PART ONE: Your A-Z Guide of Social Media and Business CommunicationMarch 18th, 2010Hi All! The following post is a Guest Article courtesy of the fabulous Susan Young! Susan works with professionals who want to supercharge their communication skills, self-confidence and success. She’s the President of Get in Front Communications, Inc., a public relations and communications training company. Susan provides presentations and coaching on sales, Reading Body Language, Emotional Intelligence, public speaking, Social media and news. Visit www.getinfrontblogging.com and www.getinfrontcommunications.com. Follow Susan on Twitter @sueyoungmedia. Here is PART ONE of her Guest Post which explains her tips A-M…Part Two will be posted SOON! The way you communicate in your business relationships is directly tied to your revenues, reputation and success. Of course Social Media and technology are forcing us to set new rules, boundaries and etiquette. Back to grade school we go! Here are the ABC’s of Outstanding Social Media and Business Communication: A is for authenticity. In the case of Social Media and online networking, the old adage “Fake it ’til you make it” doesn’t work. Genuine is in; fake is out. Be yourself; be real. B is for brand. Every message, tweet, blog and communication should reflect some hint of your brand and who you are. C is for control yourself. Be careful not to slam or insult anyone online as it can come back to bite you in ways you never imagined. D is for dialogue. Get involved in the conversations, groups and chats with meaningful contributions that reveal both your expertise and personality. Communication is a two-way street. E is for Easy Does It. Before you jump into conversations or new arena’s, take a look around. Follow chats, Tweets and groups. Find the opinion leaders, and movers and shakers. Then slowly get involved. F is for forge relationships. Pay attention to your loyal followers, ideal client targets and competition. Thank those who Retweet or share your information with others and connect with them offline. Follow what others are doing and comment on their blogs and sites. Interactive is a beautiful thing. G is for Get in Front. This is about being proactive and making things happen. It’s not about being aggressive, obnoxious or “in your face.” It’s subtle marketing, branding and sharing value–online. H is for headlines. Catchy news-style headlines of 5-8 words (including keywords) that address people’s needs/challenges will attract readers and followers, and help your SEO efforts. I is for identify. Identify your niche. Identify your area of expertise and passion. Identify industry leaders. Identify trends in your field. Identify your ideal clients. Determine where they “hang out” online and go there. Watch them. We are in an amazing age where we have access to CEO’s, prominent business leaders and superstars that we never could have mingled with before. And don’t forget, identify your competition and watch them too. J is for just get going. Don’t whine that blogging takes too much time, or you’ll have to learn new technology. Look at Social Media and online networking as a breakthrough opportunity that the world has never experienced. Imagine the stories you’ll tell your grandchildren! If you want to bellyache instead of learn, get back in bed and pull the covers over your head. Everyone else is going places. It would be nice if you came along. K is for knowledge. Know your followers, why they connect with you and what you provide to them. Then give them more of what they want. If you don’t know, start asking them. L is for limit your personal life when doing business. It’s great to share your personal insights or “Lessons Learned” but too much information about your private life when you are online to build your business reputation can backfire and destroy your credibility. M is for mistakes. You’re bound to send out a message with a wrong link or misspelled word. Fix it if necessary, send out a correction or apology and move on. It happens to everyone. The nice thing about Social Media, especially Twitter, is that it’s a very forgiving community 🙂 Thank you, Susan! You ROCK! PART TWO of the A-Z tips will be posted soon! Lisa 3 Responses to “PART ONE: Your A-Z Guide of Social Media and Business Communication”Leave a Reply |
Online Marketing and Social Media Faves…
We’ve found some great online marketing and social media resources across the blogosphere the past couple of days, including an awesome Part 1 of an A-Z guide to using social, how social media engagement translates into sales, and much more. All…
[…] Your A-Z Guide of Social Media and Business Communication Great advice on social media in a quick tips format, something there for everyone. […]
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