Different Posts for Different Folks: Finding the Right Voice for Social Media

When it comes to building and maintaining your brand’s identity, one of the most important components is the voice you use. A brand’s voice can create an image that is equally authoritative, energetic and professional; it can still be infused with a bit of personality, too. Working together, these four traits make your brand easier to understand remember.

Another important component of a brand’s identity is its social media prevalence. Social media affords businesses the opportunity to communicate one-on-one with customers through wall posts, tweets and blogs. This constant communication facilitates conversation between brands and their audience, making your business less like a business and more like a friend that customers can rely on.

It’s clear that a brand’s voice and social media presence are intertwined. Once you have a handle on your voice, it might seem that posting on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn would be a no-brainer, but beware: there’s a formula for using each site to your brand’s advantage. Below, you’ll find tips and examples that show how to harness the power of each site — and how to make posts pop with the right voice. 

Facebook

There are plenty of tips when it comes to setting up your business’s Facebook profile, but what happens after that? The best voice to use on Facebook is one that elicits conversation amongst those who follow your page. Because people scroll through their feeds in an attempt to find something new, engaging and interesting, a lively debate is the best way to bring viewers to your page.

The social media team at 12 Keys Rehab has created a prime example of an interactive Facebook page. Rather than post articles or facts regarding drug and alcohol rehabilitation, they pose questions to their followers such as, “What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?”; a particularly poignant question for those who might be recovering from self-harm. Not only do they post thought- and comment-provoking material, they often respond to their guests’ posts, creating a voice that’s informative, professional and extremely caring.

Twitter

It’s possible that people scroll through their Twitter feeds even faster than they do their Facebook feeds, and, for that reason, your voice has to be as engaging as possible. A quick punch — you’ll only have 140 characters to get your point across — is all it takes to grab someone’s attention.

One company that’s nailed its Twitter voice is Tory Burch. Perhaps it’s because a social-media team doesn’t deliver the brand’s tweets: the designer herself sits behind the keyboard. Burch revealed that she tweets to her fans because it makes things more compelling when responses are off-the-cuff, conversational and, most importantly, real.

LinkedIn

Your voice on LinkedIn requires a careful balance. On the one hand, you should post things that promote your company; on the other hand, it’s important that what you share piques the interest of potential candidates. To do so, it’s important not to talk only about your company’s strong suits. Instead, the website itself suggests posting a mix of pieces that reflect your company’s values. These are often insightful pieces that can generate conversation but simultaneously always paint a clearer picture of your brand’s identity. The rest of what you post should be directly about your company, but remember that your voice shouldn’t be used to talk only about yourself.

On Any Site

Of course, there are several other social media sites and blogs that you can use to promote your brand. Whether you use Facebook or Blogger, Twitter or Pinterest, there are several overarching truths when it comes to the voice that you use:

· Use the same voice across every medium. It will make you seem inauthentic if you’re formal on LinkedIn and casual on Twitter.

· Move quickly. Social media trends shift at a moment’s notice. Make sure that what you share is relevant and up-to-date, or your followers will think you’re not really in touch with what they expect to hear from you.

· Be human. Save formality for a business meeting—your social-media voice should always be a real, conversational one. Take advantage of this by communicating conversationally with those who follow you. Avoid social media jargon in your posts.

· Think before you post. People get annoyed by over-sharing on social-media sites. Make sure you post sparingly. If those posts are thoughtful and thought-provoking, they’ll certainly stand out.

Refused a job because of social media? - Does your online presence say more than your CV?

It is no secret that most companies use social media to research their candidates. This is a phenomenon that has only really happened over the past 5-7 years. Its sad to say, but gone are the days of your CV being all an employer wants to see before considering you for an interview. But is this ethical for businesses to do? How do you feel about it when applying for a job? And what can we do about it?

http://www.toprankblog.com

LinkedIn and Facebook are the highest targeted when companies are conducting their 'research'. But is it not debatable that these two sites, although both in the social media world, offer two completely different services. I feel it is time to remember that peoples lives are multifaceted but the two biggest spectrum's are our work lives and our personal lives.

But what about when we want to use social media to help use FIND a job? Bringing it a little closer to home; see below for stats regarding how we use social media to help us gain recruitment. The whole social media and recruitment relationship could be seen as a double-edged sword. We find employers looking at our profiles to be a little intrusive, yet from the results below, it seems when we want a job it is one of the first places we turn.

 

Image: http://blog.unum.co.uk

But where is the line drawn? Are there any clear guidelines to this seemingly pressing and current issue? Twitter allows us to tweet 24/7 and I feel is a site in the middle of the social media spectrum.

On one end, you have LinkedIn; a site purely designed for people in the business world to interact on social media - you will have a respectable photo and maybe a description of yourself and 'what you do'. A very straight edge account of yourself through the business lens.

Then you have Facebook... with a unashamed selfie for a profile picture and a cover photo of you with your mates on a night out (enough said there) - by and large it gives a different persona completely. This is the social you, this is you OUT of work, having fun and enjoying life. Should we be ashamed of this persona? Should we begin to live Jekyll and Hyde lifestyles online, in fear that we won't get a job?

