Coaching For Success
Social Networking
How To Make Your LinkedIn Profile Better
Aug 18th
Today using Social Media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you will find that there are million ways to expand your business network, however you may want a more focused business network so as to develop long term professional relationships that can enhance your business growth. LinkedIn was specifically designed for business people to network together and thus is a very useful platform to network with other members of your niche area.
Because it is a business oriented social networking website its primary purpose is to integrate small business networks together. This post looks at a few effective methods to improve your business profile so that you can take full advantage of this very effective social network and market to potential customers as well as enhance your business’ growth potential and if looking for a job how LinkedIn can help get you head hunted.
Be Original
The descriptions you provide in your profile must sound like your own voice. You can freely use words like ‘I’ and express your personal opinions and feelings in a way that markets your best points naturally.This entails thinking of your profile as a stand up conversation with someone you have just met and them asking you ‘tell me about yourself’.
Try to use job descriptive terms or specific words when adding your qualifications. Use ‘doing words’ like dynamic, self starter etc anything that will grab attention but still be believable and truly describe your best professional assets. It may even be useful to use a management glossary here but remember keep it natural in the way you would speak with someone face-to-face.
Your words must reflect your basic abilities like ‘leadership’ and ‘team-work’. At the same time, avoid using clichés and do not repeat the information.
Promote Yourself As The Brand
The idea of you using LinkedIn is to be out there to market yourself, so think in terms of building a brand for yourself called ‘Brand Me’. You can also write a ‘personal tagline’ under your name, which is great as this tagline follows your name in search engine hits. The tagline must be as catchy and as crisp possible. A well written tagline shows your wit and creates a big impression with first time viewers.
Some people just add their designation as tagline which may work if the designation is strongly recognised. The summary section should be filled in with the intent of creating an interest among viewers of your profile. The summary must be meaningful and technical words related to your industry can be used.
You need to do some research to find words describing your skill sets. Recruiters use them as filtering criteria. These types of words can be easily found by doing research on search engines. I do not really understand why but people seem to ignore tips in the same way they do not like reading help files, taking directions or reading instructions. These tips are there to help you get the best from your profile so use them, they appear on the right side of your profile. Do not forget to add a profile photograph to give that finishing touch.
Click on Edit Profile in LinkedIn
Explaining Your Work Experience
Your past work experience always counts on your resume, so it is always advisable to describe each job you have done fairly comprehensively, this lends weight to people seeing you are experienced in your field and quite possibly an expert. Do fill in your proper designation and job responsibilities along with the time lines for these. If there are any gaps in between the employments, do not try to cover them up instead give a brief explanation i.e. took a gap year travelling.
Definitely highlight any achievements while working this is a great place to get recommendations. LinkedIn also provides a feature where you can get ‘Recommendation’ from your colleagues and seniors. The recommendations can prove your credibility and earn you respect in your business networks.
Adding Additional Interests
The section ‘Additional information’ allows you to add your interests, hobbies and future plans. If you have constructive hobbies, then they can be mentioned in such a way that they correlate with your career choices. You can add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. If you write a blog or have any pieces you have written for work that do not break any codes then you can also post its link here. If you’re an award winner recognized by peers, customers or employers, then add yourself some prestige without bragging by listing them here.
Then Choose the Information You Wish To Edit
Promote Your Profile Online
There are lot of forums on various social networks related to your business interests where you can post your comments. This way you can engage other people into a conversation and exchange useful thoughts and at the same time establish your identity. People will be compelled to visit your profile if they like your comments. You can also list up to three websites in the ‘blue box’ on your Profile.
It is better to put the links to web pages or blogs created by you. This is one way of getting backlinks and increasing search engine page rankings. Lastly and very importantly is to find people in your business circles on LinkedIn and add them to your network.
It is a known fact that many top recruiters now filter resumes through LinkedIn profiles and many people have been headhunted in this way. This new way of business networking through LinkedIn is indeed beneficial for business and it is therefore important to make full use of it.
Twitter and Internet Marketing
Aug 17th
One of the best ways to promote your business today is using Twitter. Twitter has over 10% share of the social media market, now this may seem tiny in comparision to Facebook but in real terms especially for a small business this is a very large audience to which they can introduct their products or services to if done correctly.
When you first stat using twitter you have to build relationships and trust, this translates for many people into having as many Twitter followers as you can. This is not necessarily true. Sometimes it is far better to be selective of who you follow and who follows you in order to make Twitter work well for you as targetted traffic means more chances of a sale.
Every time you wish to promote a new product or service, you can tweet all your followers. People can then read your tweets and follow the links that go to your website or your online store. They can also re-tweet messages to people who follow them, thus you have free promotion. You do not need to invest money into such a campaign and if done correctly the results can be very profitable.
