Know what your objectives for
using it areIf you are
on social media, whichever form, for personal reasons, keeping
up with friends etc, don't justify that to yourself as work
time. It's not! What is different is those people who you are
creating relationships with who fit into the work that you do.
So, it's important to know in
your mind what your objective for being on social media is -
both in the generic, strategic sense, and also in relation to
the time you are on there on any given day. It's absolutely
important for social media to share of yourself as well as of
your business, you just need to clear up in your head whether
you are in business time or your own time! If you were working
for someone, would that tweet, message or email be appropriate,
or not?
Way Two: Ensure that the
media you use and the way you use it is appropriate to your
vision and client groups
Another area of coaching I have is being a career coach, and
I've seen a few articles recently about how companies are very
aware of the impact of social media for those they are
recruiting - on recruitment support programs, clients are being
asked to be aware of what their social media says about them. Do
you have pictures, links etc which are great for your friends
but not exactly what you want your clients and prospects to
see? It's good to go though every so often and check that the
posts, links, photo's etc are "on message" and what you want
people to think about you and the way that you work.
In the same way, asking
questions of your clients, or finding out if they are on social
media, is another great way to find out if they are adopters of
these methods, and whether you can use them to add additional
value to them. A good way to do this is to use the search
methods on those social sites that have them to find out what
conversations are taking place about what are you focus on.
Way Three: Be structured
with how much time you spend on social networking
By knowing what your objective is, it also helps you to get
clearer about how much time you are willing to invest in social
media. Knowing this also then makes it easier to know when to
switch off, and work on other areas of your business. For
instance, it may be that you want to apply rules that have been
out there for a while on dealing with email, to the way you work
through social media.
Way Four: Get it together
Often you have the opportunity on a lot of social media sites
now, and blog hosting platforms, to link them together so you
put a post/ comment in one place and it will feed through to the
other site as well. This helps as it keeps your message
consistent, gets it out there in as many places as possible, and
saves you time and effort, because you don't need to repost it
yourself and a wider audience of people see it.
Way Five: See what experts
are doing and try it to see if it works for you
Many tools are new - a lot of what I learnt myself on social
media has been through following recommendations from others on
social media sites that give you an idea of what to do. Don't
re-invent the wheel - listen to those who are movers and shakers
at this stuff and make the most of it to try it out to see if it
works for you! And then pass on the information to others who
may be interested. It's surprising how much you learn, how
quickly!
Way Six Keep in touch, more
easily and more effectively.
If your clients are in your social media groups, then it is easy
to give them an update or an individual contact. Often you can
send out a short link, immediately giving some value. These are
extra ways you can keep in touch as well as your main contact
with your clients. They have a quick question or would like some
help - social media may well prove to be the fastest way to do
it!
Way Seven - Make it easy for
people to find you on social media
Have how to reach you on the main social media sites that you do
in prominent places including your email signature etc. That
means you don't have to keep re-writing all the information, as
it is right there, and boosts the likelihood that others will
connect with you that way and all a sudden you are into their
contact circle.