This does seem a little ridiculous, and although some monitoring needs to be done all round, I feel the two should not really be linked. When we go to work we go as an employee, we know our role and we stick to the rules. When we are away from the workplace, I truly maintain that it is our business what we do.

Twitter, can be viewed either way and is potentially a low-risk site in this scenario, but just remember not to drink and rant on there - it is hard to remove once out there!

Sadly, regardless of my opinion, companies will continue to check out your online profiles to build a '360' view of your life, or how some might say - pry. And this cannot be stopped; if you really want to battle this, you can try to use privacy tools to keep yourself away from this intrusion - or use a different name. I am sure plenty of us have nothing to hide, but in case you are a little threatened by what potential employers can see of you online - keep a simple online persona and hope for the best.

How do you feel about employers using social media as part of recruitment?

Check Out These 3 LinkedIn Success Tips

1. Stay In Your Connections Top of Mind With Regular Updates

Every time you establish a new contact on LinkedIn, you have uncovered another arena in the marketing tool. This tool exists in the form of updates. Whenever you update your profile, make sure that your viewers can see it. This makes it possible for you to start a conversation with them albeit in a subtle manner. This doesn't mean that you can stop trying to make the relationship between you and your contacts grow, it just means that you are indirectly reminding them of your presence. This is a good way to share knowledge. The knowledge that you share in your updates should also be valuable to the people working in your industry. This is another way of raising your status among our peers when it comes to a particular area. Updates may also be used to pose questions, announce things, and endorse events and such. It can also be linked to your social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook etc.


2. Give Your Expert/Positive Feedback

A good thing to emulate is posting comments and thoughts about your viewer's business status. This is a good chance for you to retaliate with positive remarks. To promote a healthy relationship, one should provide positive feedback. It is a good technique to strike up a conversation as well as harness a relationship. If you do this often, you will find a multitude of questions and comments at your disposal. You can also look for chances to provide positive feedback by looking through the discussions within groups. One other way is to look through the Answers section for feedback. This is a great way to give someone you know a compliment or a good answer. When you provide compliments to people you know, you are paving the way for a long term relationship between the both of you. This of course depends heavily on your personal goals and long term aims.


3. Grow the Relationship Further, Connect on LinkedIn

After meeting someone in real life, it is always good to maintain the relationship. Relationships can be maintained if you look for those people on LinkedIn or in other Social Media outlets. Since everyone has their own private lives, it is pretty time consuming to maintain relationships based on meetings. With the advent of technological innovation, relationships can be easily maintained. For instance, when you get involved in group discussions, you have the opportunity to share some of the knowledge you possess with the people in your industry. This will prolong the memory of you in the heads of people you've just met. You can do this by posting information on your profile and maybe even e-mailing them directly. Also, if you have had an initial communication with new contacts but it didn't seem fruitful immediately, the sharing of information and current activities will help to make you more familiar to them. This technique will help promote trust among you and your contacts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7472815

LinkedIn Introduces New Blocking Feature

At the end of September, LinkedIn announced that they were to introduce a new feature which allows users to block certain individuals from viewing their LinkedIn page. This change has come after a number of people have complained to LinkedIn about people ‘stalking’ their LinkedIn profile, which they could do nothing about and could not prevent. LinkedIn have now acknowledged the need for a feature which allows users to block unwanted individuals from viewing their profile – a move which will hopefully reduce the stress and worry that some victims of online stalking feel from having their profile repetitively viewed by people they would rather not be in contact with.

www.techinews.org

Facebook and Twitter already have features which allow users to block individuals and have done so for quite some time. However, the principle of LinkedIn is that your professional profile is as easily discoverable as possible, aiding potential employers in finding your profile and getting work. Before the introduction of a blocking feature on LinkedIn the only way for users to avoid stalkers on the site was to increase privacy, which would counteract the whole concept of LinkedIn, and therefore hinder your chances of finding employment from the site. Furthermore, the potential problems which could arise from stalkers on LinkedIn is greater than on Facebook or Twitter as all the information which you post on your LinkedIn profile is true, and this makes the site uniquely worrying for the victims of LinkedIn stalking. In contrast, on Twitter or Facebook one could create an alias or omit some important information, such as the area where you live. On the other hand, on LinkedIn your workplace is publicly available to those who can view your profile – which means stalkers would have access to the area where you live or work and where you may relocate to.

The changes come partly as a result of certain petitions and groups who have called for a block feature to be introduced for a few years. Anna R. is one of these individuals, who has called for a block feature to be introduced following her own personal experience of sexual harassment in the work place and subsequent stalking from her ex-boss who would view her profile everyday. Anna commented on her petition page that “every day, LinkedIn members are being stalked and threatened. Without a blocking feature, like ones available on other social media sites, these stalkers are able to see where their "prey" works, in which city they work, when they change jobs, when they move, etc. When being stalked and living in fear, it is easy to see how scary this situation can be. Adding a blocking feature is important for the millions of LinkedIn users around the world who are being stalked yet have no control to stop it”.

