Nine Ways to Say Thank You to Clients in Social Media

Nine Ways to Say Thank You to Clients in Social Media

Nine Ways to Say Thank You to Clients and Customers

A wise person one said that when you talk well of other people – they think that you are a brilliant conversationalist.  There is more truth to that than just the mere irony of saying something pleasing about someone else elevating you in the minds of your listeners.   In social media, we forget that speaking well of others make us both look good.

This may well be the most overlooked piece of business advice on the planet:  Social space is free – give your best clients advertising to build appreciation, loyalty, and brand recognition.

Many times, companies lack creativity when it comes to trying to say thank you to the customers

1. Online Reviews – Statistics show that people are 23% more inclined to do business with companies that have positive reviews.  Translation?  Online reviews on sites like Yelp are gold for companies trying to get a leg up on the competition.  Leaving a positive review is a two-fold link because it allows people who find their services to read your reviews and find out more about your company.
2. Shout Out on #Twitter – A good Twitter following can be an asset to any company that wants to broadcast news and PR about their company.  Twitter can also be an excellent platform to share news and press about clients with #hashtags, photos, and links.
3. Post on Facebook –Posting a positive comment about a client on your Facebook or theirs with good #hashtags, links, and images shares your free social space.  Nothing draws good feelings like speaking well of their work or company.
4. Share a Resource, Discount Coupon, or Expertise – Everyone likes a good discount or promotion.  If you have an excellent resource or expert on a topic that helps build business, then sharing it with good clients shows that you are on their side.  Some clients have a customer appreciation meeting and hire a speaker to share information on a business topic.  This shows that you are interested in the growth of their business.
5. Feature on Blog – The nice thing about a blog is that you get lots of space to really do a good job.  If you are not a great writer, then ask the company to write their own highlight footage.  Either way, be sure to pass the piece by the company to make sure all details are accurate.
6. Record a Testimonial for YouTube – If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is worth tons more!  Whether you record a video for them or ask them for a video testimonial.  It does not have to be a professional video with a production crew, but it should be professional.
7. Get Pinterested in Them – Pinterest is the fastest growing social media in the female demographic.  If your clients are in this demographic, sharing an image, links, and #hashtag posts on Pinterst can get others interested in their company.  It is a good idea to have a board for nothing but client testimonials.
8. Share the Good News – If your company has a monthly newsletter (and you should!), profiling a client or customer works to show progress as well as encourages others to strive to be featured in your newsletters, especially if your client base is business to business (B2B).  The exposure could bring new clients to their business.
9. Linkedin is Plugged In – Linkedin is the perfect social media to recommend your clients because there are mounds of potential clients and it is set up for reviews.   By adding those reviews to your Linkedin company page or theirs, your groups, and your status feed, you can really help them get the word out.

The best way to think about ways to say Thank You to your clients is to use your social media FREE real estate to help them build their reputation and following.  This method builds good will with your important clients as well as gives you great content for your social channels.

Nine Ways to Create a Marketing Machine in Social Media

Puzzled Over Social Media?

Many times, businesses are so focused on building their own social media and marketing avenues that they forget the cardinal rule of safety in numbers.  Whether your company is one company “going it alone” or part of larger collection of merchants like shopping center, there is strength in numbers.

Sometimes, small business owners believe that they have to compete with everyone else around them in the marketplace.  In truth, it is easy to share your FREE real estate of social media with other businesses that flatter your good and services.

Some easy ways to share your social space with business partners include:

