A new client approached me recently seeking help in boosting her LinkedIn profile. When I looked at it, her profile revealed very little about her professional experience or her business. Moreover, her key words (i.e., specific words that search engines such as Google and Yahoo will find) were inadequate in that there weren’t enough of them and they were poorly chosen: They would not show up in relevant searches.

I created a customized LinkedIn strategy to add substance to her profile and add appropriate key words. Then I gave her suggestions for finding new connections. Six weeks later, my client has implemented the strategy and has 50 new, quality connections as well as an enhanced profile that says a lot more about her business and her credentials.

But it’s not all about numbers. The quality of your connections is more important than the quantity. Building your connection base should be a deliberate process. Connect with people with whom you already have a good relationship or would like to build a stronger relationship. Some connections will be people with whom you do business, but equally worthy connections are others who are well-connected and in a position to refer business to you.

It doesn’t happen overnight. Building business relationships takes time. You have to earn trust and respect in order for someone to give you their business or refer you to others. LinkedIn recommendations help build your reputation. Ask your existing LinkedIn connections for recommendations, and in turn recommend people with whom you have done business.

I’ve been suffering from blogger’s block (aka writer’s block)! There are plenty of topics on which to write that will hopefully prove useful to my readers: from social media topics and tips to general business tips for my small business clients. I have no excuse. Finding one’s voice in blogging can involve a little trial and error, but it’s better to try than simply sit on the fence and procrastinate.

One lesson I’ve learned, however, while I’ve been trying to decide which topic to discuss, is that there appears to be a direct connection between the frequency of my blog posts and the number of visits to my website. Hurrah, someone is reading this!

At a recent networking meeting, social media was the topic of discussion. Some business owners asked why they should participate in social media. The simplest answer is that the main goal of social media is to drive traffic to your website. The reason it works is (a) the search engines find social media, whether it’s your blog, Twitter or Facebook posts; and (b) each blog post is an article setting you up as an expert in your field, and the library of articles grows with each blog entry you post. This means that you are found in more searches the more you write.

So while I’ve been dealing with life and not posting to my blog, I’ve missed some potential business leads.

Lots of different businesses use social media for a variety of reasons. Some have a blog, which they update regularly to provide helpful information to their clients and reader. Others have a store and use social media to advertise specific products. Still others provide a service and use social media to promote their services. Below are three case studies as examples of how some businesses are having success through social media.

Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner – a blog that uses guest bloggers to discuss social media and catchy titles to entice readers. The key to attracting a following is writing good blog content. The blog is promoted by Twitter and Facebook posts and gets lots of comments.

H.M. Yachts Ltd.

H.M. Yachts Ltd. – a yacht and powerboat broker which uses several social media channels to promote their business. Their YouTube channel hosts video tours of the various yachts they have for sale. These tours allow purchasers to view the yachts from the comfort of their home before contacting H.M. Yachts. The company’s Facebook page provides links to the YouTube videos as well as updates on new boats for sale. Since setting up the Facebook page in January this year, H.M. Yachts’ page has 116 fans. H.M. Yachts reinforces its Facebook presence by using Twitter to broadcast links to its YouTube channel.

Ziers Prime Meat

Ziers Prime Meats – not just your average butcher, Dave Zier draws customers to his gourmet retail meat market by notifying his followers when he is smoking hams or making fresh sausages. Dave does this by posting updates on Ziers’ Facebook fan page and on Twitter. His posts are written in an engaging manner. One great example was his post that he and his wife had watched the movie Julie and Julia and now he knew why he had been selling so much duck, short ribs, and stewing beef.  Occasionally Dave posts recipes on the fan page and announces upcoming television appearances. Since beginning their posts just a few months ago on Facebook, they now have over 200 fans.

What type of posts get the most response on your Facebook page? How do you engage your customers? I would love to hear what works for you.

In order for you to make a rational judgment as to what works and what doesn’t, your social media consultant should provide you with a periodic evaluation of your strategy. For example,

Website and blog

When it comes to your Website and blog, consider Google Analytics , which provides tracking statistics for both your Website and blog.  Among other items, it will show you the sources for your traffic and the keywords used.

Social Media

There are a number of tools you can use to track your social media traffic. One of these is HootSuite.  As long as you create your Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn posts within HootSuite, the program will track the clicks on the mini URL created as part of your post.  Google Analytics will then show you what social media channels directed traffic to your blog and Website, which is, after all, your main goal with social media. (See my blog post on this topic.

Facebook

To see Facebook traffic statistics for your Fan Page, click on Ads and Pages from your personal profile, and then click on View Insights. This will show you a series of graphs (accessed by the drop-down box) to do with interactions over time with fans, and Page views.

Two measures are considered relevant when discussing Facebook: Return on Influence and Return on Investment. Return on Influence is measured by the number of strategic friends, the number of fans on your business page or members of a group, an increase in interaction with fans and an overall growth in conversations. Return on Investment is measured by the number of Facebook page visitors who also visit your Website, an increase in sales from Facebook fan page leads, or an increase in business leads.