The petition which Anna started on Change.org to ask LinkedIn to improve its privacy settings has been signed by over 8,500 people, including many other victims of LinkedIn stalking, who have also shared their stories online. The petition is partly responsible for the response from Paul Rockwell, head of Trust and Safety at LinkedIn, which featured on the help section of the LinkedIn website on the 20th August. He commented that “I'd like to start by acknowledging the ongoing demand for a block feature, and I can confirm that we’re in the process of building one. We've heard you, and we both recognize and appreciate the need for privacy controls in this digital age, which is why we remain committed to placing the controls in your hands”.

Stalking by individuals who repetitively view your online profile is not the only problem that LinkedIn has found which threatens its reputation as a professional network. There have also been many cases of people receiving inappropriate messages from strangers via their LinkedIn messaging service commenting on a person’s personal appearance and not relating to work or professional aspects of the site at all. This has even led to the creation of certain blogs and websites to share particular messages which these so-called ‘social creeps’ have sent online.

What do you think?

Do you think that it is right for LinkedIn to introduce a blocking feature?

5 Tips to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy

Savvy business owners know it's important to have a social media strategy - or at least, to include social media in your marketing strategy. But your social media strategy might be floundering, and you're not getting a return on the time, money and effort you invested in it. The solution is not to try harder and put more effort into it. Instead, revamp it altogether.

Here are five things you can do today to revamp your social media strategy:

1. Be a social media leader

The traditional view of social media (if we can call anything that's less than 10 years old "traditional"!) is that it's about conversations - with your customers, potential customers, influencers, and other important people in your network. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's a low-level activity. Workers have conversations around the water cooler, in the lunch room, and at cafes. Leaders make presentations before they engage in conversations. When they do have conversations, they often do it as a coach, mentor or facilitator.

Do the same thing online. Tell first, and then you can choose how to participate (or not) in the ensuing conversations.

2. Share ideas, insights, expertise, knowledge, and thought leadership

Broadly, there are three ways you can share information with your followers:

Curate: Share what others have created - videos, photographs, links to blog posts, Web sites, and infographics - perhaps with a brief explanation of why it's relevant and important.
Create: Share your own expertise and knowledge, in various forms - such as video, blog posts, articles, audio recordings, slide shows, and webinars.
Collate: Scan the environment for seemingly unrelated topics, and show how they are connected in a way that's relevant to your followers.

Of course, everything you share must be relevant to your followers, and must be consistent with your brand and thought leadership.

3. Choose your leaders and followers

Leadership is not the same as friendship. If you're my friend, then (by definition) I'm your friend as well. But if you follow me, that doesn't mean I follow you as well. So stop trying to treat the social media landscape as an equal space. It's not a democracy; it's a meritocracy.

For example, on Twitter, follow the people you want to learn from, not just everybody who follows you. And when you do follow somebody, don't expect them to "follow you back". That simply doesn't make sense.

When you're seeking followers, start by inviting people on the platforms where you already have followers - for example, your newsletter list, blog subscribers, podcast subscribers, and so on. They are already following you in these platforms, so they are more likely to follow you on social media as well.

4. Don't spread yourself too thin

Invest your time in the networks that most value your expertise and knowledge.

Of course, you already know that Facebook is more of a social network than LinkedIn, which is more of a business network. So, broadly, if you're dealing with consumers, you might find Facebook a more profitable platform than LinkedIn.

But it goes deeper than that. If you've chosen LinkedIn as a target platform, choose the right sections in LinkedIn as well. Typically, these will be specific groups where your peers and clients are active.

Similarly, don't restrict yourself to the big platforms. If you find a small niche forum dedicated to your area of expertise, it can sometimes be far more effective to invest time there.

5. Serve to sell

Finally, engage with the intent to serve your networks. Much of your communication will be one-way - through your blog posts, videos, webinars and other thought leadership - but never forget that you're sharing material for other people's benefits. So always ensure it's relevant and engaging.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7244552

6 Tips for Mastering Your New LinkedIn Profile

Notice anything different on your LinkedIn profile page? It's not your imagination--and it needs your attention. Here's what you need to know.

The recent LinkedIn profile updates may seem subtle at first glance, but to stay current on this professional social networking site, there are some things you should know and do. First, be prepared to get a professional head shot, given that your smiling face is much more prominent as a result of the updated look that LinkedIn rolled out in late summer.

Wayne Breitbarth, LinkedIn consultant and author of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success, reminds us that this isn't Facebook--LinkedIn is all about professionalism and credibility. It's important to stay current on your profile and give your contacts what they're looking for. Breitbarth stepped in to help with that task by providing this review of the LinkedIn profile changes and simple tips to help you stand out. Breitbarth's pointers might take only minutes to execute but will deliver a powerful impression. Here's how:

1. Put more emphasis on your profile photo.
LinkedIn is putting the focus on your face with a larger profile image. This means you had better have a photo, and it had better be good, now more than ever. Stick with a simple head shot, dressed as you would when meeting a client. People want to do business with people they like, and your photo is the first impression; make it professional and likable!

2. Take advantage of what's no longer featured.
Gone are the number of recommendations and the full synopsis of your work and educational experience. And your websites are no longer prominently displayed on your profile page. This means that LinkedIn users need to take greater advantage of the other profile features to make this information more visible.