1. Online Reviews Sites – Statistics show that people are 23% more inclined to do business with companies that have positive reviews.  Translation?  Online reviews on sites like Yelp are gold for companies trying to get a leg up on the competition.  Take the opportunity to exchange positive reviews on sites like Yelp and Google.
2. Shout Out on #Twitter – A good Twitter following can be an asset to any company that wants to broadcast news and PR about their company.  Build the marketing machine by exchanging promotions, deals, and news to tweet.  Twitter can also be an excellent platform to share news and press about business partners with #hashtags, photos, and links.
3. Post on Facebook –Posting a positive comment, reviews, and promotions about a partner on your Facebook with good #hashtags, links, and images shares your free social space.
4. Share a Resource, Discount Coupon, or Expertise – Everyone likes a good discount or promotion.  If you have an excellent partner, then sharing it with your audience shows that you are on their side and gives you fresh content.  In fact, creating a special promotion just for your customers for their services – and vice versa of course – gives everyone a win/win deal.
5. Feature on Blog – The nice thing about a blog is that you get lots of space to really do a good job.  If you are not a great writer, then ask the company to write their own highlight footage.  Either way, pass the piece by the company to make sure all details are accurate.  With some great keywords and images with links, this blog post could be used in your newsletters, social media, and search engine rankings that lasts for years to come.
6. Record a Testimonial for YouTube – If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is worth tons more!  Whether you record a video or ask them for a video of a testimonial, product, or se3rvice, it gives each of you good content to share.  It does not have to be a professional video with a production crew, but it should be professional.
7. Get Pinterested in Your Partners – Pinterest is the fastest growing social media in the female demographic.  If your partners are in this demographic (and who is not? ), sharing an image, links, and #hashtag posts on Pinterst can get others interested in their company as well as yours.  It is a good idea to have a board for nothing but partners.
8. Share the Good News – If your company has a monthly newsletter (and you should!), profiling a business partner encourages others to strive to be featured in your newsletters. Moreover, it can show your email list that you are interested by sending them exclusive partnership discounts or deals they might not get otherwise. The exposure could bring new customers to each business.
9. Linkedin is Plugged In – Linkedin is the perfect social media to recommend your business partners  because there are mounds of potential customers and it is set up for reviews.   By adding those reviews to your Linkedin company page or theirs, your groups, and your status feed, you can really help them get the word out as they help you.

Connect the Dots and Share the Real Estate.

The most important thing about creating a good social media partnership is making sure everyone knows what to expect and defines how they will share each other’s information.  Partnership means that each of you is doing your part to help the other cross market.  If there is a business not willing to invest the same effort, then move on to others.

No matter what size or collection of businesses your business currently resides – to quote the Beatles – you can all “get by with a little help from your friends.”  More to the point, you can own the market by surrounding your customers with your brand on social media with the right connections.

Unlike a collection of merchants, small businesses might have to connect directly with other businesses, but the connections can create a strong link between customers looking for local services and merchants.  Either way, the effort of coordinating a social media marketing effort between brands and companies in close proximity can really own a local marketplace.

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Get Your Free Social Media Dictionary: Social Media in Clear Terms at http://www.socialmediasecond.com

 

Complimentary Social Media Dictionary

Complimentary Social Media Dictionary: Social Media in Clear Terms

In all of the social media classes we have taught over the years – there is always one common struggle among attendees.

Social media is another language that most people do not speak or understand!

Social Media Second wants to offer you a complimentary electronic copy of our Social Media Dictionary: Social Media in Clear Terms.

• How can you ask questions when you don’t know the proper terms?
• How can you manage and execute a strong social media campaign without knowing the language?
• How can you understand the success of your social media campaign without understanding the language?

Please feel free to download your free copy as our way of saying THANK YOU!

5 (FREE) Time Saving Social Media Tools

“Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”—Chinese Proverb

So many times, people embark on social media marketing with the idealist understanding that it is as easy as tweeting a thought in 140 characters or posting a few words to followers every few days.  In reality, social media marketing involves more hand holding than direct marketing.  Why, then, are literally millions of businesses joining the social media movement every year?  Because, quite literally, companies can reach out to potential clients with less cost (provided they understand the time vs. money formula of social marketing) and gain market share through brand exposure.

Besides the afore mentioned misunderstanding about the true investment in time for a successful social media campaign without remembering that time is money, people often feel overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of managing multiple social media streams scattered all over the webosphere!

As a social media marketer, these are a few there tools I use to make m y life much easier! 

•Seemic (http://seesmic.com):  This is one of my favorites.  If you have a Facebook and Twitter account, the split screen view of Seemic makes it easy to follow what is happening in each account.  With the ability to add any pages you manage on Facebook and directly post / report information in one screen, my favorite thing about Seemic is that I can post to Facebook and Twitter at the same time!  Of course, that means that you have to limit the Facebook post to 140 characters, but what a time savings it is to have one place to call home for your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  If, like me, you have several accounts for each (Magic Marketing USA and Networking in High Heels), then the ability to import all of those accounts into one places brings order into chaos.

