Think Like A Consultant» Social Media Archives

5 Reasons Your Consulting Business Needs A Blog

admin — Sun, 09 May 2010 11:35:57 +0000

As a consultant , you are an expert in your niche. You’ve worked long and hard to become knowledgeable and experienced in your field. You have lots of great advice and information to impart to your clients. But when you meet potential clients, how do you let them know about your knowledge and experience? Sure, you could tell them, or hand them a pamphlet. But there’s a better tool you can use—a blog.

1. Showcase Expertise

If you write at least one post to your blog every week, you will begin to build a large body of information that is available to anyone who has access to the Internet. By reading your blog posts, readers will learn about your business, your experience, your thoughts on the industry, and your body of knowledge.

If I want to hire someone to do my taxes, I go to the Internet to see who prepares taxes in my area. I’m more likely to hire the person who has a blog with dozens of posts on different aspects of preparing taxes. I can see she knows a lot about taxes. I give her a call.

2. Build Credibility and Trust

Credibility and trust are something that are built over time. I may not even know you, but after I’ve spent some time reading a little bit of the information on your page, I start to get a sense for who you are, how you do business, and what you know about your industry. I highly recommend you include a photo of yourself on the blog. This too allows readers to get to know you better and begin to trust you.

3. Boost Your Reputation

People like to do business with people and companies they know, like and trust. You may have your mission statement up on your wall in your office, but do your customers know what you stand for? And what you are trying to accomplish? Do they know what’s important to you as a company? On your blog, you can post about charities you are involved with, share customer success stories, demonstrate solutions you offer and problems you’ve solved, all with the end in mind of building your reputation and brand.

4. Create Customer Loyalty

The more customers know you, the more loyal they become. As you feature different solutions you offer, they are encouraged to do even more business with you. You might also feature some of your best customers and solidify your relationship with them even more.

5. Bring in Traffic

Blogs are a strong tool for search engine optimization. Search engine spiders like fresh content. A regularly updated blog provides fresh, keyword-rich content that search engines love. This will cause your site to rank higher when potential customers search for your products and services and drive more traffic to your entire site.

The internet savvy buyers today look to blogs for sources of information, reviews and recommendations. Until they are ready to buy, they will surf the internet gathering information. If you do not have an active blog, you are missing out on sales. If you don’t have the time or staff to post on your business blog every day, an experienced internet marketing service can be hired for much less money than paying a staff member to perform this all important task for you. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow your business. Start your blog today.

Are Face-to-Face Meetings Still Essential?

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:11:30 +0000

Building relationships seems to be a trend for many this year. You might be surprised at the number of people who don’t realize the relationships they are building or destroying through their use of social media. They seem to forget the “social” in this term. Yet building relationships is a significant aspect what a business should be doing with social media.

There are some who think that unless you meet someone face-to-face, they don’t care enough to remember you no matter how often you converse online. There are those that say Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and LinkedIn are a waste of time and energy. Everyone likes the face-to-face meeting!

Many businesses are guilty of this type of closed-minded perspective. But just think about it. When you partner Social Media with the phone calls and face-to-face meetings, you can create double the opportunities.

The question is: Do you have to have face-to-face meetings to create real relationships (and eventually opportunities)? I find that working the whole spectrum of opportunity is best. I have been successful gaining business from individuals I met through LinkedIn as well as from people whom I have called, chatted with and met face-to-face. The bottom line is this: it is more about the person you are connecting with, not the method of connecting.

The point is that in-person methods for building relationships don’t negate social media methods and vice versa. Imagine for a moment that in your consulting business, you suddenly stopped using the telephone. You would never get any business through that channel. The same is true for those who rely solely on the Internet as a way to connect. There needs to be a marriage of the two approaches in order to make business successful.

The secret to success is finding the right balance of communication and relationship building for your clients and your business. In an informal survey of my clients’ preferences, they responded with a wide age range of unpredictable answers. Some prefer e-mails and LinkedIn, others liked meetings and snail mail, and some liked it all.

At the end of the day, only you know your business and purpose for using social media. Perhaps for some, social media does not yet have a place in their business, but times are changing quickly.