3. Work on your headline--it's more important than ever!
Because the amount of information in your top box has been reduced, the remaining information is more important than ever, including your headline. The 120-character headline is one of the best spots on your profile to explain your brand. You'll want to include your most important keywords as well. Your current job title will be shown in the top box only if you have just one. However, if you have multiple current jobs, only the company names will be displayed, not your titles. In this case, consider the keywords by which you want to be found. If the job title is relevant, include it in the headline.

4. Also note: The summary section is much more prominent.
Because of the reduced size of the top box, your summary is now above the fold; thus more important, especially the first few sentences. Those sentences had better pack a punch relating to your current business objectives and your credibility.

5. Treat "contact information" like a business card.
This information used to be in various spots on the old version of your profile page. Now it is summarized nicely in the top box and opens after a person clicks the Contact Info tab right next to the picture of the index card. Be sure to include all the ways you feel comfortable with people contacting you. Available options are websites, Twitter, email, phone, IM, and your address.

6. Consider that website addresses are harder to find.
The websites included on your profile (you can list up to three) were previously front and center, but now they are a bit hidden in the Contact Info section. Thus, you may want to mention your website(s) in your summary and in the description(s) of your job experience. This will not be a clickable link, but at least a person can find it without having to open the Contact Info tab.

So, smile for the camera, update your new profile page, and leverage your LinkedIn experience and relationships to build your business. Let me know how you do!

3 Ways To Get More Clients On LinkedIn (For Less Than 15 Minutes A Day)

There are many ways to use LinkedIn to make valuable connections and attract your ideal clients. These 3 that are pretty easy to implement, and when you get into a groove, will take you less than 15 minutes a day. I use them everyday to grow my list, connect with potential clients and develop relationship with possible JV partners.

1. Jazz Up Your Profile
To edit your profile, roll over "Profile" on the top nav and choose "edit profile".

• A mistake I often see people make is a less-than-interesting title under their names. "Holistic Health Coach" doesn't really tell me much.
• To create a title with a punch, think about the benefits your products and services deliver to your ideal clients, and craft a title reflecting them. This title appears next to your name when you post something in a group where your target market use - your ideal clients will be seeing your post and your title... you want to grab their attention so they will check you out.
• Add a high-quality photo that reflects your brand and how you want to be perceived. A stiff headshot may work well for an accountant, but as a health and wellness coach/practitioner you may want to add a little warmth (smile!) and a personal touch to the photo. People want to know the face of the person they are (or potentially will be) "doing business" with, so you want a professional-looking photo that communicate a message of "you are serious about your business".
• Make sure the file size of the photo is large enough that it doesn't look blurry. You want to crop it in such as way that people can actually see your face - if you show the entire length of your body, nobody can tell what you look like!
• In the summary section, be succinct and tell people what you do - your elevator speech would be a good place to start. Include relevant links back to your website, and you can also mention your list-building free offer.
• If you have a short PDF (e.g. a brochure, your "manifesto") you can upload the link in the field toward the end of this section as well.

2. Share & Participate
You can share updates, ideas, and links back to your website (e.g. your blog posts) on your timeline update and in groups. If you have social share buttons on your website (e.g. Sexy Bookmark for WP), you can use the LinkedIn button and share a link on both your timeline and in your group within a few clicks. (You can even link it with twitter!)

When someone joins a group, she can choose to receive a "digest" on all the posts at a certain interval via email. In some groups these digests can get pretty "crowded". To get more attention and click-throughs, try these:

• Write a benefit-oriented, catchy subject line for your post. "new blog post on weight loss" sounds kinda blah. How about "Get Ready For the Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - How To Lose 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks Without Giving Up Chocolate"?
• Strategically (and sparingly) use all caps and symbols to draw the eye. E.g. {{ FREE Download }} Special Report On How To Lose 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks Without Giving Up Chocolate.
• Spend a few minutes each day looking through your digest emails and see if you want to chime in on a couple of discussions. Participating in groups will make you friends, connections and earn your some clout.
• As a list-building strategy, post your free opt-in - and post it multiple times. Not everyone will see all the posts, so you want to catch them at different times. Don't be shy... on average, people need to be exposed to a "promotional" message 7 times before taking action!
• When you receive the "digests" via email, note the days of the week (e.g. Sunday) that they tend to be less crowded. Time your high-stake juicy posts to appear in the digests on those days to get more attention. (You need to test and look at your analytics to find out what works. The possible downside of appearing in a weekend digest is that people may get the Monday email overwhelm and delete without reading.)
• Bonus point: participate in LinkedIn Q&A to further establish your expert status.

3. Don't Just "Add", Connect!
Get "social" with your social media activities! Don't just add people to your network. When you accept someone's invite, or someone accepts your invitation to connect, check out her profile.

• Could she be a potential client? Send a message with a paragraph or two introducing yourself - e.g. include a variation of your elevator speech, make your message more personal if you can glean any information from her profile, and invite her to check out your resource (e.g. blog posts) or opt-in free gift. You can keep a generic message you can cut-and-paste handy, so all you need to do is to tweak a couple of things, add a name and hit send.
• Could she be a possible JV partner? A good candidate for a JV relationship can be someone who shares your target market but not in your exact area of expertise. Your products and services can complement her offerings, and vice versa. Check out her profile and her updates to see if it's a good fit. You may want to "follow" this person for a while so you have a good understanding of her approach. When you feel you have an idea of how this relationship could look like and how you can support her, send her a message that is a more in-depth than "nice to meet you" to share your thoughts and highlight "what's in it for her".

