With the new year approaching, now is a great time to look at how you will incorporate social media into your business in 2011. Is your business networking plan linked in to social networking or are you left out?
Prior to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the hundreds of other social media networking sites that have popped up in recent years, entrepreneurs and small business owners spent most of their networking efforts face to face at association meetings, formal networking groups like BNI, Letip and at chambers of commerce. Those are still great venues to meet new people that can become prospects, clients or referral partners. When person to person networking is combined with networking on social media sites, your business can be on steroids. You can develop stronger relationships that will open the door to a new supply of qualified connections that will ultimately lead to increased income.
Are you on Twitter? Twitter is a service that allows its users to follow other users and share information or provide updates in 140 character tweets. When you create a following on Twitter, you have a group of raving fans that want to know what you have to say and will then possibly pass it on to others. Something worth thinking about is that if you have valuable content that you want to share with others, using Twitter is an easy way to do this to establish rapport with your followers who may be current or future clients. You can accomplish this by providing information about your practice, and interesting content you’ve written or thought might be helpful to others. If your followers retweet your content, you can expand your reach and gain new followers that may lead to even more potential new business. The average age of twitter users is 39.1 and 23% of users have a bachelor’s degree with 55% of average users earning more than $50,000. per year. Getting the word about your insurance business to these demographics can be very “tweet” if it converts to new business.
Are you on Facebook? Face it - Facebook is not just for kids. It is the social media networking site that has about 600 million users that you can use to promote yourself both personally and professionally. The more people that know you, like you and trust you, the more likely it is that they will do business with you. That is why this is one social media networking site that should not be ignored when planning your business networking for 2011.
It is shocking to learn that .Facebook estimates that 50 percent of its active users are logged onto the site in any given day; and that the average user has 130 Facebook friends. Wow! What is even more amazing is that Facebook estimates that people spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site and Facebook users interact with more than 900 million objects (pages, groups, events, and community pages).
Some other interesting facts that might compel you to look at Facebook a little more seriously as part of your business networking plan is that the profile of the average Facebook user earns more than $50,000 per year and is 38.4 years old.
Even more impressive is that 17% of users have a bachelor’s degree and 67% of users earn more than $55,000. per year, and are connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. Think about your ideal client or target market and ask yourself if your prospects or clients are part of the 600 million people that are logging 700 billion minutes per month on this site
Finally, there is LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking site with over 80 million users which allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details about the people that they know and trust. These are called connections and through these connections, users can gain introductions to others, get recommendations, find out about business opportunities, look for jobs, write articles, elevate their position in the search engines and position themselves as experts. The average age of LinkedIn users is 44.3 and 23% of users have a bachelor’s degree with 55% of users earning more than $50,000. per year.
The bottom line is that when planning your networking efforts for next year, don’t leave out social networking or you will be leaving money on the table. If you don’t have the time for all three social media sites discussed, I recommend putting your time and talent into LinkedIn. It is the one place you can be certain you won’t be left out of the professional relationships that can convert contacts into contracts. Best of all, when you are out doing face to face networking, you can always invite your new contact to join you on LinkedIn and combine your online and offline networking to put your business on steroids. As the new year approaches, remember, with good networking skills, you will always be just two minutes and two people away from your next referral.
Rhonda L Sher: The Sloganator Rhonda L Sher was born talking. She fell in love with words as a child and has never stopped communicating since. Her father once commented that she was vaccinated with a phonograph needle. Not only has Rhonda inherited her father's humor, but it's that quick wit that has become the signature that has helped propel her clients to stardom.Acclaimed Keynote and workshop leader, Rhonda has authored two books, "The 2 Minute Networker" and "The ABC's of LinkedIn," "Get LinkedIn or Get Left Out" as well as numerous action guides, articles, workbooks, jingles and corporate slogans.
In addition to writing, Rhonda uses her gift of gab as a featured keynote speaker, consultant and corporate trainer throughout North America. She has successfully taught hundreds of business men and women on the art of business networking and written hundreds of elevator pitches and slogans.Rhonda's greatest talent lies in her ability to create fabulously catchy slogans that are memorable, upbeat, easy to repeat and create instant brand identification. In addition to the books, audio and video, Rhonda creates slogans and taglines for her clients which are memorable, bring them business and make them, money. She works with you to create a corporate slogan for your business that sets you apart from your competition. Her creativity and energy will tap into your customer's mind and have your phone ringing off the hook with new business.
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