•TweetDeck (http://www.tweetdeck.com):  If you are truly wrapped up in the tentacles of social media, then TweetDeck is the application for you!  With the same multiple accounts split screen view, TweetDeck brings the management of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and mySpace within easy grasp.  The main difference between Seemic and Tweetdeck is user preference.  If you are limited in your interactions to Facebook and Twitter, the Seemic is amazing at delivering both of those to your virtual doorstep.  If you want to include outside accounts like LinkedIn and mySpace, then Tweetdeck gives you all of that in one simple place.

•Social Oomph (http://www.socialoomph.com):  All I can say is OMG!  When I first tried Social Oomph (which was TweetLater to those of the old school of last year!), I thought I had died and gone to Twitter management heaven!  Although this application is only for Twitter, Social Oomph gives you the advantage of customizing a message to send to everyone who follows you, lets you decide how to accept followers, and…ready for this?  Social Oomph lets you schedule tweets!  While I definitely DO NOT suggest that anyone spam their Twitter list, there are many times when I want to share what I am doing with others without stopping several times during the day to put it in 140 characters.  When I am traveling, this is the perfect way to let people know where I will be or send out reminder tweets about upcoming events.  Remember, NOTHING replaces actual interaction with the people in your social media sphere.

•SMS (your cellphone!):  It is safe to say that almost every social media application these days has a way for you to update your profile or status via your cell phone or smart phone.  While it can definitely make life easier when you can just text in 140 characters or do a quick update to your FBP (Facebook profile), it is addicting too because it connects you every single minute that you carry your phone.  Mostly, this has been responsible for the incidents of texting updates during church or in the bathroom.  If you are going to take this route, then please be conscious of the people around you before your spouse reaches over and drops your phone in your water glass at dinner (I swear…I saw this happen!).  And, realize that NOT EVERYTHING needs to be shared.

•Automatic Updates:  There are positives and negatives to completing the circle of social media.  If you enable automatic updates in your social media accounts, then you should be aware that mean EVERYTHING you tweet, blog, and post hits every possible avenue immediately.  In creating 360 degree coverage of all of your materials, promotions, and ads, this is the quickest way to make sure all bases are covered.  BUT…and this is a biggie…be sure that you really want everything to feed directly into your accounts especially if some accounts are for business use and some are for personal use.

Quick point in fact:  Before I go on, I want to make sure that it is clear to every breathing person on the web that Facebook has business accounts and, if you are using Facebook for business, this is the type of account you should be using!  There are many reasons, but transparency and market segmentation are two of the biggest reasons.  My next article, Facebook for Business: Fan or Friends, will explain this in depth, but using a personal level Facebook account for business not only violates Facebook TOC, but it also isolates you from the privacy protection and promotion of your business.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program, automatic updates can be set up for bring blog posts into your LinkedIn account, share LinkedIn updates on Twitter, and add a tweet your Facebook entries and blogs.  The one exception is, in a business account, Facebook does not update to Twitter.  As of now, Facebook only updates Twitter if you have a personal account.  Solution?  See above for one of the great FREE applications that allow you handle all of these tasks in one place!

Although there are tons of other applications and time saving tips for social media management, any these will get you started.  As they are all free, I suggest that you try each one on for size to see what works best for you.  The most important part is to save time and produce quality information to connect with followers, friends, and fans.   Even though most of these applications might sound difficult, they are each easy to install with a wizard that walks you through it.  Since it is easy and FREE, what else could be better?

With the time you gain, check out our new group, Networking in High Heels, at www.networkinginhighheels.com.

Dynamically Brand Your Company for Growth and Success

Do you have the answer to these three questions about your brand:

–Is your brand killing your company growth?
–Is your company brand ready to expand to meet your needs?
–Is your company brand reaching out to multiple audiences at once?

Dynamic branding is the backbone of any successful marketing campaign and business venture!

Find out today how your brand is holding back the growth of your company and limiting your marketing success at http://tinyurl.com/nrkftk.

Learn to earn today using “Leave Your Mark” Marketing!

Best,
Diana Bourgeois

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If you are in the virtual neighborhood, please feel free to join me on Twitter @magicusa, Facebook through http://www.facebook.com/diana.bourgeois, Biznik at http://biznik.com/groups/women-in-business, or Women in Business Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/kl2trj.