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8002963

Using LinkedIn Groups To Become Influential In Your Industry

Last week, LinkedIn announced that its popular Groups feature was getting a complete redesign.LinkedIn has also released statistics illustrating how popular LinkedIn Groups have become and how important it is for businesses to create a LinkedIn Group themselves. By creating a LinkedIn Group, businesses can start and join conversations about their industry and, potentially, become influential, gaining themselves a reputation for good knowledge and sound advice.

New Groups

The new LinkedIn Groups are more streamlined and easier to customise. Group managers and members with administrative privileges will be able to make their groups stand out from each other by giving them a distinct, industry-relevant look. LinkedIn has updated the feature (at least partially) due to its popularity:

There have been more than 2 million Groups created around almost every topic imaginable — from entrepreneurship, philanthropy and careers to social and digital marketing. These communities have become places where our members are exchanging and sharing their experiences, business knowledge, interests and ideas with other like-minded professionals daily.

LinkedIn also revealed that “there are more than 200 conversations happening each minute across LinkedIn Groups and more than 8,000 Groups created each week.” The new look LinkedIn Groups will be rolling out to LinkedIn’s English speaking members over the next few weeks.

Creating a Group

Creating a LinkedIn Group is very easy. Linked has released a slideshow advising its users on best practices, which you can find here. The company advises that you make your Group profile attractive, interesting and informative so that potential members know what the Group is about immediately.

Your Group can be either open or closed to search. If open, anyone can see the content and it’s more likely that people will join; if closed, only members can see the content. You also need to create a unique voice, one that your members will understand and appreciate – this is now easier thanks to the new Group streamlining options.

Of course, you need to promote your Group across all possible social media channels, as well as promoting all your own content in the Group. Perhaps LinkedIn’s best piece of advice is that you should be able to adapt your Group depending on what members you attract and what conversations they have.

LinkedIn also advises that you use the Group to find and promote influencers and brand advocates but, as I’m focusing on using Groups to become influential yourself, I won’t go into detail on this point.


Becoming Influential

Creating a Group is actually a very important step in the process of becoming influential in your industry on LinkedIn. As the data above shows, LinkedIn Groups are very popular and, if you create the right one, you’ll probably be inundated with members, all starting their own interesting conversations.

Most importantly, and rather obviously, you need to chose a niche for your Group that you are a complete expert about. Work out what your particular niche is and design a Group around it. As soon as you’ve set up your Group start sending invitations. Make sure that your Group appears interesting and attracting in your invitation emails.

You should also organise your Group so that members and potential members receive regular, insightful emails. By sending out regular emails, not only will you build up your Groups membership, you will also show yourself to be informed and interesting. A large and active Group means an influential Group creator and, by actively contacting members directly by email, you can be at the forefront of the conversation.

You also need to make sure that you post on the Group regularly yourself, as well as contributing to other conversations. Ask your Group members questions and answer the ones they have asked. Even if a question posted on the Group has been answered already, see if you have anything to add. Keep your content diverse, both in subject and style, in order to maintain an entertained audience.

LinkedIn Groups are extremely popular and, thanks to the new updates, they will become more popular still. As the conversation on LinkedIn Groups is focused on business and industry, a proactive company can take advantage of the readymade and intelligent audience on LinkedIn by driving conversation about their own industry and, potentially, their brand.

Have you created a LinkedIn Group? How is it going?

Top Ten Linked-In Do's and Don'ts

If you are job-seeking, you need to join LinkedIn, an essential job-search tool. If you're not on a job search but you're into online networking; or want to acquire new partners or clients; or otherwise want to rev up your networking activity level, you should likewise become a LinkedIn user, in my view. All that being said, there are some iron-clad rules for polite and professional use of the network. Here's my Top Ten list for LinkedIn do's and don'ts:

1) DO connect to your "real-world" friends.

I'm amazed by how many LinkedIn users join up, create a profile, and immediately set to work inviting all sorts of online strangers to join their networks. Sure, it's fun to browse the LinkedIn database and look up people you might want to know better....but what about your friends back in three-dimensional space? The first thing to do as a new LinkedIn user - after creating a rockin' profile for yourself - is to invite your true-blue friends and former workmates to join your network. There are three steps in this process:

a) Download your Outlook address book so that LinkedIn can find your friends who are already members.

b) Use the Find Colleagues and Find Classmates functions to synch up with people you know from school and past jobs; and

c) Invite bunches of "real" friends who aren't already LinkedIn users, to join the network - you'll be helping them get connected at the same time you grow your own network.

2) DON'T become an Invitation Spammer.

It's tempting to start sending "connect to me" invitation to every Tom, Dick and Sally you find on LinkedIn, but it's bad manners. If you want to reach out to someone you've spotted who has an enticing profile, send the person a Contact request rather than an invitation to join your network. A Contact request, to use an offline networking analogy, is like an invitation for a coffee date. An invitation to Connect is like asking someone to go steady. Unless you know a person already, don't spam him or her with a "want to start recommending me to people, and vice versa?" invitation - it's creepy.

