- If you’re not already on LinkedIn, you definitely need to be. Linkedin is a business social network that allows you to connect to people you know. Fully take advantage of the free profile by entering all your professional information and enhance that with your interests and experience..
- Conduct a search for companies in LinkedIn you think you might like to work for by using the advanced search parameters, then look for contacts you have within that company.
- Review jobs posted on LinkedIn regularly.
- Send a message to your inner circle asking for help in finding a new or better job; ask for recommendations and introductions to valuable contacts.
- Buy your domain! You should own www.yourname.com
- Once you own your domain use it to host your resume and/or to begin blogging about your professional interests.
- Create a Google profile to help manage what people find when they search for you using Google.
- Use Twitter and LinkedIn to post status updates relevant to your industry.
- Make sure your professional headline in LinkedIn isn’t merely your title and that your Twitter bio reflects your industry smarts and career aspirations.
- Look for opportunities to network in real life while you’re networking online. Cement key relationships by meeting in person.
My friends at Nest Realty launched a video campaign “Live where you love; love where you live.” I was delighted to be included, along with other small business owners in Charlottesville, Va. including Liza Borches from Volvo of Charlottesville, Will Richey of Revolutionary Soup. The approach of featuring real people in a community to share the genuine stories of our love for where we live is pretty compelling. Take a look and tell me what you think — (by the way, 333 people have watched this video at this writing — all probably convinced to drop everything and move to Charlottesville, Va.
It’s a very busy time for my business and yesterday included a marathon of meetings right in a row (six!). Right in the middle, we met with a prospective client.
Now, Jaggers Communications offers the full suite of communications services from public relations to brand positioning to social media strategy, but often client conversations begin with learning about social media (it is a specialty of our firm). One of the people we met with shared his complete lack of use and knowledge of social media. He’s not engaged in any way online and hasn’t had an interest in doing so personally, even though he understands it’s important for his business to begin to seriously look at digital communications and how they should be used.
Then, he went on about his business philosophy, about how he prefers to serve clients, to interact with partners, to collaborate and nurture a culture of transparency within his organization.
And then my brain exploded.
Everything he said is exactly the culture that social media has established and worked to grow. It’s precisely where bloggers hoped business would evolve when it became impossible to hide behind a curtain of complacency. But it wasn’t the culture online that drove this man’s business values; it’s how his company has done business since the 1970s, long before blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
It was so refreshing, and so very exciting for me to meet with someone who “got it” before the technical aspects were even brought into the discussion. In fact, the words we use to talk about the tactics of social media are almost irrelevant. They’re tools to get us to the goals we make. The framework and quality are there; the genuine stories and rich culture exist; we have the honor of helping the business share them online.
Sometimes my work makes me giddy.
There are so many misconceptions about social media and its use in business — I don’t even know where to begin to address them.
Wait, no, yes I do! The assertion that there is no role for social media in business to business marketing is patently untrue. Consider the following relationships (because, in case you’re unaware, the core purpose of social media is relationship development):
- Trade media
- Potential employees
- Potential investors
- Existing team members (from employees to board members to investors and vendors)
- Current customers
Are these individuals with whom your organization needs to communicate? Well, yes! Of course! Making it as easy as possible for all of these audiences to discover your company, to learn what makes you tick, to understand what it is you do and how you do it, to receive news and important information about your business is just good business. The way to do that is by publishing content on your website, making the information available through search and sharing it with networks you continue to build of the very people mentioned in the groups above.
That’s all B2B social media is. Seriously.
From the KoMarketing blog:
According to Accenture Global Marketing’s recent report, Embracing Social Media in a B2B Context, a mere 8 percent of B2B companies are heavily engaged in social media.
Furthermore, researchers found that 17 percent of respondents don’t feel social media will be important to them in the coming years.
However, contrary beliefs were also revealed. Despite the lack of overall involvement, 65 percent of those polled considered social media to be “very important,” while 30 percent believed it is “extremely” important and cant be ignored.”
So it is to the 65 percent (and the 30 percent) that I offer . . .
5 Ways B2B Organizations Can Use Social Media
- Publish your news release in a way that is searchable — and can be found by interested communities. New releases published with an option to subscribe via an RSS feed is the best practice in this area. Create a news room on your website and post your content there.
- Encourage leaders in the business to expand their industry network and business connections in a virtual way. It assists the whole team in relationship development when the leaders make their connections visible to others in the field. LinkedIn is a very useful tool in this area.
- Monitor the web for industry mentions and organization-specific references. When your brand is published about, it’s worth knowing, sometimes reacting to and often, requires a response.
- Blog. If you need lots of great reasons, you can start here.
- Be a facilitator of relationships in your industry. As business-oriented people, we appreciate the connection, the referral, the well-thought-out endorsement of another business. Connect others within your network and be remembered fondly and fortuitously for having done so. The rewards for you, and your business will come to fruition.
It’s hard to be a blogger. It’s especially difficult if you are blogging for business, and not personal reasons. Here are a few tips to help the process, re-energize you and your content and improve your life as a business blogger.
- Read a lot of content (blogs) outside of your industry for inspiration.
- Make a list of what you see on other blogs that you like. Is there a technique, a style or a format you find especially appealing?
- Share a link to a blog post you have published and are particularly proud of, to a select group of trusted friends and advisers. Ask for honest feedback — a review, if you will — and ideas for how you can improve.
- If you don’t already have this in place, work with someone to provide a “second pair of eyes” on your content, to eliminate distracting grammatical errors and typos.
- Brainstorm an “editorial calendar” of topics to get you through the next dozen posts. Don’t do it alone — invite a group to help you think out loud over lunch.
- Write a post for someone else’s blog — sometimes stepping off of your own web page can provide unexpected inspiration.
- Strive for consistency in publishing. It doesn’t matter when you write; it matters when you publish. Select days and times and stick to them, to meet your community’s expectations.
- Regularly review your analytics. Is your content trending the way it should? Are people finding your content because of appropriate search terms? Paying attention to what’s popular and, if it’s on target, replicating that success will help you build your online community.