Earlier this week 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.

If you would like the recording of the webinar Online Profile Raising for Busy professional Women you can buy it here.

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I’ve been aware for some time that I really should get into using video on my website. But as someone who has never made a video, and like most people I know, doesn’t actually like seeing themselves on video, I’ve put it off. The facts though speak for themselves – YouTube is the 2nd most used search engine and videos rate high on google, so I really needed to take a leap.

Thank goodness therefore for the intervention of Not Just Video! I had met Andy Palmer, co-owner through a mutual client and we had started to do some work together. I had also been aware of the great stuff coming out of The 8.45 club using a ‘green screen’. So when Andy suggested I come down to the studio and film a one minute introduction to my business I couldn’t refuse.

The results of the day can be seen on my home page – but I’m jumping ahead of myself. I had been asked to send a script that is loaded on to prompter (on an ipad, which nearly came home with me!) as a reminder when you are talking to camera. Of course it wasn’t that simple – although I had obviously thought about what I wanted to say, it was only with the gentle coaching of Richard Spindler – director, camera man, media coach, an all round calming influence – that the words gradually began to speak from the heart about where my passion really lies. Richard offers this form of media coaching to all his clients, so you can be sure that you will end up with a video that really represents you and delivers your real message.

The green screen – or chromakeying – technology is truly awesome. Although my home page video simply has a backdrop of my website, you can see here the kind of clever stuff that Not Just Video really excel at.

And the result for me? Well I feel a bit like the guy who loved the company so much he bought it! No, I didn’t buy the company but I will be working closely with Not Just Video to promote this great service, as well as being part of their studio days advising clients on their on camera image.

If you are interested in having video on your site, I highly recommend you talk to NJV about your requirements. The studio days start from as low as £225 for something similar to my introductory video. A small price to pay for a great service and a brilliant profile raising tool.

And you can see an example of a video interview taking advantage of the green screen technology here, to put us into an HD Studio environment with a wave of Richard’s magic editing wand!

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Last week I attended a Social Media event for women in business kindly hosted by WEConnect Europe at Ernst and Young’s fabulous offices, and presented by Eileen Brown. There were a couple of points that came out during the afternoon which I totally agreed with and would like to share.

Firstly, Eileen emphasised the fact that it’s not the tools you use that matter – so many people get hung up on whether they should be using Twitter or should have a Facebook page. I always tell my clients it depends on your market, and where your customers are likely to ‘hang out’. For example, one of my clients does a lot of work with large corporates so we put a lot of effort into her blog and her LinkedIn activity. Another client is in a more creative industry and is likely to interact more with potential customers on Facebook. So do your research, think about your ideal customer and then choose your tools.

Secondly Eileen stressed the importance of authority to raising your profile online – why should anyone listen to what you have to say? As she said, and I totally agree, building your authority online can’t be done in 140 characters. Having a platform to provide content that your customers will value, and that will position you as a person with expertise and authority in your market is paramount. Whether you run your own business, or are climbing the career ladder as an employee, writing a blog about your specialist topic will get you noticed. It’s the perfect place to send potential customers – or employers – to demonstrate your understanding of your topic. However, a word of caution – you must be consistent. If you decide to create a blog it’s no good updating it once every six months. Create a schedule for yourself, decide how frequently you will post and create a file – physical or virtual – where you can drop ideas for blog posts, so that you always have topics to write about.

It was interesting to hear Eileen’s advice on how corporates should create a strategy and use social media with some stories of where it had been done right and wrong. Having worked for Microsoft for many years she has an insider’s knowledge of what works well in the corporate world. Whilst the way small businesses work will be different, many of the concepts are the same. I really enjoyed networking with the other women in the breaks and hearing how their views were changing from ”I’m just dipping my toe in” to “I really need to get to grips with this” once they understood the importance for their business.

If you would like help with creating a blog, determining your social media strategy or how to use social media get in contact, and sign up for my newsletter which is full of tips for busy working women.

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