Twitter Talk 101

Have you wanted to dip your toes into the Twitter pool? 

Welcome to Twitter Talk 101!

My goal is to give you a quick lesson on how to talk Twitter so Tweeple (Twitter people) will respond to your Tweets.

Here are five “must know” tips to speak the language of the Twitter-verse:

1. Worth Repeating:  RT (re-tweet) is a way to give props to other Tweeters for a great find or saying something worth repeating.  Everyone loves to be RT because it spreads their tweets around Twitter!  But, remember, you are putting your name on their tweet, so check it out and make sure it something you want to share with your followers.    Tweet Example:  RT @MagicUSA Check out my recent article Warning: U R Contaminating Your Marketing Pool 
2. Add Pounds (#):  The # sign behind a tweet is a way for Tweeple to search for terms.  Twitter probably logs millions of tweets a week.  Google could not even keep up with that kind of traffic!  Entering # and a descriptor afterwards gives people the chance to search for that term.  Tweet Example:  “Don’t tell my mother I work in an advertising agency; she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse.”- Jacques Seguela #quote
3. Short and Sweet URLs:  Many people are concerned that they will run out of things to talk about in 140 character increments.   Some possibilities include music, video, articles, websites, blogs, and stories from around the internet; however, because you only have 140 characters, long URLs can be a problem!  Here is your best URL friend in the world:  www.tinyurl.com.  TinyURL makes long, rambling URLs into short and sweet Twitter-friendly URLs.  HINT:  Be sure to add an extra space on each side of your links to make sure they are set apart from the text (avoids links that do not work!)  Tweet Example:  Read “Ease Muscle Tension and Stress at Your Desk” by Kristi Daniels, Work-Life Balance Examiner   http://tinyurl.com/degkg4
4. Set the Date:  Certain days in the Twitter-verse hold a special meaning.  For example, Fridays are always #followfriday (remember that the # sign makes it searchable!).  So, on Friday, promote some of the better Tweeters you know to your followers.  They usually return the favor and send a DM of appreciation.  Tweet Example:  [insert your reason here – something short like GREAT TWEETS will work fine] @MagicUSA  @SEOcopy  #followfriday
5. DM or not to DM:  After being followed, you have access to the direct message (DM) feature of each person.  DM is the 140 character equivalent of an email.  Use it politely and with caution until you have tweeted with a person a few times.    Twitter Note:  NEVER use DM for advertisements or promotions.  This will get you unfollowed or banned from Twitter.

Ok…that’s it!  If you have any questions or comments about Twitter, then please let me know. 

Talk back to me…or ask your most burning social media marketing question to see yourself as the star of my next Examiner topic.

Tweet’cha Later @MagicUSA

Social Media Mission: Come one, Come all

In my new capacity as Social Media Marketing Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/x-8932-Social-Media-Marketing-Examiner) for Examiner.com, my task is to write several times a week on the benefits and pitfalls of social media marketing.

Cue scary music (DUM DUM DUMMMMM is heard the background!)…

So, here is our mission if we chose to accept it:

The rules are several times a week I have to post something informative yet bite-size for readers to enhance their understanding of social media and marketing!

I am so looking forward to this ride into social media marketing.  Join me wont you?

Our first trip…for your enjoyment…is called Twitter Talk 101.

Let’s see if we can get some REAL answers and please…and talk back to me.  Let me know what I can answer or help you understand.

Warning: U R Contaminating Your Marketing Pool!

In the everyday race for place and space in the online social marketing world, many business owners are getting caught up in the quicksand of believing that pure numbers equal ROI (return on investment).  In truth, watching the numbers add up can be a natural high that screams from the Academy Awards podium Sally Fields style, “You like Me, You Really like Me.”  Dazzling lights and little golden statues aside, let’s really evaluate those numbers and how they convert into actual marketing numbers for your business.

Many business owners suffer the frustrating feeling of exhausting even more of their time trying to tip toeing through the learning curve and sift through the techno-geek language barrier constructed around each social media forum.  For example, how long does it take for you to learn to “RT your @tweeps about #quote” or “hit your tweeples with a shout out to your new twit @MagicUSA on #followfriday”?  Insane yet?  Multiply that by the number of social media networks in the known universe and becoming a hermit with a dog in Florida on the beach will seem like a good idea!