Social Media Goals For The New Year

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:23:46 +0000

The new year always seems to come quickly. It is a wonderful time to create new resolutions and new beginnings for your consulting business. Have you thought about your social media goals for the new year? Although you don’t need to make a detailed and permanent plan—it’s smart to define your goals, vision and actions for the year ahead. Here is my recommended approach for getting the most out of your social media strategy in the coming year.

Consider These Three Questions

1. What worked and did not work for you in the previous year?

Seems obvious, but people often forget what went “wrong” and repeat it again and again. Something going “wrong” doesn’t mean that it blew up or cost you money. It can be as simple as not achieving the results you desired or that it took too much of your time.
On the same note, people often forget what went “right” in the previous year. Funny, as this is how we succeed. Try not become too content with where you are and what you are capable of achieving. Aim high! It is a new year!

2. What do you want to accomplish in 2010?

Something as small as acquiring 10 new qualified Linked-In contacts this year or as ambitious as becoming the #1 in your field.
Do you want to learn to build deeper relationships through social networking? Keep your goals top of mind in everything you do. Schedule them into your day or week so you have time to achieve your goals.

3. What new Social Media outlets would you like to try (or not) this year?

Many people are content with the outlets they are using, which is fine. At the same time I know (first hand) that there are so many social media outlets available, it can become overwhelming. You either try too many at once to keep up, or avoid using any at all.
One idea is to consider how you are going to juggle the social media you are currently using. Is there a way to work smarter not harder? Would it be more convenient to send updates with your a Blackberry or iPhone? What about pre-writing articles and updates?
Like many people I have spoken to, you may even decide that in 2010 you are going to stop using some outlets for social media. Perhaps the return on investment isn’t worth it the effort. Regardless of what you decide, it’s most important that you are thinking things through. Remember that your social media presence is your face on the internet. Make it true to who you are and how you want to be seen!

What are your social media goals and strategies for 2010? Our readers would appreciate your ideas!

Barack Obama’s Social Media Lessons For Business

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:43:40 +0000

Many will remember President Obama’s campaign for the White House because he is the first biracial President, one of the youngest Presidents of the United States (5th youngest if you want to be exact) or because the Obama children will be the youngest to be raised in the White House since Amy Carter in 1976. Personally (although all of these are great things to be remembered for), I will remember the Obama Presidential Campaign most because of their use of social media.

I learn a great deal from studying other social media masters. After all, how can you be the best if you don’t learn from them? Regardless of your political views of Obama as President, I urge you to read on so you can apply these lessons to your business. Although I am Canadian, so I am not a US voter nor am I a supporter of any candidate, I was fascinated by the book, Barack 2.0, which I have read through multiple times. If you have not read it, I strongly suggest that you do. This was one of the best purchases I made in my career.

The premise of this book is teach readers how to put Web 2.0 tools and strategies from the Obama campaign to work for your business. It is all based on how they were able to connect, engage and communicate with millions. It is not a secret that part of the success of Obama’s campaign came from his Internet presence. He reached out and appealed to the public by allowing them to feel they were important to him and were becoming a part of history!

Facts about the campaign:

He has over 2,379,102 supporters
He has over 833,161 friends on my space
His You Tube has over 114,559 subscribers and 18,413,100 channel views
His Twitter has over 2,338,865 followers
He sent over 1 billion e-mails during the campaign
He has 500+ conections on Linked-In (remember Linked-In does not show past that)
In total Obama has over 5 million supporters on Social Media Networking Sites
He had over 3 million people donate to his campaign online
He has over 120 widgets
His online staff was 10 to 1 against McCain’s
He started his own social network (MyBarackObama.com) and over 2 million people have profiles on it

Obama’s Presidential Campaign was the most successful “small business” use of social media that I can find. You’ll find this model works as well for business as it does for politics.

Get Barack Obama’s Social Media Lessons For Business on Amazon.

Social Network Marketing: Turn Relationships Into Profits

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:57:12 +0000

You’ve decided you want to use social networks to market your business. Before you can devise a strategy, it is important that you understand the new medium in which you will be engaging.

No More Interruption Marketing

In the old world of interruption marketing, we were required to interrupt and shout. Television commercials are always louder in order to grab our attention and interrupt what we are doing. That behavior is no longer necessary. Your community wants real conversation and valuable information that only you can give. The relationship is the focus of your new marketing efforts. This one shift in thinking is what is necessary to really take advantage of the social network marketing opportunities that are waiting for you.