Twitter

There are a variety of services that track various aspects of Twitter activity, but I haven’t found one yet that I like. Stay tuned! Basically, with Twitter you judge the number of followers you have and the interaction you have with your followers. The number of retweets or mentions will give you an indication of this interaction.

Now that your social media strategy has been developed, it’s time to implement it, which means you might want to outsource that job to a third party. The best choice would obviously be the most qualified person you can find, namely, a social media specialist or a qualified consultant such as a trained virtual assistant. Whatever your choice, it is incumbent upon you to communicate your strategy to your consultant. Relying on someone else to develop your social media presence without input from you, the business owner, does both you and your customers a disservice.

Outsourcing your social media tasks, however, does not mean you can wash your hands of any involvement. It is fundamentally important to understand that social media provide a way to build relationships with your customers. You should provide clear guidance about how to handle communication with your public. After all, you want your customers to interact with you, not your social media consultant. Therefore, it is advisable to set up guidelines about what she or he can say on your behalf and exactly what you want to control.

Working with a social media consultant benefits you in several ways. One, you save time (and the money your time represents) by not having to learn what your consultant knows already, i.e., how to use social media. Two, the time saved can be used to enhance your off-line marketing plan. And three, you have a new sort of marketing tool through your social media campaign.

To be more specific, let’s turn to the most popular social media outlets.

Facebook – If your strategy calls for a stronger presence on Facebook, your consultant can set up a fan page for your business that includes a custom landing page for first-time visitors (see example here). This is a good way to present more information about your services and what makes your business stand out from your competitors. You should also set up a schedule for regular status updates and fill out as much about your company on the Info tab as possible.

Twitter – If Twitter is part of your social media strategy, set up a schedule of “tweets” and create a custom Twitter background in which you can display information about your business (see example here).

LinkedIn – Your LinkedIn strategy will probably include participation in discussions and groups as well as regular status updates on your own profile. Again, set some time aside on a regular basis to engage in these conversations.

Blog – Set up a blog calendar so you have a plan as to topics to address in future blogs.

With all of these social media channels, you can set up your activity in advance with specific dates and times for the updates to post. Www.Ping.fm, www.HootSuite.com and www.socialoomph.com are two such tools.

What sort of results are you getting from your social media activity? Post a comment below and let us know what’s working for you … and what isn’t.

Next time we’ll discuss evaluating your progress.

Before you jump off the diving board, decide which pool you’re going to dive into. A social media strategy is the key to a successful Web presence. It helps you to define your primary purpose for participating in social media. It also helps you to organize your social media channels and activities. Goal setting, an action plan and measuring ROI (return on investment) round out your strategy. 

Your input during the strategy phase is important. Even if you don’t know much about social media, you know a lot about your business. Your social media strategy should be aligned with your overall marketing plan.

Assessment

Your social media specialist is like your swimming coach, who will guide you through the assessment phase of the strategy, helping you to identify your primary purpose for using social media. Some of these factors may be generating leads, building brand awareness, and increasing traffic to your Website and blog. You may want to use social media as a customer-service channel.  Maintaining a blog helps you set yourself up as an expert in your field, creating a permanent library for readers to search.

Brainstorming

The next phase is a brainstorming session to explore various social media channels and identify which ones are more likely to produce the best results for your particular business.  You may determine, for example, that your customers fit the demographics of Facebook more than Twitter. You may set a general goal to increase brand awareness through your blog. Or you may plan to draw 250 new customers to your Website in the next six months, and this can be tracked by your social media specialist.

Action Planning

The third phase is action-planning. Identify goals and the specific action required to achieve them. For example, in order to increase readership of your blog, one action may be to follow the top five blogs in your field. To be most effective, you should go beyond merely following the communication. You should actively participate by regularly commenting and engaging in the online conversation.  To draw customers to your Website, you may develop a profile on a couple of niche social media channels (social media channels specific to your field) in addition to establishing a Facebook Fan Page.

So, now you’re ready to get your feet wet.  Next week we’ll talk about implementing the strategy, and after that the final phase: is evaluating your progress.

I’m all for outsourcing. Without it I wouldn’t be in business, but I think business owners should have some procedures in place to safeguard access to their social media sites when they outsource. For example, take the case of a business owner who has outsourced the job of creating a Facebook Fan Page for their business to their college-aged child or a summer intern. The intern may set up the page using their email address and a password of their choosing. They post a few status updates during the summer, but before long September comes and the intern is gone. By December, the business owner suddenly realizes that no updates have been posted to their Fan Page and they have absolutely no idea what the password is. The intern, by this time, has forgotten the password. Apart from the fact that this means the business owner hasn’t been following their social media strategy, they now have an obstacle to getting back on track quickly. They could click on the Forgot your password? link on the Facebook login page, which will send a password reminder, but it goes to the email address registered with the account, which is that of the intern.  

In the first place, it would be a lot simpler to anticipate problems like this and create some simple procedures before outsourcing any task that requires setting up accounts on behalf of your business. The login name (usually an email address) could be a valid company address like info@yourdomain.com unless you have given your intern an email address at your domain name. This way, if the password is misplaced or forgotten you can click on the Forgot your password link and the email will come directly to your company email account.