What is worse than the multitude of social media that the average business owner tries to participate in during a given week is the amount of time invested without measuring the results.  Now, if you are shaking your head and pointing at that little number spinning like the meter on a gas pump, then bad news is about to enter your world:  UR contaminating your marketing pool!

For years, everyone has been taught that electronic marketing is about gaining the largest group of people to send a massive email to on a regular basis in hopes that 1% of those people will buy your product, ask for your services, or move on to whatever the next step is in the marketing plan.

NOTE:  YOU MUST HAVE A MARKETING PLAN…on paper…with marketing options for “what ifs.”  This is a truth of every business no matter what industry.  If you don’t have a marketing plan, stop reading now and get one!  I will wait.

Now, back to the discussion at hand—Old drip marketing theory stated that having thousands of people in your marketing pool to blast out electronic materials was the key to success.  The marketing measure of ROI lists around 1% with 3-5 touches.  Without a calculator and nothing up my marketing sleeves, it is easy to see that the numbers run at about 10 conversions for every 1000 and 50 for every 5000 opt-ins.  The reality would “seem” to be that more equals better sales right?  Wrong.  This rule only holds true with a properly niche market that understands and desires the product.

In social media marketing, this widely missed marketing point equates to the big uh-oh for ROI.  When the rule of niche marketing is applied to 10,000 opt-ins, the results would seem to be 100 actives as a ROI; however, the reality is that because the niche marketing pool of interested and invested potentials is diluted significantly the 1% conversion rate drop dramatically almost off of the measurable ROI chart.

There is a bonus round for contaminating your marketing pool called the Law of Diminishing Returns.  The realistic problem that most business owners encounter in social media marketing using forums like Twitter, Facebook, and Squidoo is learning to use the social media in such a way that they are accepted by the group.  This takes lots of time.  Every business owner has just made the ultimate conversion without the need for a ROI calculator.  Yes…time is money!  So, when you spend two hours twittering and gain a ton of followers without any sign ups for a FREE offer or your newsletter, consider how you are truly investing your hard earned time.  If, on the other hand, 5000 people sign up for your newsletter, but none of them are in your market segmentation and do not convert to sales, then you are contaminating your marketing pool with uninterested parties.

Here are four fast ways to pump up the volume on your target niche marketing pool without contamination:

• Set Your Goals.  Know what you want to achieve by having a presence on any social network.  Are you looking for recognition?  Opt-ins?  Visits to your website?  Whatever your goal might be, if you do not establish it now, then you will not be able to accurately measure your ROI.  Worse, when you are spending time building networks that add followers in the thousands, then you will have a false sense of accomplishment and a warm, fuzzy feeling that your marketing plan is working.
• Time Management.  The biggest misconception about social media is that you are not spending any money to advertise or display company good.  The investment of time in the management and daily interaction with social media connections, followers, and friends is transparent; however, it has to be counted in the marketing ROI because time is money for any sized business.  Whether up-keeping a large company profile or providing simple outreach from a small business owner to a potential client, the expenditure of three hours a day twittering is valid and real to the bottom line.  A good ROI formula for gauging marketing investment is:

1. For Service Oriented Businesses—Time (hrs. per week) spent on all social media (times) hourly charge for standard services.
   Example:  14 hours a week (2 hours per day) (times) $50 per hour = $700 a week, $2,800 a month, or $36,400 a year!
2. For Product Oriented Businesses—Number of product sold in a week (times) price point of product (divided by) number of hours spent on social media.
   Example:  15 ebooks per week  (times)  $20 each (divided by) 14 hours of social media marketing = around $21 per hour.  Now backtrack, if your time expenditure is $21 per hour and you spent 14 hours doing social media, then you made less than $1 this week.

In each case, realizing the investment in a social media campaign in term of dollars helps to bring business owners a realistic picture of their ROI.  And the beat goes on!

• Social Media Savvy.  At this point, most business owners are disgusted with even the mere mention of using social media to further their marketing efforts.  Before you ditch all of your social media marketing efforts, here is the point at which we get down the meat and potatoes of WHY and HOW social networking can help businesses succeed without contaminating a marketing pool.  Ready?  Invest your time in social networking and social media marketing that targets your specific audience.  Ideally, incorporating social media into your marketing plan is not an IF statement.  Without doubt, social media and network can give you outreach to potential clients that would cost mega dollars in other venues; however, remember the earlier statement about a marketing plan?  Here is where the plan becomes a reality.