3) DO unto others....

It's astounding that a person would send out connect-to-me invitations while proclaiming on his or her profile that no new connection invitations will be accepted. Talk about all take and no give! There are other LinkedIn users who set up a profile and make connections, and then specify on their profiles that they won't act on requests to forward (a key piece of LinkedIn's value). These messages say, I want to be on this site and get its value, but I don't want to deal with other people's requests. A modern-day Dante would design a special, uncomfortable and crowded level of Hell for these folks: no pits of fire, but perhaps a zone where all connections are dial-up, cell phones can't hold a signal and no one helps you with anything, retribution for the me-first approach to online networking that you showed in your most recent incarnation on Earth.

4) DON'T make assumptions about your own irresistibility.

Connection invitations should state clearly why you expect your invitee to link up with you - for instance, because you serve on the same fund-raising committee or because your daughters are best friends in the fifth grade. With so many activities crowding a typical businessperson's schedule and so many people in the mix, it's easy for people to forget how they know you. Likewise, even Contact requests should state your case as plainly as possible. A message that says "May I call you? We could collaborate" is not the world's strongest pitch. People are incredibly busy - if you're job-seeking, or trolling for new clients, you may lose sight of the fact that a person needs a compelling reason to even spend ten minutes on the phone with you.

It's helpful to remember what I call the Happy Life theory of networking: when you reach out to a stranger, that person is presumably leading a happy and fulfilling life without the benefit of knowing you. It's not enough to say "I'll buy you lunch!" or the online equivalent of that offer; a $25 lunch (or a scintillating phone conversation with you) just might not be as hard to pass up as you believe. So lay it out there: here's what I can do for you, or here's what I need, or both.

5) DO keep your profile current.

A pox on the person who lets her LinkedIn profile languish! If you can't be bothered to keep your profile current, why should another person bother to engage with you? If I receive a Contact request, jump over to the requester's profile, and find that its details don't match what's in the requester's email message, I'm already underwhelmed. Bonus: when you update your profile, you can send a one-click blast message to let your entire first-degree network know about your news. Note: please don't abuse this feature! Reserve profile-update blasts for news on the order of a job promotion, book launch or appointment to a national commission....as opposed to news items like "I have started my PMP certification class."

6) DON'T confuse quantity for quality.

If I were a recruiter, I'd build the biggest network I could, on LinkedIn or otherwise. After all, there's zero downside to being able to view, and reach, a massive number of candidates when your job is locating talent. But for the rest of us, it's easy to get the notions "a big network" and "a strong network" confused. The question to ask yourself is "could I recommend this person, and could he recommend me?" If not, the principal value in any individual LinkedIn connection will be your ability to view his network (and vice versa). That's not a bad thing, but it would be a shame to mistake that kind of visibility for influence. Amassing connections can become a kind of addiction, but withdrawal will kick in when these near-strangers begin to ask you to vouch for them to your dearest friends.

7) DON'T pass along questionable requests.

I got religion on this item in an instant last summer, when a fellow asked me to send a friend of mine a spammy invitation to his business conference. "I can't do it," I wrote, "it's purely a marketing message." The gentleman's return message essentially ripped my head off, affirming my initial gut reaction that his request was an improper one. Don't hesitate to stand up for yourself and for your friends when sketchy requests come down the pike (and they will). If you pass along every bit of dreck that finds you, your trusted friends will start to doubt you, and that's a far worse fate than having to write to another LinkedIn user, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable passing this on."

8) DON'T abuse the Find Colleagues feature.

LinkedIn's Find Colleagues feature allows you to find old workmates and send unmediated connection requests to them, a boon if you've lost their email addresses over the years. Unfortunately, it's easy to abuse the feature by listing false employers or dates of employment on your profile. What can we say about this? If you believe in the wheel of karma, avoid the temptation to claim employers and employment dates you're not entitled to.

9) DO join the PowerForum.

Newbie LinkedIn users have lots of questions, and a great place to get answers is the user group called MyLinkedInPowerForum. Send a blank email message to mylinkedinpowerforum-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join the group and get LinkedIn (and general) networking advice. MLPF founder Vincent Wright is a helpful guide and mentor to LinkedIn users all over the world - I can virtually guarantee that you'll learn something useful from the Forum's daily conversation.

10) DO disconnect from bad apples when you need to.

Finally, it's worth noting that LinkedIn gives you the ability to disconnect from other users if you find that the connection no longer works for you. If you're plagued by inappropriate requests or other annoyances from one of your connections, you can cut the cord and save yourself from recurring headaches. Some people just don't get the notion of an online community with standards and norms; and it's not your job to teach them how to behave. Just move on.






Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/184051

Social Media Tips - Expand The Voice Of Your Business

The world of social media is ever changing and is very fast paced. To use the social sites available for your business here are some social media tips for you to get you started. Keep reading as there's some great stuff for you if you're starting out

1. Firstly you need to be yourself on social media. Just because you are a business doesn't mean you have to be corporate. In fact, on social sites people are looking to connect with people. They want to know who is behind the business and not be faced with some faceless corporate entity.

