It really doesn’t matter if you run your own business or are looking to expand your career aspirations.
In today’s Internet-driven world, having social media skills and desires is more of a necessity and not a choice.
Stop for a moment and think about the millions and millions of people you see out there using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many other social networking sites.
Sure, some folks do it for nothing short of entertainment purposes, while countless others do it to network. From business networking to personal networking, using social media correctly can open so many various doors for you and/or your business.
Use Social Networking to Your Advantage
So that you can take full advantage of all social media has to offer from a business owner’s point of view, make sure you (and your team where applicable) are:
- Using it regularly – One area where many business owners fail to capitalize on properly using social media is putting it to work daily. Many will tweet or share from time to time, but that fails to bring the desired results more times than not. You have to use social media on a regular basis. This allows you to not only put your brand out there regularly, but you can also monitor what others are saying about your brand at the same time. Lastly, regular social networking assists you in seeing how other comparable businesses are using social media to their advantage;
- Involve your employees – For those business owners with workers under them, it is perfectly fine (and oftentimes recommended) that they allow their employees to tweet, share, pin and more. Doing so allows your brand to get more attention, something businessman John Lemp has been adept at doing. One area to always tell your employees to steer clear of is engaging in negative conversations with customers. Sure, some customers will turn to a Twitter or Facebook etc. when they are not happy with a company. What oftentimes happens is the negative engagement ends up hurting a brand, which in some cases; the damage is hard to overcome. Instead of going negative on a customer using social media, look to see how you can fix the problem, giving them more reason to say good things about you on social sites and not negative ones;
- Tweet and share your content offerings – Social media is also a great means whereby you can tweet and share your content marketing initiatives. Get your team involved regularly in posting blog articles and any content pieces speaking positively about your company. In doing so, others in your industry (including consumers doing Google searches) will see your content and what it says about how your products or services can help consumers. You should also look to promote others in your industry that has solid content. Those companies and individuals are then more likely to share your postings on their social media feeds. When this happens, it is a win-win for both parties.
From a personal point of view in using social media to promote your role in the business world, you should:
- Eye the prize – Unless you are perfectly happy in your current job role and never have a desire to move up, you should use social media to expand your career horizons. Share some of the work you are doing in your current career on social media. If your current boss doesn’t see how good of a job you’re doing, someone else out there might just do that. When that happens, you could set yourself up for a better career opportunity, all because you used social networking. One word of caution, never use your social sites to badmouth an employer (especially the current one). Not only does this make you look unappreciative of the job they’ve given you, but others that might have considered hiring you will now question such a decision;
- Socialize with other professionals – With millions and millions of people sharing, tweeting and more on a daily basis, you would be foolish not to interact with those who have similar career interests as you. Pick their brains on social media about your career, what you are doing correctly and where you need to step things up a bit. Not only will you make some new friends on social media, but you could find yourself in a better career position one day thanks to one of them.
With all that social media has to offer in the business world, is your social game plan a winner?
