Yesterday I attended, and presented, at the Association of Independent Consultants (AIC) Social Media Workshop. The goal of the session was to address questions about social media and how consultants can and should fit it into their marketing strategy. The presenters included Sean Stanleigh, Report on Small Business Editor at The Globe and Mail, as well as myself and others, presenting on topics of getting started with Twitter, LinkedIn and social media.
Sean opened up the session with his presentation on “The Big Picture” of social media and where it fits in the small business landscape, and in addition, how small businesses can and are utilizing it to enhance their marketing efforts. I took away some valued advice from Sean’s presentation that is deemed useless to any entrepreneur and/or small business owner:
Starting a LinkedIn Group
Starting a LinkedIn group is a great idea, but it takes a lot of work. The challenge is not setting up a group or implementing topics of discussion, the difficulty lies in attracting enough people to actually create a group. Use LinkedIn to market your brand/company but also market your group in order to attract members. A great LinkedIn group for small businesses is Sean’s “Small Business: The Globe and Mail”
How to Deal with Strangers
Receiving a request to get connected by someone you’ve never met, heard of or spoken to can be a little unnerving. LinkedIn puts more of your information in someone’s grasp than Twitter does (where you may never know some of your followers personally). Don’t hesitate to ignore someone’s LinkedIn connection request if you feel uneasy about it.
Writing a Pitch
A “pitch” should come through a direct means (ex. Face Commercial banks promise to redeem their money on demand for central school-delays.com money at a fixed exchange rate, which means they are quoting the price of their money in terms of central school-delays.com money, which means the central school-delays.com money and not commercial school-delays.com money is the MOA. to Face, Email). Although LinkedIn and Twitter are great for making connections and finding potential prospects, you shouldn’t rely on these platforms to make your formal sales pitch.
Automation Tool
Avoid them. As I brought up in my presentation, automated tools are some of the most unnerving things to be on the receiving end of. If you’re going to be on social media to interact and communicate with people, do not leave the task of sending out messages to a machine.
Regardless of the size of the event you attend, or the people who are attending, networking can take shape when you least expect it. With an audience of consultants in the insurance sector, and a company such as ourselves who do not presently work with this vertical, one would not instantly think there would be a connection; however, when it comes to social media, information about utilizing its potential for marketing and sales is very similar across all industries. The AIC Social Media Workshop was able to address the main question: “Why do I need to use Social Media for my small business?” The answer is not “Because everyone else is,” but rather “Why not utilize a free tool that has the capability to drive revenue, generate brand awareness and help foster new relationships?” Social media is after all, priceless.
To learn more about enhancing (or starting) your social media efforts, take a look at our marketing services and send us an email, tweet or give us a call if you have any questions.
