Infuse ‘you’ into online business promotion

My philosophy on social networking is the same as it was with e-mail back in the onset of the Internet. I quickly learned that e-mail could take the place of phone calls in many cases, and that it would save us time and money, once we all knew how to use it properly.

The same is true of social networking. Like e-mail was, it’s a bit of a mystery to many people. I hear people remark on not having time for social networking sites; my response is that you don’t have time not to do it. It’s free and it is far reaching. It also marries two key ingredients to successfully promote your business: you and your services.

With a bit more of “you” featured, those in your group establish a level of knowledge about you and therefore potential trust in you; your service offerings then are positioned in ways where people can buy into them easier. They understand the person behind the service (and that there really is a person there at all) and then feel more connected to you, therefore building a relationship with you often in a shorter amount of time.

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“It all feels so voyeuristic and odd,” one client said to me. She couldn’t fathom putting her “personal information” out for the world to see.

What she did not realize was that these sites are invite-only; you have to be invited to see someone’s profile and also what you feature in that profile needs to follow very simple rules: don’t put information on your profile or group pages that you don’t want everyone to read. Think of your friends, family, clients and colleagues all standing in an auditorium watching a presentation about you. What do you want to tell them? What might be better left out of your presentation?

It’s not that you can’t have fun with your profile or your business groups; having a personality and stepping away from a “leads-based” networking approach does wonders for showcasing your offerings. How do you want to be perceived? Whatever that adjective is that you come up with, social networking sites are a way to advertise it to the groups you associate with, both personally and professionally.

Get with the group

There are thousands of “groups” on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites. These are, like the sites themselves, free of charge to create or join. As an owner of a small business, it can be daunting to compete with million-dollar advertising budgets from corporate competitors, but on social sites, we’re all in the same boat. Everything is free and it’s all by invitation only; if someone doesn’t want to accept your invitation to be in your group, they can discreetly opt out of the deal.

My business has a group on Facebook and within just a few days, there were over 150 “members.” Some of the people who chose to accept my invitation to be in the group wrote notes back to me, stating they were excited about our services, wanted information, and were looking forward to updates. Although I know everyone on the list, rounding up this particular group would have been much more difficult through traditional, offline techniques.

Others didn’t accept the invitation, which is fine; I know not to send information their way and that although we are connected socially, they are not interested in receiving business information.

Respect the inbox

Included in my company page is my professional logo as well as an area where updated event, service and product information is listed. With one click, I can update my list of 150 people on all of the happenings in my business. One thing to be careful of is that you are not abusing the privilege of having all of these people engaged in your group; be cognizant of the fact that everyone receives a large amount of e-mail each day, and receiving too much from you may be an annoyance.

A former consulting client of mine opened a new business last year. She sells a unique food product and I found her profile on Facebook a few months ago. Sadly, there isn’t any information about this person listed in the company profile. With the exception of a photo of the person and the listing of where they went to high school (in the ’70s), I know nothing about her; all other information has been withheld. Additionally, there is not a business profile/group for this thus an entire opportunity to interact with their list of friends has been completely overlooked and missed. I leave her page thinking she has a great profile photo and nothing else.

In a time when we’re inundated with junk mail, spam and zillions of offers on TV and radio, social networking provides a fresh way of doing public relations. It’s nontraditional advertising and if done correctly, it makes money. Delving in and understanding each site is critical; not all social networking is correct for business purposes.

If you own a business, take advantage of the free resources online. Begin to put more of your personality into the message you send out to the public and watch the reaction of your network as they learn to embrace your services, simply based on the fact that they know you and trust you.

Dawn Duncan is the co-owner of Broadreach Recruiting & Consulting, a Fort Collins-based firm. Contact her at 970-221-3511 or www.broadreachrecruiting.com