Every good marketing plan will include several elements like goals, target audience, SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), and distribution plan.  The key to social media marketing, at this stage, is to successfully identify your target audience and reach toward those people in your social network most affected by your message.  In short, if your target audience is women who are mothers, then your general target audience on any social network, like Twitter, should be women who are mothers with the same goals.  Even more to the point, if your target audience is career women, then use specific career women oriented forums to build a network.

• Spend Time on Success.  Once you have built a strong social network with a base of followers, interact with them using strong information that will benefit their business or life.  Constantly trying to sell someone something is the quickest way to lose followers.  With a modest investment in time in your targeted marketing niche networks, your network will grow as others seek you out for information and recommend you to their followers.  The most important thing to remember is that social networking is an investment in time and money.  So, when you find your tweeps, invest in them and give them a reason in tweet about you!

Any business owner will readily agree that they would rather have 50 hot leads than 1000 cold leads. With these tips, business owners will be able to make the most of out of their efforts to participate in social media and build a robust following in every social platform.

Most of all, know when to say when!  If you need help or it becomes too costly for you to maintain your social media network, then find a marketing company that specializes in social media marketing or a VA that will help you.  The intelligent choice is not whether or not to commit to a plan of social media marketing.  The real choice what is the best way to plan a social media campaign that does not waste your time and jeopardize your ROI!  This is the way to work smarter…not harder!

Tweet’cha later.  Feel free to catch up with me @MagicUSA!

Customer Centric Marketing: Learning to Love Your Customers

The Situation

“Do you love your customers?”

I waited while she tried to formulate an answer.  And waited.  And…oh yeah…waited some more.  Seeing she was obviously struggling for expression, I prompted her again.

“How do you show your customers that they are important to you?”

“I send a card at Christmas,” she offered, unhappy with the path of the conversation.

I leaned forward in my chair.  The “Ah Ha!” moment that every marketer waits for…lives for…dreams of was coming to the surface!

And then the explosion hit!

“So, you are saying that I contact them once a year with a Christmas card.  You are saying that my marketing efforts are wasted because I don’t hold my customers hands by sending them cute little cards on their birthday or anniversary with the company?”

“No, I am saying that your current customers are the most valuable thing your company owns.  And, without an outreach marketing program designed at retaining their business, you are not maximizing your marketing dollars.  They will start to base their purchasing decisions on price instead of value.  In this economy, do you really want to compete on price alone?”

The Solution

There is lots of chatter about the economy.  The simple reality is that cutting your marketing budget will not bring the savings needed to make a difference.  For most, the loss of exposure is painful for many years.

Learning to use marketing dollars  to leave your mark in your customers minds converts those marketing dollars back into sales with interest by retaining your present customer base.

How? 

Now, there is the million dollar question. 

Most companies miss the answer completely by lumping it under the “Customer Service” category.  By polling the interests, concerns, and issues of your present clients, you can target your marketing campaigns toward your current customer base with a speed that might seem like ESP!

And it is…an extra special perspective when you look at your customers from a customer service point of view.

Examples of solution based marketing for customer outreach include:

• Articles, Podcasts, and Video that instruct or fix a problem.
• Coupon, Promos, and Contest that gives a reason to interact.
• Email Marketing and Surveys that continually ask for input.

Many of our customers are confused about social media such as LinkedIn.  Last month, we did a podcast with article on how to make the most of LinkedIn.  We received SO MANY emails of appreciation! 

This month, at customer request, we will do a video on how to complete and SEO a blog posting! 

So I ask you:  “How do you show your customers that they are important to you?”

Six Steps to Harnessing the Power of LinkedIn

Ever notice that some people have tons of connections in LinkedIn and some people have one? 

While it is easy to sign up for a LinkedIn account, few people realize that their LinkedIn account can open doors to new business partnerships, potentials clients, and a wealth of information to aid in building a business.  Although it is not exactly rocket science, establishing strong relationships in LinkedIn is quickly replacing lunch meetings and cold calls.  And, the reason why is simple.  You can easily meet and introduce yourself to a host of interesting and interested business contacts all with a few minutes.  More importantly, you gain exposure to many other business owners and clients from across the street as well as across the world!