Preparing Your Buyer to Take Action

Social media prepares your customers to take action once you have established a relationship. Think of your sales as a funnel. At the wide top of the funnel are people who have just come in contact with you and your product. They are mildly interested and so they join your community by signing up for your email opt-in list or maybe becoming your friend on Facebook. They get to know you a little better. If they continue to be interested in you and your product, they will move further into the sales funnel until they are ready to buy.

Some people will not move all the way through your funnel. That is okay. In fact, that is what you want, because those who leave are no longer interested in buying. Those who are still interested, remain in your funnel. So as you network and interact with your community, you are now only interacting with members of your community who are interested in you and what you have to say. The funnel allows you to sort out those who are interested from those who are not. This process brings potential customers who are interested in you and your product. This process of building relationships and bringing customers further into your funnel makes it easier for your community to say yes when you ask them to take action.

Social Media Eases the Way

For buyers to buy, they need to:

(1) Know you

(2) Like you and

(3) Trust you

Social media makes all three of these not only possible, but easier. Your buyers will meet you on the networks. And once they’ve interacted with you for a while in a non-threatening way, they begin to trust you. And here is a secret, you don’t even have to make sales pitches. All that is required of you is to invite people to your community and get to know them. That’s it!

You can start your social network marketing today. Sign up for Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. Spend time connecting with people and learning how to use the network. Then take this free access to buyers and pump up your profits!

Why Twitter?

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:18:03 +0000

Why Twitter? Why should you bother? What is its purpose? Business people often say that Twitter is not an effective form of social networking or they question how you can really gain anything from typing 140 character updates all day long. As one person said, “Why do I care who is eating a sandwich or going to bed?” (This person is obviously not a Twitter user!)

Do You Listen to the Radio?

This article will focus on why to use Twitter for business. For those who don’t understand the purpose of Twitter, it helps to think of it as a radio station. As the DJ’s talk and talk, they hope that people are listening, following and finding their chatter useful or interesting. With Twitter, you hope that your 140 character updates will be followed, useful to others and noticed (or re-tweeted and replied to).

Radio stations differ based on their target audience (Sports, Jazz, News, Rock), and because of this they attract different listeners. It’s the same with Twitter. Each person on Twitter is speaking to a different target audience and will be followed by those who find their message appealing. For example, a financial expert is going to tweet about finances and attract followers who find his or her information compelling. A technical guru will tweet about the latest software and hardware reviews.

Educate Your Followers

Twitter allows you to take your 140 characters to post pictures, articles, videos and websites to support or educate your followers. Educating your followers makes you more credible, valuable and informative. Your Twitter feed can offer links to a wealth of knowledge. And you can enhance other tweets by giving more information, elaborating on what is said and providing a visual.

Stay Top of Mind

You can also use Twitter as one more way to let your customers hear from you each day, not in an overbearing way, but as someone who provides valuable content in a shared area of interest. You can link your Twitter account to your e-mails, LinkedIn, Facebook, and everything that people see from you or your company. Connecting is key to staying top of mind. Just think, your customers will be hearing from you in 140 character bursts every time you post a tweet. That is a great way to stay connected, be seen as a guru in your field and build credibility. It’s not that different from the way radio stations use commercials to remind listeners that they are out there.

Perhaps now you have an answer to the why Twitter question. And you can see that it’s not a waste of time. You can follow me on Twitter @rebekahgeldart.

Why do you use Twitter? Comment below.

LinkedIn Best Practices

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:10:58 +0000

Like any other social system, LinkedIn has its best practices and it’s unspoken etiquette. This article covers the best practices for using LinkedIn to widen your circle of meaningful connections. If you haven’t done so already, please see the first article of this series.

As a member and frequent user of LinkedIn, I find it to be a tremendous tool for my job and a great way to get advice or information quickly. But what are the best practices for using LinkedIn?

