- 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.
Blogging for and about your business is more important now than ever. And yet, businesses are still struggling not only with the execution, but the concept. 
Here are some of the hangups I hear from clients roadblocked by blogging fear or misunderstanding:
- We don’t have a consumer project, so it doesn’t seem like anyone would be interested in reading what we have to share.
- Doesn’t it have to be personal? We don’t really want to share our dirty laundry online.
- What if we are boring?
Telling the story about your business and what you do is valuable to your community, no matter what that community is. They self-select into your content, so don’t pre-judge by saying that people who read blogs are only interested in consumer products. You may discover much more about your audience and your business by the community that emerges around the content you share.
Being personal doesn’t mean airing dirty laundry. Being personal means being a real person, using language that is down-to-earth and spin-free, sharing a bit of yourself that underscores the fact that you are a real human being behind the brand. (Someone just walked past me wearing swishy — snow?– pants and those awful Five Fingers shoes. Distracting! — See? I’m a real person with really distracting co-workers, just like you.)
You can’t be boring if you’re not boring yourself. If YOU find your business and what it offers exciting and you share your passion for your topics, that will be evident to your audience. Feel free to mix it up now and again — be creative — be funny — but above all, be yourself, and quit overthinking it.
Where do you blog? Please feel free to share your blog in the comments for the Change the Conversation audience to enjoy.
It’s a really fine line sometimes, the balance between over-sharing company news and content on social platforms and making sure you’re providing value to your audience. It’s the
difference, I think, between selling and telling your company story. It’s hard for a lot of individuals representing organizations to make this distinction. One way to keep this practice in check is to constantly ask yourself what value you’re providing your audience with the information you choose to share.
Your content may be leaning to the “too self-promotional” side if every link you share is to content of your own creation. Try to share others’ content at least a third of the time. Another self-check is to see how often your tweets are @ replies or RTs. Ask yourself a few questions:
- Are you engaging in conversation with your readers by replying to comments or tweets?
- Are you commenting on others’ blog posts?
- Are you facilitating introductions within your network to help others build business or find opportunities?
- Are you teaching a skill or sharing information to others’ benefit?
It’s easy to slip into the habit of traditional marketing tactics and resort to selling . . . focus on providing value, instead and watch relationship development grow and improve.
(Thanks to Rusty Speidel for the inspiration for today’s post. Read Rusty’s thoughts on social media fatigue, and what communications professionals should do about it.)
What are some ways you keep your commitment to providing value, rather than just self-promotional content, to your audience?