3 Tips For Social Media Networking
So you’ve created a profile on twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn (or all three), and started generating interest online for your brand or service. You send out a few tweets while having your morning coffee. Your LinkedIn profile is near completion and you’re finally satisfied with the profile picture. Some days, you even have difficulty managing your time because you’ve gotten so engrossed with this new Internet tool of the future. But after a few weeks of this, you start to wonder, is social media all that it’s cracked up to be? Where are the leads? Where are the sales? What, in short, is the real ROI when it comes to Social Media for Small Businesses?
Kiwano Tip #3: Networking with Social Media
Social media is indeed a powerful tool, but it can’t be the only one at your company’s disposal. With any effective small business strategy, social media needs to work together with all the other pieces of your marketing plan. Using it can be as limited as securing a mouthpiece for your company’s announcements. However, the real value of social media comes from taking full advantage of the networking and relationship-building opportunities. Individuals and companies that you would otherwise have trouble accessing are on your virtual doorstep. Social media networks are the best kind of unobtrusive advertising – unlike business cards, which can be easily discarded or forgotten, your quality interactions remind your audience of who you are and what you do.
Here are three suggestions to help you take social media to the next level; ones we’ve used to great success here at Kiwano Marketing. Use these and other strategies to help draw in those who can help your small business grow and prosper.
Go to a Tweetup
A #tweetup is an event which is usually arranged or advertised through twitter or other social media platforms. I’ve been to many tweetups over the past year, and it’s been great to see how quickly people, venues, and causes can be mobilized online. Some of the biggest tweetups I’ve been to were ticketed events consisting of several hundred people. The most unique to date – hanging out at a Japanese hot-dog stand with a few local twitter contacts.
Anything and everything goes, and it’s up to you to take advantage of meeting people offline and solidifying your business relationship. Don’t see a tweetup you like? Take the initiative and suggest an informal gathering – a coffee break or lunch hour works perfectly – with some of your most active followers. Want to go big? Start with Mashable’s list of do’s and don’ts for organizing large-scale tweetups.
Get Involved with LinkedIn Groups
You know those groups you joined on LinkedIn way back – the ones that keep on sending you daily updates that you never read anymore? Sometimes, a little interaction and interest in these groups goes a long way. Sure, some groups may be littered with job seeking ads and business pitches, but beyond the surface level are discussions which have great potential for turning both leads and ideas. Try skimming a few groups for engaging topics and make sure to follow any discussions you take part in (LinkedIn has an option to send you an email whenever someone posts anything new). If you maintain a blog, try sharing some of your articles in the News section of related groups.
Share Content on Facebook
Your Facebook’s company page is a great place to let loose and show a less corporate side of your business. Viewers want to know they’re following and supporting a genuine group of people with interests outside of pure business. Try sharing interesting articles that are still related to your industry, but offer practical takeaways for consumers.
If you’ve got the time (and trust me, it takes very little time), consider sharing some content on YouTube and linking it back to your Facebook page. In the world of viral marketing, homemade videos are best – interesting content and ideas are prized above professional camera work. Try it as a part of disseminating your next big announcement. Or, turn the camera inward – perhaps you want to highlight a successful business practice or a fun corporate culture.
Want more suggestions of social media networking, or have some of your own to share? Let me know at cecilia@kiwano.ca or leave a comment below, and I’ll be happy to take your suggestions and feedback to create more social media tips from Kiwano Marketing.
I love these tips and the blog. But as a person who has not grown up around SM, I have some ingrained fears around accepted on-line behaviour. Funny, because I have no problem showing up to a live event where I know no one. You’d think anonymity would help, but not being able to read body language or facial expressions is inhibiting. Are there any tips around that?
Thanks for your comment, @Sandra Sweet, and thanks for continuing to read our blog posts. You’ve raised a good question, specific ways of acting online may be daunting if you’re just starting out. A general rule of thumb would be to look at what other people in your industry are doing, and see what works for them. Every social media platform has its own quirks for behaviour, so it’s hard to generalize. Would you please reply back with any specific examples or questions that have come up?
In the meantime, I can offer some general advice on ‘behaving’ on social media, as I’ve touched on it in quite a few previous blog posts (if you click on ’social media’ in the right hand panel, under Categories, then you’ll be able to see them all).
Time Management: http://www.kiwano.ca/social-media-time-mgmt/ – touches on quality content & interactions
Social Media for Small Businesses: http://www.kiwano.ca/social-media-for-small-businesses/ – has a brief primer on what social media is and again, content content content
I don’t know if you’ve seen these posts already; if you have, then I apologize for the unnecessary repetition. Feel free to comment here or get in touch at cecilia@kiwano.ca.
The key is to brand yourself as an expert and develop credibility in the forum posts you make. This is where you give back to the forum members.
@social networking software development
I agree that portraying yourself as an expert lends credibility to your online persona. It’s a good way of contributing to the discussions and having other people seek you out for your knowledge.
Social media is typically a pretty informal platform, so when you’re just starting out it’s easy to find people who will help you through the ‘growing period.’ You can’t participate in the discussion before knowing what the rules are.
An old classmate added me to LinkedIn and told me that he was looking for work in our subsequent chats. My company wasn’t hiring at the time, but he was wise to reestablish our link. When I read about a job that required expertise in a field my classmate worked in, I forwarded the information to him.