Although many people feel that lots of followers equals trust and to the greater part it does many of these people will not necessarily be targeted followers and therefore it is your best interest in getting followers to do some research and find people and groups that are interested in your field and target those people and groups. By doing this you greatly improve your chances of getting new customers looking for your specific product who will be receptive to your tweets on new products or services and these people will be more likely to follow the link back to your website.
One of the most salient features of Twitter is the easy connection with your followers. This micro-blogging platform allows real time communication with your potential customers. Asking questions is the easiest way to highlight your services or products. It is a great way to start a conversation and many other Tweeter users can jump in and offer their opinions.
Social Media Market Share Courtesy of AddtoAny
Twitter is the closest application to replicate our thought patterns. It operates on chunks of information, not on large blocks of text such as blog posts or articles, much like our thoughts. Our mind cannot focus on only one thing for a long time and diverse thoughts criss-cross our mind at any given time. Twitter, with its limitation of 140 characters per post, mirrors what goes on in our minds. Thus, it raises your receptivity, unlike a longer post. Twitter communication is almost like telepathy. You are permanently in touch with other people’s thoughts, as if they were whispering voices in your head.
Marketing your products this way has great benefits, because you can instantly convert leads into clients. The trouble with selling your products to strangers is that you do not know what they are thinking of, so you can anchor them towards you. Enter Twitter! With everyone’s thoughts on the table, you can easily align yourself to their state of mind and offer a solution to their problems; the solution being your product.
There are also certain drawbacks associated with Twitter. It may seem confusing at first or just another distraction in an environment already saturated with other social media platforms. You may also need a large investment of time to build a followers’ base. However, it is undoubtedly, a channel where you can start conversations about your business. You can learn what your prospective customers are saying about a specific topic.
The key is to select useful information for you and promote useful products and serives to your targetted audience. Twitter can certainly help you build your brand and decrease costs related to marketing.
How to Change Your YouTube Channel Background
Aug 13th
Presenting your content in a unique manner matters a lot if you want to gain attention of online users. YouTube is a powerful platforms where you can present your content in video format. YouTube allows you to add your own creativity by customising your content.
But to stand out from the YouTube crowd you need to modify and customise your channel too. If you run an internet business then you really can make your YouTube channel look professional by editing it to carry your business brand forward.
One of such customisation is to add a stand out or business background theme or image to your channel like your company logo or brand theme this will help your subscribers to identify with you and allows you to present a uniformed look and feel to your internet business. Today’s post is another one of our stepwise guides on how to change your background.
Step 1: Log-in
First log-in from the homepage (http://www.youtube.com/) to your YouTube account. If you do not have an account you will need to go create one then continue with the steps below.
You Tube Log in
Step 2: Go to your channel page
The next step is to go to your channel page by clicking on the link as shown in the image below:
My Channel Link
Step 3: Go to ‘Themes and Colors’
Once the channel page is open, you need to click on the ‘Themes and Colors’ tab to display the page shown below, which contains some default themes. You can either choose one of these themes or you can add an image of your choice. The next step shows how to add images as background.
Themes and Colours
Step 4: Adding image in the background
On the same page, if you click on the ‘show advance options’ button, the following items are displayed as shown below. You can set any image as your background by choosing file from ‘Choose File’ button in front of ‘Background Image’. You can also change the background style by choosing other options like ‘Background color’ ‘Font’ etc. again as shown below.
Show Advanced Options
Step 5: Save the changes
After you are done with all the changes, the final step is to update the channel by clicking on ‘Save Changes’ button.
Save Changes
Following these simple steps will make your profile page on YouTube a unique one branded with your internet business identity. Many businesses who are promoting on YouTube also create backgrounds showing their products or services, you can use any sort of creativity to help give your business the competitive edge.
If you like this stepwise guide please trackback, or tweet it, better still why not tell us what you would like a internet business stepwise guide of and we will post them on the Internet Business Coach blog for you.
Facebook For Your Internet Business
Aug 12th
Today is a small help guide for those who want to use Facebook but have not yet started. Facebook is the fastest growing social networking site on internet. It has over 500 million active users. These users are from multiple geographies; have different backgrounds; and have different needs. This provides business operating worldwide, a chance to reach out to them.
Many businesses large and small are actively reaching and engaging customers through Facebook and the Facebook Platform. It is indeed useful for Internet Business Marketing. This post looks at the features within facebook which can add value to your internet business promotion.
Facebook Page For Your Internet Business
Facebook Information Tab
To start with you will need a facebook page to give your internet business an identity among millions of online business pages. A typical facebook page has features that allow you to showcase your business to the online communities. You should add all your content to your profile in the form of ‘status updates’, ‘video links’, ‘images’, ‘events’ and many more. This facebook page is the hub of all the activities you do to promote your business.
