If you are new to social media and how to market yourself online then look no further. (If however, you are an expert on the subject then please read on and then share your expertise as a comment below as it will be greatly received by both myself and my subscribers!)
Over the next few weeks I am going to take you on a beginner’s journey through the ever changing muddy waters of social media.
I admit that I am no expert in social media and would never claim to be because there are already so many experts on the subject. However, I do know what it is like to battle through the learning process and have had days when I have felt that I was bashing my head against the wall and wishing that technology didn’t have to advance quite so fast which is why I want to share some of what I have learnt with you so that you can start to use social media to your advantage.
Over the first few weeks I will share my experiences of online marketing strategies and social media tools before ending with some tips on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which really did use to be a deep, dark hole for me!
These days, whether you are looking for a new job or trying to get more clients, you have to be highly visible online. Just think about the last time you did a search on Google, what did you type in?
People type into Google the keywords to their problem so if they are to find you, you need to create content and value and your message must be delivered multiple times in order for people to remember you and hopefully start to trust you.
The first place to start then is to Google your own or your companies name and make sure that you use quotes for example, “Anne Galloway”, and see what page your name appears on and how often – you might be in for a surprise.
If you are already on Facebook, take a note of the number of friends you have, or followers for your business, along with the number of followers you have on LinkedIn and Twitter. It is important to be aware that quantity is not as important as the quality of your followers – you can have 1000’s of followers but none of them become clients whereas it just needs 1 contact to get you your dream job or to become your best client. However, you need to know where you are starting from in order to measure the success of any social media strategy.
There are basically 3 steps to creating online visibility which results in more opportunities:
- Use a blog to set the stage.
- Use Facebook in strategic ways.
- Use automated services to ensure that blog posts and announcements are going through twitter regularly.
The key is to share information. A recent survey showed that 10-20 hours per week actively working on your visibility strategy leads to the most rewards in terms of opportunity. I have to admit that I do not spend quite as much time as that and have but you do need to commit time consistently for social media if you are to attract more leads and opportunities.
Next week we’ll look at creating your online brand but until then be sure to subscribe, if you haven’t already done so, to get these and more tips direct to your email.