2. Here's one of the most important tips of all. Listen to your customers. They're making the effort to be on social media. They're looking at your stuff, they're obviously interested and social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter are fantastic sites for you to find out what they're saying. Look at their posts, read their comments, and above all else take action on what you learn. They can be your biggest advocates so treat them like real people and listen to them.

3. Social media is a long term game so you need to be patient. It takes time to build a brand, but because of the reach of social media, once you've got your name out there, it's very hard to hold back the floodgates! (If you do it properly). Give helpful tips about your niche, interact with people and that will go a long way to building and establishing your brand.

4. You need to make the most of every opportunity to get your name out on social media. There are many different social media platforms and if you're serious about building your business using social media, then try to structure your posts to the various platforms. One of the most important tips is to have a schedule of what you're going to post and stick to that schedule. That way you've got a plan of what you're going to say, it prevents you going off on tangents, and will build a better brand for you in the long term.

5. We said above that social and online media is forever changing and that means you need to be flexible. Websites change all the time, Facebook is forever changing and new players are constantly coming into the market, so you need to be nimble enough to allow for these changes. Post great content and you can't go wrong.

6. Collaborating with others is key to your success. Don't think of your competition as competition. Think of ways that you can work together to spread both brands. Social media makes companies very transparent and if you're a small business collaborating with other similar businesses is a great way to get your name visible and noticed.

7. The last of our tips is to be humble about your achievements. You need to let people know what you're doing as you can be sure your competition is doing exactly that (but read point six above!). But you don't need to blow your trumpet from the rooftops. Just be subtle and quietly let people know about what you're doing and if you treat people with respect, and show them your successes you will find your social media marketing to be much more effective.

These seven tips give you an overview about how you should treat your social interactions. You use social and online media to keep your business and brand ahead of the curve and to give yourself high visibility. Use these easy ideas to turn marketing strategies into a successful brand.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7265491

8 Advantages Of Using Social Media

Today, the article will be discussing about social media, and how it has helped many sites get bigger everyday. Bigger sites are continuing to use the power of Social "awareness" on these Social Sites.

I have been able to attract the majority of traffic so far from social media, and it has been a great starting point to do so. Every new blog will need to first attract and mobilize the advantages of social media sites.

One of the advantages being the use of its traffic already on the sites. The ability to add connections on each site. And finally having to use it anytime you are in need of any two of the previous points.

With one mention of a social site, everyone knows the growth of it everyday. Pinterest. It is now officially the "third" largest social media site, surpassing even LinkedIn. It has been named, "50 Best Websites of 2011" according to Time.com and its list.

Every social site's trend right now has to be the visualization of the interface. The trend has been growing with Pinterest's example as the prime interface. It has grown a trend to put that style into practice on Internet Dreams.

Social media in general has been a huge focal point of success on the internet since the "human" seems to find connection to each other a must-need aspect of life.

This article will list the top 8 advantages social sites offer. You, too, take advantage of the social site's offers. Find out below, and get the "Advantages" identified! Please share!

1. Get Instant Traffic

With Facebook having over 845 million monthly active users according to jeffbullas.com and Pinterest with 10 million, it shows to prove that social media is one of the most accessed feature of the internet.

Why not take advantage of the traffic some of the social media sites receive? It would be beneficial to your site to get that traffic and get your brand more "aware".

Not all of that traffic is what you are going to need. Only a small portion of the numbers. The small portion that is high-targeted and what you are really looking to attract to your site.

There are some stats that is worth taking note on the internet. Of all of them, it is pretty obvious Facebook is the "King" and worth investing time into. It could be different for you, since you could be more engaging on Twitter.

It is all about what time you invest in a social site and based on that is the yielding return.

2. Talk And Connect With Your Peers

Your peers could be site owners or bloggers that have their content and they're distributing it to the social masses. Social media has made it a possibility and a "must" to form relationships with your peers.

Connect and talk with them. That is one of the most important tasks for a beginner. Just saying, "Hi, how are you" is a killer opening to a connection. Also offer to let them know if you could share any content they may have.

Having the right top wordpress plugins at your disposal is one step closer to taking full advantage of social media.

Ask them personally to make sure they know you shared their content as they are more apt to respond with the same action.

3. Capture A Following!

Getting traffic from social media is one thing but to get them to like or follow you is another. Since social media traffic is known for traffic that comes and goes, it creates huge spikes then dwindles the next day.

Half the time you are looking to get traffic from a social visitor, try the other to get them to follow you. Asking is a start and providing unique content is also a start in getting them to sign up.

4. Get More Help To Share Your Content

Since social media is about connections and sharing what best interests them, posting your article there might interest them as well. They will look at it and what they see, might help you get started with sharing.

One way to get more shares form a piece of content is to involve your peers in it in some way and asking them to share it. The other is to contact your "legit" readers or followers you are in good connection with and ask them the same way as well.

5. It Is Free To Use

There is no cost involved and use them as much as you can. Set up a profile that looks worked on and has all of your current "information". Start following and making friends with as many as you can, and slowly refine your search.

It is free to share and use the features of the social site, such as meetings or groups. Be aware of the possibility of connecting with other "similar" people and sharing what you have to offer. Keep this strategy at a consistent basis. You'll see the rewards.

