HOW are you using and profiting from social media?
Here’s the probable answer – you’re using it, but not profiting from it.
That’s because your Facebook page has photos of Sunday’s picnic, 15 comments from close friends and relatives, and nothing about business. That’s because you have a Twitter account that tells your audience of 75 you’re in your pajamas and going to bed. And that’s because your LinkedIn account (if you even have one) has fewer than 100 connections, and none of them has ever received a value message from you. Ouch.
Let me further challenge you that you do not have your own YouTube channel. (Billions of people access it every day, and it’s free.)
Reality check: It’s time for you to draw the line and the distinction between personal social media, and business social media.
There is an easy way, and a no-cost way to create ‘business social media’. And I’m challenging you to take advantage of it, starting today.
1. Create a business Facebook page that your customers, prospects, and fans can like. A page for your business allows you to create an opportunity for dialogue with your customers and prospects. It also challenges you to create value messages, post videos, and offer tips and ideas that will help your customers and prospects build their business - and the result is you can gain a following.
Take a look at my business page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/JeffreyGitomer and note how I post almost on a daily basis, and how I create links back to my website so that the people who ‘like’ me can continue to perceive me as a value provider and a resource. While you’re there, take a few moments to read the comments that I get in response to my value offerings. It’s humbling, flattering, and it’s creating a revenue stream. You can do the same.
Facebook is now the third largest country in the world. I would gamble that every one of your customers and prospects is already actively involved, but most likely only on a personal or social level. You can easily find them, and ask them to ‘like’ you. And you can set up a group, and send your value message with a link to your business Facebook Page or website.
Caution: Your business Facebook page requires work, constant updating, and response. You zero out your credibility if you only post once a month. My rule of thumb is a minimum of three times a week. It’s most interesting to me that even when I don’t post, one of my fans (one of the people who likes me) will post something for me or about me – a quote, a thank you, an idea, or a story. To me it’s not just a post, it’s a report card – someone is taking their time to interact with me and share their gratitude, their question, or their idea. How many people ‘like’ you?
2. Twitter is an anomaly, and mandatory. Most people fritter away their Twitter opportunity. They’re either saying nothing, or soliciting sales. In my first year on Twitter, I tweeted about 180 times and from that I gained more than 15,000 followers.
Yes, I have an advantage being a published author and speaker, but I took advantage of my advantage. I’m now one year and four months into Twitter and I just posted my 218th tweet yesterday: “Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you.” It had more than 100 re-tweets and allowed me to pass the 20,000 mark of followers. If I suggest for someone to do something in my tweet, it’s so that they can gain more valuable information without a solicitation.
The value of Twitter has not yet been realised. But with 125 million users there have to be a few dollars in there floating around someplace. Take a look at my tweets so you can see how much value I offer.
And note that when I post a quote, it’s my own. I’m not telling you what Benjamin Franklin or Albert Einstein (both brilliant people) said. I don’t want to quote someone else; I want to quote myself.
One of my early Twitter quotes was: “If you want to be relevant on Twitter, tweet something relevant.” It got hundreds of re-tweets. What are you doing on Twitter? How are you taking advantage of 125 million people with 140 characters each day?
The next important, the most important, of the social media platforms is LinkedIn, and for that information you’ll have to wait until next week.
I created a short video (that’s posted on YouTube) on the subject of social media and how to use it. Go to www.youtube.com and search GITOMER SOCIAL MEDIA.