Do

Add real value to the discussions that you comment on or create. Be helpful to others!
Get your LinkedIn Profile 100% complete. Many LinkedIn users will not look at a profile if it is not completed in full.
Join Groups that are applicable to you and your goals on LinkedIn. This will save you time, energy and a lot of potential connections to people that are not relevant to your world.
Customize your invitation to link with others and let them know why they should connect with you. This also helps you to keep your connections relevant. The general note from LinkedIn to connect is often deleted immediately.
Keep your comments and discussions relevant to the group’s purpose and mission. For example, don’t talk health care on a teacher’s forum or look for help with a client issue on a church group.
Have a thick skin! Many people hide behind their computers and can get pretty nasty! Especially if they feel you are a competitive threat. Laugh it off and don’t respond. A response can make things worse. If you have a serious complaint about a member’s actions, tell the group administrator or the LinkedIn staff. They are usually very responsive.

Don’t

Spam others! In discussions or private e-mails, spam is not well received and can get you removed from groups (and can even have your entire account closed).
Connect with people that you don’t know or have no reason to connect with.
Comment on or start discussions too frequently. No one likes a discussion “hog,” so leave a day or two before you start a new discussion. This will also keep people from ignoring you on LinkedIn. You will also not look like a “know it all.”
Disagree with a discussion topic without providing some ideas. Often members will comment that they disagree or don’t like a discussion but do not add constructive input, a solution or why they disagree. This is not well liked in LinkedIn.
Sell, Sell, Sell. No one likes to feel like they are being sold to all the time. Vendors are often removed from groups or they lose credibility from this practice. Be helpful, and if you can use your company to do that great, but don’t try and sell your product or service as a solution.

Using LinkedIn For Your Consulting Business

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:30:02 +0000

I decided to start this series of articles to help others understand and navigate this crazy new phenomenon we call social media. I’m excited to share what I know so you use social media as I have. I’ll start by looking at LinkedIn over the next three articles.

LinkedIn Can Increase Sales

LinkedIn is an effective social media tool and is bringing in revenue for my company. Although you would not want to base your yearly sales on LinkedIn nor rely on it as a sole form of sales, it can definitely boost business. For example, in the past four months I closed two sales for my company through LinkedIn (amounting to $95,000 USD) with very little effort. I also found opportunities for my company to be interviewed and we will be mentioned in two publications (others are pending).

How You Can Make It Work

LinkedIn is easy to learn, has a potential for fast return on time invested and is geared for business. I am often asked, “What are you doing to make it work?” I have a process that I follow and am happy to share it here with you, though the process may need to be tweaked to fit your line of work, personality, company culture and work style. This approach assumes you have a completed LinkedIn profile and a “go ahead” from your company.

Getting Involved

The first step is to join all the groups applicable to your LinkedIn needs. You can search for all types of groups by clicking on the Groups link beneath the Home link in the left panel of LinkedIn.

I go on LinkedIn on a daily basis to read, add comments or start discussions. This helps other members to know who I am and what I know. It helps create credibility for yourself (and/or your company). In the beginning, don’t ask for anything, mention your company in a “sales” context or be pushy; just be helpful and knowledgeable.

Finding Opportunities

I look for opportunities every day. Whether it is from Discussions, Comments, Groups or my connections. I am always watching for people or companies that would be a good fit for me and/or my company.

Sending InMail. If I am going to contact someone regarding business, I never push myself on the person. I send an InMail message letting the person know that I think we could be a good connection for each other. I then explain why I think this and I conclude by simply adding links to my company site. This is not pushy and allows my potential connection to look at my information and decide if he or she would like to connect. After that I let it go and do not e-mail the person again.

Making Phone Calls. When a new contact does want to connect, I set up a call to dive deeper into my company and into our potential for partnership and new opportunities.

Starting Discussions. I will often “stir the pot” when starting a discussion. For example; I started a discussion on “Training Arrogance” and received over 60 replies in less than a week. I started a Discussion asking if “Off Site Meetings and Conferences were Dead?” and received over 50 replies in a week. This isn’t just a tactic to get noticed (though it works for that too), but a sincere way to quickly find out where the market is on topics relevant to your company, ideas and trends.

If you remember just one thing, it is that you should be sure that you know what you are talking about and that your questions are relevant to the particular group where you’re posting.

Linking It Altogether

Finally, I also link everything back to each other. I link my company web site, our web store, Twitter, LinkedIn group, Facebook group, You Tube page, etc. This provides more exposure and adds to our credibility.

Please stay tuned for the next article in this series⎯The Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn.
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