6. A Huge Database Of Ideas

On the social sites, in some areas of it, there are many looking for answers to their problems. People are looking for solutions and one of the places they are looking is in social media where they might be following one of their teachers such as a blogger or mentor.

Problems = Ideas. You can also get ideas by looking at what is the trend out there and capturing some of that vibe. Look at other content and analyze for yourself what is getting hits on it. It isn't hard to figure that out. Just look at the social signs such as comments or likes, retweets, etc...

Spying on your competition basically.

7. Social Media = Social Networking

Absolutely the fundamental aspect of receiving success on Social Media. That could be possible as its other name. If you are not networking with others on these sites, and just pumping just your own content and hoping it gets recognized.

Nope. It isn't.

The only way it would be is if your followers or close ones share and help you promote further. That is something I had to learn and didn't think of it that way. So, contact your close connections and help each other out with sharing. That way, you will be able to reach further down the channels of social media.

8. Increase Your Brand "Name"

Even "big" name companies that have existed prior to social media madness, have jumped on this medium to grow their business even more. According to eMarketer.com, 88% percent of marketers agree that social media has helped grow their brand "awareness".

Even if you haven't had your website exist before social media, now is the time to grow that name of your site into the brand that can be known by a wider mas, when grown. A smart strategy is to take a look at the big dogs and catch "some" of those tricks they use, cause they have more experience in the field.

Recap Of The 8 Social Media Advantages

There you have it. The 8 huge advantages listed here you can't miss of social media engagement. It could also be the top ten advantages of using social media for your site.

No more excuses not to use social media like it is, and if you are using it, I am sure you are not using the full advantages of it. I was doing the same till I rediscovered, myself, on what the true meaning of social media is.

Work on each of these eight points, one at a time. These are meant to be working points and stepping-stones to the next level of your social media engagement.

Out of all these points, the true key to success on any social site is engagement and time. Time you spend on getting better on that specific social media site.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7153890

How Social Media Can Boost Sales

As we all know, the sales manager is a major part of any organisation. It is their responsibility to ensure that all of the sales quotas set by executive management are met and that the business delivers its targets. The responsibility on the sales manager’s shoulders can be intense. Thankfully, sales managers are typically former sales people who have been promoted to a managerial position, so they know what hard work is needed from the bottom up. When they encounter any problems, they can use their personal knowledge, experience and know-how to can solve them.

The sales manager has to know their sales areas well and be on hand to assist the sales team when required. A crucial quality of any sales manager is the ability to motivate his/her team. To encourage hard work and dedication, sales managers often establish leader boards and hand out prizes to the best sellers. The role of sales manager is always evolving and many sales managers are turning to social media to create competition within their department. Using social media to create competition is easy, all you have to do is:

1- Create a Facebook page

2- Get your employees to unite on the page

3- Set up internal competitions, sales targets and post how employees are competing

4- Interact, upload pictures/videos of the development

By following the tips above, you could motivate your staff in a more social and interactive way and encourage them to get involved more, which could in turn lead to more sales!

The competitive sales and social environment

Traditionally, ‘sales’ is a very competitive environment. Sales personnel are known for trying every little trick in the book to get one step ahead of rival companies. The emergence of social media has improved and updated the work of a sales executive by providing sales departments with a plethora of resources and vital information.
Websites like LinkedIn allow sales managers to research and analyse companies in various different ways. They can use LinkedIn to introduce themselves to potential clients, gaining direct access in a way which would never have been possible without the internet. The sales manager now has the ability to connect with individuals without any geographical barriers. By asserting your position, you can display your credibility and establish key contacts. Physical meetings can subsequently materialise as a result of your initial social media strategy. As a result of these wider markets, an increase in sales is inevitable.

The Alternatives

There are other social network sites such as Twitter which have become extremely important to all sales managers. Twitter is a rich source of information, often showing users the trends and fads of the moment. Any self-respecting sales manager uses Twitter to keep up to date with what is going on in the market, as well as their own existing client base. Companies often display information which is useful to a sales person, such as the details of an upcoming event or a project that they have undertaken, on social media sites. By following certain companies and organisations on Twitter and Facebook, sales managers can stay informed and up-to-date, putting themselves in a very strong position to sell their services or products to potential clients.

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are generally used as sales aids as opposed to direct selling tools. It is the responsibility of the sales manager to attract customers to the main website by encouraging their followers with interesting facts about the company and keeping them informed of the latest events.

Various strategies can be used by sales managers to assist them in their roles. Some might opt to create videos and integrate them on the company’s Facebook page, allowing them to speak directly to the customer and humanising the company as a whole. This strategy will create interest and make the organisation stand out from the rest.

In Conclusion

Social media helps the company to engage with their customers on a human level without the hard sales tactics seen in the past. Sales will ultimately increase as a result, as followers who are passionate about the company tend to post complimentary messages on the site, messages which are then viewed by other potential customers.

Social media is proving to be much more than a flash in the pan and we will certainly see many more sales managers embracing it with enthusiasm.

What has your sales job involved and how has social media affected you?

Please leave your comments below.


Jenny Beswick