There is a failure for business owners.  About 80% of LinkedIn profiles are filled with resume information instead of business information.  If you are asking yourself why this matters, the answer is quite clear to any marketer within a hundred paces.  You have to present yourself in such a way that it shows visitors why they would want to meet you and what you have to offer as a connection.  Be realistic, when you look at your LinkedIn profile, do you see someone who is credible?  Your LinkedIn profile should be the online equivalent of your elevator speech because you only get 9 seconds to impress the person who reads it.   Bad is if the person comes away from your profile unimpressed with you.  Worse…someone elects not to read it at all.

Let’s start the New Year off right by toning up your profile (no heavy lifting, I promise!) to harness the power of LinkedIn with this quick checklist:

1. Profiling:  Look at your LinkedIn profile in the Big Picture view.  If it is not complete, then deduct points.  If it does not use power words that speak specifically of skills, talents, and experiences, then start over.  Don’t be afraid to tell people your specialties in your summary and list keywords that add targeted punch to your skill set.  For example, I am a marketer, but that says absolutely nothing.  But, if you read my profile you find that I specialize in marketing for women and coaches.  You have a deeper understanding of my abilities, especially if you are women business owner or a coach.  Make yourself stand out by not being a part of the crowd of general adjectives and boring copy.
2. Sharing:  Start with the knowledge that if you do not approach others, you will not get asked to dance!  Add connections to your profile by sending invitations to people in your address book and adding your LinkedIn profile badge to all of your outgoing information like your blog, email messages, and your website.  Publicize your profile everywhere you can and you will be surprised how many people start linking to you.
3. Joining:  This is the fun part!  Now that you have a great LinkedIn profile, join some groups.  LinkedIn really makes this easy because you can join groups according to religion, education, hobbies, sports, job interests, inspiration, and support.  If you can think of a reason or interest, then it is likely that LinkedIn has a group started already for you to join.  By joining groups, you will get to send connection requests to group members and they will get to contact you for connections.  Many group supply discussion boards, messaging space, and connection updates.
4. Asking:  This is the one place that so many people forget to upkeep in their LinkedIn profile.  Perhaps because we are concerned about asking for testimonials and reviews from past connections, we shy away from asking for a recommendation or referral.  Don’t!  If you have had a good relationship with another LinkedIn member, then ask for a recommendation.  And…return the favor because their recommendation gives you credentials, but your recommendation gives you exposure in their LinkedIn profile too.  It is the best of both worlds.
5. Answering:  One of the vital assets of the LinkedIn community is often building a network of people who can offer insight into questions you might have about business.  In order to find those connections, asking and answering questions is a great way to establish a first contact.  By asking questions, you are able to be an expert in a field and offer guidance to someone else.  In return, by asking a question, you are giving the opportunity for others to show their expertise.  Everyone has questions…now you have network to ask.
6. Adding:  Use the robust applications of LinkedIn to share what you are doing with your blog, add polls to your profile, and share presentations.  Creating a 360 degree link to all of your activities gives the people in your LinkedIn network the ability to follow your message without difficulty or direction.  In the end, your LinkedIn profile should be about “working smarter, not harder” to get connections.

LinkedIn might seem like a huge investment in time, but it is really an investment in networking the smart way.  Once your LinkedIn profile is set up and you are interacting with your groups, you will find it a pleasure that you look forward to every week.  Plus, it is a great reference tool for you to tell potential clients or business partners: check out my LinkedIn profile.  It is your online portfolio for you and your business. 

Lastly…remember:  Your LinkedIn profile is searchable in Google.  Use your keywords in your description and make yourself interesting!

Now…get out there and get LinkedIn!   

Visit us today at Magic Marketing USA….join our LinkedIn group…and learn about Leave Your Mark Marketing.

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Free Magic Marekting USA materials to accompany this post: 

• Six Steps to Harnessing the Power of LinkedIn podcast
• Six Steps to Harnessing the Power of LinkedIn article

These materials created in cooperation with Jane Morrison of Smart.Savvy.Success. 

Note:  These materials are the property of Magic Marketing USA and can not be used, changed, or distributed without permission.  Permission may be gained by emailing Magic Marketing USA.