Recently I ran a webinar with one of my clients – Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris of Female Breadwinners, on Online profile raising for busy professional women. The key point here was women who know they need to have an online presence but want to know how they can maximise the little time they have to get the most visibility. People often ask me “which social media platform should I use? Do I need Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and now Google+ and Pinterest? Where does it end?” It can be a little overwhelming and what can happen is that you try to do too much and spread yourself too thin doing nothing well.
My suggestion is that you take a step back and think about who needs to know who you are and what you do? Then find out where those people hang out. Are they in the corporate world? If so they are likely to be on Linkedin. Are they in IT or marketing? then I suggest you look at Twitter or Google+. Are they a brand? See if they have a Facebook page.
Determine which of these tools you then want to focus on. If you feel that you need to use more than one I highly recommend you use a tool like Hootsuite, which allows you to view all your social profiles in one place – and post to more than one at once.
Finally you need to commit to regular activity on your chosen profile. You can get away with 10 minutes or so a day:
- Update your status, adding useful links or information you want to share
- Respond to any messages and connection requests
- Thank and reciprocate those who have shared your information (Retweet on Twitter, Share on Facebook and Linkedin)
- Look for someone new to follow or connect with (on Twitter try Twellow, on Linkedin use the people search with your keywords)
Once a week you could spend a bit longer:
- Using searches to find out who is talking about your market – look at Google Alerts and Google Reader
- Joining or participating in groups – try Female Breadwinners on Linkedin, WomenBizChat on Facebook
- Joining a webinar or online chat (Twitter chats are becoming really popular)
As you start to engage, participate and share you will see your connections and followers grow.
If you would like any help with any of the Social Media platforms, or in creating a social media strategy get in touch.