You can add fans on this page that will be able to see your updates as and when you post them. Whenever a visitor ‘comments’ on or ‘likes’ your activity, it becomes visible to the fans of that visitor. And hence a viral effect is created and the visibility of your page and your business increases exponentially. The increas in visibility helps to increase Search Engine rankings which is great for your Search Engine Optimisation effort.
Apart from that, you can post ‘polls’; add ‘contests’; create ‘quizzes’ and many other custom built applications to promote your business in more effective manner. Following image shows a business page on facebook.
Facebook Advertising Platform
Facebook Advertising
Facebook also provides you the platform to advertise your products. However, these ads are not free and facebook charges usually on the basis of ‘cost per action. This platform helps you to decide the target audience and the budget requirements. You can connect with more than 500 million potential customers. These advertisements range from simple text-based ads to high resolution images. Moreover, you can change your budget on daily basis. Hence this platform is easy and cost effective. The image below shows the interface of facebook advertising platform.
Sponsor Facebook Applications With Ads
Facebook has number of applications for ‘games’, ‘music’ and other ‘leisure’ activities which are accessed by different audiences. As a business, you can choose the applications which are mostly accessed by your target audience and place your advertisements on them as a sponsor. The sponsored application with ads is shown below.
Facebook Sponsor Ads
Integrating Facebook With Your Website
If your website is an important channel to you, Facebook Connect can help you amplify engagement. You can do this by adding Facebook ‘Share’ links to your website. This tool is known as ‘Facebook Connect’. This way you can get your webpage URL visible across the facebook users. The sharing enables you to share website content with friends, and publishing feed stories to generate traffic. Following image shows how Facebook connect works.
Interacting With Your Customers
Most important part of internet business marketing is the two way interaction with your customers. Facebook provides you the facility of opening up the discussion threads. You can initiate any topic related to your business. You can also ask for the feedback from your customers. Continuous engagement with your customers goes a long way in building long term relationship with your customers.
Integrating Facebook With Your Internet Business Website
As we have seen, facebook is an excellent platform to spread the buzz about your internet business products and service in the market. If it is integrated with other promotional tools then it is bound to produce excellent results in terms of helping to provide new customer leads for your internet business.
Using Twitter For Business
Jul 28th
Twitter has emerged as one of the most popular social networking site online. The so called ‘tweets’ are updates which are posted by users through which they can share their thoughts and ideas, trigger discussions and interact with the other users of twitter community. There are different tools for posting the tweets like- third party applications like Twitterific or Twhirl, SMS, email, IM or RSS.
Twitter is a great way to expand your network as it gives you features to add friends and sends suggestions of people to be added as friends who may share common interests.
How to Drive Traffic To Your Blog Via Twitter
Twitter has a limit of 140 characters for its tweets that is why it is a micro blogging platform. This demands a lot of creativity if someone wants to gather the attention of users. The message must be spontaneous and must invoke the users to comment on it. People do post controversial comments in tweets.
Such comments trigger a series of comments which drives a chain reaction and brings in more people to follow the discussion. People can see a list of top Twitter users at ‘Twitterholic’ and then join those discussions. Your followers have followers of their own and if your original post was interesting enough, news spreads virally across the ‘Twittersphere’ and beyond.
Once you engage the users, you can drive them to your blogs by sharing its URL on your profile. Twiter also provides free ‘WordPress plugin’ for linking your blog and twitter profile.
How to engage more people and expand your network
In order to raise the level of interaction, you should browse through Twitter profiles and find current Tweets in your niche that you find interesting. Engage Twitter members in a conversation and provide helpful information.
Your endeavour should be to give meaningful comments which can add value to the readers, so that they become more interested in interacting with you. People will follow you if they can see value in your tweets.
If you run out of topics to blog about, or you simply want to stay ahead and keep track of hot topics, you can check out ‘Twitturly’, which lists the most tweeted Twitter topics as they appear.
Use Twitter search to your advantage
Twitter has a great search function and its main advantage is that it offers real-time results. Google might be fast in indexing pages but its indexing is not real-time. Users are hungry for hot news and nothing beats a real-time search.
Many bloggers report that they get more traffic from Twitter than from Google and partially this is due to the fact that their tweets are popular and users find them with ease.
Tweet, Tweet and Tweet
You must keep building the relationship with your followers. This is necessary to expand your network. The technique is simple- regular interaction. You can tweet on comments that were sent to you from previous tweets. This way, you can post your tweet again and include your link.
This is a subtle way that you can use to promote your business. It would not be considered spam because your purpose was to comment on the tweets. Every meaningful comment you post is seen by millions of users and hence your popularity increases exponentially.
Twitter is great social platform which is innovative for networking. The features are great and all you need to do is to make full use of them.
