the “one in five” rule. When you’re connecting with your community of like-minded people, talk about yourself or your company only once for every four times you talk about other things (the industry, business news, relevant articles, etc.). In my experience, if you’re too salesy, people will avoid you.
Provide insight and value to the community to position yourself as an expert in your field – Taking the example of the fitness instructor; By leveraging social media you can provide nutrition or fitness tips to your community. By sharing valuable information, you will position yourself as a leader in your field, which can net some great business down the line.
Here are some solid social media tools/Web sites to help you build a community of business contacts:
- Blogs – There are thousands of blogs in every subject area. When you want to find blogs in your area of expertise, Technorati and Blog Catalog are great places to start. Or, consider creating a blog of your own. This will help increase your search engine optimization (SEO) organically, creating more external awareness for you and your company. In addition, consider guest blogging on other sites and linking back to your Web site; this increases site visibility.
- Facebook – It’s not for kids anymore! Facebook’s fastest-growing population is women between the ages of 35 and 55. What I love about Facebook is that you get to know the person behind the suit. When I meet someone, I immediately “friend” them on Facebook and then learn about them. Many of the friends I have on Facebook I’ve never met. We became friends, saw that we have common interests, and as a result, I’ve acquired dozens of business leads.
- Twitter – Twitter is a great tool for getting to know your market and engaging with your customers. Look at Zappos.com. They are constantly engaging their community and responding to requests via Twitter. Twitter is also a great tool for watching trends in any particular industry. Being aware of trends early on enables you to position your product or service ahead of your competition.
- LinkedIn – This site not only increases your SEO, it allows you to get introductions to others who you don’t know but are linked to those in your community. If, for example, you want to get in front of a specific company’s CEO, you can find out if any of your contacts have the CEO on their list. If they do, you can request an introduction. In addition, the LinkedIn groups allow you to network and receive information from others with similar interests.
- Plaxo – One of the things I really like about Plaxo is that you see a pulse stream (status update) of all the people in your community. If someone posted something on Twitter, you will see the posting on Plaxo. Also, every time someone in your community switches jobs or moves, your address book in Microsoft Outlook will automatically be updated. That’s a blessing for any busy entrepreneur!
It’s never too late to get involved in social media. I’ve learned that if you want to build your business with new clients and referrals, social media is an efficient and cost-effective way to get your message out.
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