Sep 14, 2015 Written by Guest
I often hear from a number of professionals in the manufacturing, construction, professional services, medical, and technology fields that social media is not for them. If they have tried social media, they have tweeted a time or two, connected to a few people on LinkedIn, and maybe sent one message. Through a meager attempt they have determined that it does not work.
The question I pose to them and to you is "how did you find this blog?" and "how do you now know the Marketing Eye brand?"
I know the answer - do you?
The question I pose to them and to you is "how did you find this blog?" and "how do you now know the Marketing Eye brand?"
I know the answer - do you?
Even if social media is not something you choose to use in your personal life, many people do use it and not just for personal enjoyment, but for business decision-making purposes. Social Media has long been seen by B2B marketers as being "social" and while marketing directors and CMO's in corporations are definitely taking it seriously - in the small business sector, owners have been slow to adapt a social media marketing strategy.
And there is a reason - time.
Entrepreneurs don't have the TIME to engage on social media nor do they have someone on staff to take over the activity. With limited time, social media becomes an after-thought, done in spits and spurts. One month they are all over social media, and then you won't hear from them again until they are sitting in some airport waiting for a flight or a little bored on a Sunday afternoon.
Making connections on social media is not all about the numbers. You need to make connections with buyers and those who are connected to buyers. Think about who you want to target and their circle of friends and connections. I recently worked with a client who started with only 35 connections and now has nearly 2,500 connections in less than six months.
You must do more than just connect on Social Media, you must engage. This includes blogs, reaching out to others in the industry, commenting in groups and on posts, retweeting, sharing good ideas of yours and others in those in your network. Think of Social Media as an online networking group. Don't forget to also lighten-up and have fun. Sometimes at Marketing Eye we just share what we are doing, although I don't think we have gotten to a #selfie stage as yet - not to say that may not one day come.
On LinkedIn alone, there is no reason not to send an email out to 100% of your connections whether they be prospects, clients, employees, former employees or others in your industry. The message does not, and really should not, be long, but make sure it is your words and not those from a standardized LinkedIn email. Not every email needs to be purely original. I reuse snippets, but also like to add a sentence or comment that says I viewed your profile. If you segregate your target audience and write something that they want to hear, then you will be sure to make an impact.
Marketing Eye has several main accounts for its international business. These accounts on LinkedIn contain over 20,0000 connections and are growing daily. Marketing Eye shares with people who are connected to our brand everything from our company blogs through to achievements and our company culture.
What you can do today to help generate more leads via LinkedIn:
· Start networking: Connect with people that you know personally and professionally and ask them to help connect you with their connections.
· Search: If you have a Premium account, you will have the ability to sort people by a number of factors including industry, business size and years in business. LinkedIn will display a list of people based on the profile you select and then you can begin reaching out to them and making introductions.
· Groups: Comment on groups and share discussions and blogs with as many relevant groups as possible. I have a client who recently began adding his blogs to groups and posting questions. To his surprise people have not only began responding, he is seeing more traffic to his LinkedIn profile and to his website.
· Stay active: Make social media a regular business habit. Put aside 10 minutes a day to connect with people, share your point of view, engage and importantly compliment those who are key influencers in your network.
· Connect with Twitter: It's like two for the price of one. LinkedIn allows you to share on Twitter - use it and ABUSE it!
· Set up a company page: Make sure you set up a company page and place links on your websites for people to follow. Company pages often fall flat because they are not updated with relevant and unique posts - so make sure you keep this top of mind.
· Publish articles: Increase your profile credibility and be seen at a thought leader by publishing articles through LinkedIn.
It's not rocket science, but it does take dedication and consistency to make social media work for you. Worst case, you will have more people clicking on your website than you had yesterday.
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