Tips to get the most out of social media
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you keep hearing about the growing clout of social media, but you’ve never seen any evidence it can help your business. And without any realistic expectation of payback, why should you invest time figuring this stuff out?
Thankfully, Bobby Umar has figured it out for you. The Toronto-based leadership and networking consultant produces a personal-marketing conference every summer, and he used that platform recently to share his favourite social media “Mastery Tips.” I later caught up with him for a few more details, so I could pass on to you his most shareable and like-worthy strategies for getting the best from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Top 5 LinkedIn Tips Whether you’re a manufacturer, a retailer or a plumber, Umar’s key strategy is to use social media to develop a reputation in your field for thought leadership. Create “awesome ideas and content” to stand out from the crowd, then leverage the interactivity of social media to turn followers into connections and customers. LinkedIn is a good example of social media’s affinity for storytelling: What was once a static, resumé-sharing site is fast becoming a content powerhouse. Umar’s top five tips:
• Use LinkedIn posts to build your reputation. “It’s the new way to share your blogposts,” says Umar. If you have a great story to tell your audience, post an article to LinkedIn and then have the site “push” it to all your contacts.
• Use Linked In Groups. LinkedIn offers thousands of special-interest forums representing any conceivable industry or professional segment. Every LinkedIn member can join up to 50 groups (and another 50 subgroups). You’ve probably heard the advice to participate in discussions in these groups. But Umar notes LinkedIn can also push your content to every member of every group you belong to.
• Seek out LinkedIn introductions. If you know whom you want to contact, LinkedIn can tell you which of your contacts is closest to them. Umar says research suggests that introductions made through LinkedIn are more powerful and trusted than those through other sources.
• Recommendations. Actively encourage friends, colleagues and customers to write short, trust-building recommendations of you and your work. Umar suggests you ask 100 of your best LinkedIn contacts to recommend you, in the hope that five to 10 will follow through.
• Make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete. When visitors search LinkedIn for people or solutions, the search engine favours members with the fullest profiles. Your goal should be to appear in the top 10 results, he says: “The more complete your profile, the more likely your name will appear.”
Top 5 Facebook Tips • Start your own Facebook group. “When you own a group, you own the conversation,” says Umar. “Community builds very fast if you lead rather than follow.”
• Use Facebook ads. Umar is blown away by Facebook’s segmentation power; paid ads can connect you only to people with the interests you choose, from the industries you select, and in the locations you want to reach. He says one of his offers netted 150 clients — and cost him $20.
• Move users off of Facebook to a landing page. Facebook members are there to share updates and photos, not to buy things. So the objective of your posts and ads should be to win people’s trust — then get them to click to another site that’s more conducive to buying and selling.
• Encourage engagement. Always invite people to like, comment and share your content. Have fun: one of Umar’s messages was, “If you like this, smash the ‘Like’ button.”
• The future is video. Umar is adding more video content on his Facebook pages, for people who want to “deep-dive” into your topics. But keep them short: one popular format is “Top Five Tips.” And once you’ve made a video, archive it on YouTube.
Top 5 Twitter Tips Align with the culture. Twitter’s short-messaging service is all about thought leadership, accessibility and responsiveness. Engage with followers and the people you follow.
• Leverage the influencers. “You can access anybody on Twitter,” says Umar. A tip: use gratitude to build relationships. For instance, if you like a post by leadership guru @LollyDaskal (1.1 million Twitter followers), you could tweet to her and say “Great article, Molly. When’s your next piece?”
• Use Twitter to build awareness, not transactions. No one goes on Twitter to be sold stuff, Umar says. Build your audience with great content, then try to sign them up for a free email newsletter. “That’s when you sell,” says Umar.
• Aim for a strategic balance of content. You can’t build a brand by retweeting other people’s ideas. Umar recommends that at least 40 per cent of your tweets be your own content. If you’re not confident about developing content, Umar says there’s nothing wrong with contracting out: “You should always hire people to do the things you can’t do well.”
• Leverage the best technology. Twitter’s minimalist platform has spawned an ecosystem of related applications, from HootSuite and TweetDeck to Tweepy and Buffer. Use these tools to manage your Twitter feed and better target your messages.
When it comes to social media, says Umar, take the high road. “Focus on quality followers and authentic connection. Build relationships that are real. People buy from people they trust; being open, honest and authentic is part of building that trust.”
Focus on quality followers and authentic connection. Build relationships