Secondly, establish a procedure so that all passwords created on behalf of your business will be recorded in a designated place. Some simple guidelines about creating a password might be to use special characters such as “#” and “#%” followed by two numbers and the first three letters of the Website for which the password is being created, followed by two numbers and the two special characters, resulting in a password like “#%13fac57#%.” Another password-naming technique is to replace letters with numbers so, for example, “Facebook” becomes “Fac3b00k.” You can add any combination of other characters you desire. Once you’ve established guidelines about the special characters you will use, be sure to communicate them to your intern or other responsible party.

Create an admin for your Facebook Fan Page

A simpler method for Facebook is to create the initial account yourself and designate the intern as an admin for the account. This allows the intern access to your account but the main login is still yours. To set up an admin follow these steps:

In your Facebook account, go to the menu at the bottom of page and select Advertising.

1. Click on Pages.
2. Click on Manage Your Existing Pages under the green Create a Page button.
3. The column of items on the left shows various applications you can use to administer your page. To the right of that is a column in which you will find a section called Admins. Click on Add. If the person you wish to make an Admin is a “friend,” select them from the list of “friends.” If not, add their email address in the lower box. They’ll get a message, and when they sign into Facebook they will be assigned as an Admin. 

Finally, someone should audit all accounts in use and make sure they are set up with your company email address and that you have the passwords.

Continuing on the topic of social media and social networking, this post discusses some elements to consider for your social-media profiles. Remember that you’re trying to create a relationship with your audience so you want your personality to shine through. Your profile should include the following:

1. A recent photo (a high school photo if you’re in your forties won’t do) that shows you in a professional manner. First impressions are important and made in seconds.  Seeing your picture also helps people connect with you and makes it easier for them to recognize you when they meet you in person at conferences or networking events. Make sure the photo is correctly exposed and neither too dark nor too light.
2. Your interests, both professional and personal. Explain how your expertise sets you apart from your competition. You want to be memorable.
3. Your “elevator speech” or something equivalent: your name and company name, some of your services or products, what makes you stand out, and finish with your tag line if you have one
4. Your keywords where relevant
5. Links to your Website, blog, and other social networks
6. Your full contact information: Website address, email address, mailing address, all relevant phone and fax numbers, other social media profiles
7. Names of groups or associations to which you belong

Make sure your profile is inviting and easy to read. Keep the paragraphs short and concise. Not all social-media channels require the same amount of detail in your profile, but always try to include as much as you can. The little details you list may be just the reason someone chooses you over your competition.

My philosophy about social media is that it should drive traffic to your website. If you have an effective Website, visitors will buy what you are selling, whether it is a service or a product. Since Twitter restricts your entries to 140 characters, consider blog posts as the highway to your Website and Twitter as an on-ramp. In other words, when you publish your blog post, Tweet a link to it so that your Twitter followers will read your blog entry and then visit your Website to find out more about you and your service or product.

Another reason to have a blog as well as Twitter is that the process of updating your blog increases your rankings with search engines, which like to see sites being updated frequently. Having your blog as a part of your Website helps achieve this. In addition, you are building a library of articles through your blog that establish you as an expert in your industry. Those articles work continually to market your business as they are found by the search engines in response to user searches.

Here are some tips for managing your blog:

1. Write down ideas for blog posts in a notebook as they occur to you. (In fact, the idea for this post occurred to me while driving and I made a mental note of it until I could write it down.) That way you’ll have a reservoir of subjects available to blog about, and you won’t find yourself scrambling at the last minute to come up with an idea.
2. Keep your blog posts fairly short: 250 to 400 words are plenty. (This one is 328)
3. Set a schedule that you can work with.  Once or twice a week is enough to keep your blog active.

In summary, if you prepare with ideas, it only takes a few minutes each week to publish a short blog post that will drive readers to your Website without it becoming an overwhelming burden.

It’s not too late to send out your Christmas cards. These instructions may help to print your labels using your Outlook contacts. Of course, you can use this all year long for regular mailings.

1. In Word 2007, click on Mailings tab
2. Click on Start Mail Merge and select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard from the drop down list
3. Select labels from the options in the blue Mail Merge box on the right of your screen.
4. Click Next: Starting document at bottom of blue box.
5. Under Starting document: Change document layout select Labels option.
6. Enter the number of your labels (found on the packet or on the sheet of labels), click ok. You will get a dialog box that says Word must delete current contents of Document 1. Click ok.
7. Click Next: at bottom of blue box
8. Under Select recipients: click Select from Outlook contacts and click on Choose contacts folder.
9. Select Contacts and click ok
10. A dialog box called Mail Merge Recipients will pop up. Go down the list and uncheck the ones for whom you don’t want to print labels. Click ok when done.
11. Click Next: Arrange your labels at bottom of blue screen
12. Arrange your labels: Click on Address Block and then click on Update all labels.
13. Click on Next: Preview your labels.
14. Click Next: complete the merge.
15. At this point you can print your labels or edit individual labels.