Hello my dear, good evening to you from here, how is life with you over there, what a nice and sparkling smile you have on your pretty face, actually I was looking for an old friend of mine in Facebook and I came across your profile, I got entangled in that wonderful smile, I couldn’t pass by but to express how I feel and I care about it, I could not take my eyes off such a beautiful lady, that is why I am saying hello. Please always wear this smile, no woman has ever caught my heart so deeply as you do, if you don’t mind can I be your friend, hope to hear from you soon.
When I didn’t answer in 20 seconds, he messaged me again asking if I was there.
For real.
Report. Block. Delete.
But this got me thinking – I tend to want to do this in my business! Ok well not the creepy compliments and stalker-ish feel, but when I see someone I know I can help, I instantly want to pitch them what I can do and how I can best serve them to success. I don’t hold back.
I really started thinking about how I am perceived with prospective clients that I connect with on Facebook and social media in general.
[Tweet “How are you perceived by prospective clients you connect with on social media?”]
People need to get to know you first. They need to realize, on their own terms, that you are worth their time. How do you facilitate that process? Why social media of course!
4 Ways to Approach People on Social Media
Here are 4 ways you can be a blockbuster success while still approaching people in the right way, not in the creeper-I-want-to-sell-you-something way.
1. Be a real person, not an auto-bot.
By that I mean, get on your favorite platform and start posting real time, real life good stuff that actually happens to you. Be real and authentic. Talk about the trials and tribulations of being a business owner, talk about what you believe in, talk about the funny things that happen to you in your day (ie Facebook creeper who actually taught me something!). We are drawn to people who are real and you would be surprised the people who show up with you decide to drop a bit of the veil and go for it.
2. Strike up a conversation with someone who is saying something you love, talking about a topic you are interested in, or just being real (see #1 above).
Spend some time getting to know them and how you can help vs how they could help (ie Facebook creeper guy was all about making ME do something to make HIM happy) Genuine interest in how you can help someone is generally perceived as… Genuine Interest!
3. Write about who you are and what you do so people can find it and read it at their leisure.
This means regularly blogging on your website, LinkedIn long form posts, Tumblr, or whatever platform floats your boat. Show up, be consistent, and give a lot of value for free. All of this builds trust and trust is what turns you from being a “salesy-pitch” into a “caring offer of help”.
4. Foray into real time video and conversations via Periscope and Blab.
(Check out my blogs on each of those platforms here and here) While these two platforms are different, both of them allow for you to show up as who you are, interact with people interested in what you have to say, and find new ways to connect and give value to your prospect clients. No big pitch or creepy vibe, it’s just you and a video and a chat stream, or you and a few other guests talking about something important. Show up in real time and get the benefits of an audience that has now seen you (possibly in your pjs), heard you (possibly with a beer in your hand) and starts to really like you because you speak to who they are as well.
Enter with social media, exit with trust.
It honestly doesn’t take a lot, it just takes a little bit of bravery (to put yourself out there) and compassion (to really want to help). The rest will come.
What do you think of my Facebook creeper? Have you dealt with one before? Don’t swear off social media, just swear to make it better for those you choose to connect with.
Need help figuring out what to say? Want to construct a template for introducing yourself on all different social media platforms? Join me in my LinkedIn group and we will figure this all out together!
I disagree with Mr. Online Webster, Blab does not have to be incessant, indiscreet or lengthy. Using Blab is a smart marketing move because this is no other platform that allows you to interact directly with your followers, fans, and prospects in real time.
[Tweet “Find out why using Blab is a smart marketing move!”] The basics: Blab allows up to 4 “guests” to interview, chat, converse, solve the world’s problems (or maybe just a minor one) in real time as viewers watch. Those viewers can comment in the chat box as well as join in the main Blab if one of the guests “rotates out” of the main conversation window.
Directly from Blab: a few ways this new platform is being used:
Here are a few tips and tricks to get you started blabbing along with the rest of us!
First: Blab works with Twitter, so when you create an account Blab will pull in information from your Twitter account so make sure that is up and running and current. You can also edit this to be Blab specific (I do like using that word!).
Second: Your Blab title is important. But it can be tricky to get it right. Blab pre-populates the title with the usernames of your guests once the video is sent to Twitter so make sure you are concise yet choosey when picking words. Think SEO and think impact and think readability. Try for about 50- 60 characters to leave room for the rest so your entire important title shows up in the 140 character Twitter limit.
Third: Think about pre-scheduling your Blab. This gives you a chance to promote it and engage guests ahead of time.
Fourth: Before you jump in make sure to pop on to a few Blab’s as a visitor AND test out your own equipment and process. Some users like to use external mic’s for a better sound quality. There are a few technical pieces to Blab that make it fun but can be overwhelming if you are alone and new to the platform.
Always think about enlisting the help of a friend to be a moderator for you, where they can read comments, forward you questions from your viewers to answer so you don’t miss anything. The biggest part of Blab is the community behind it, so you definitely want to keep your viewers happy and most often we are happy when we are heard. So catch those questions and be sure to answer them as best you can!
One very smart tip I will pass on to you: Before you start your Blab if you have any calls to action or websites you are going to point your viewers to – have those links listed on a separate screen/document so you can just copy and paste them into the chat screen when you are ready. Especially if you go it alone this is great advice to help you keep things running smooth instead of having to hunt for or Google (and swear under your breath) as you look for those pesky yet very important URLs to give out.
Now on to marketing your Blab!
I think Blab is partially such a great invention because of all the social media mileage you get out of one Blab video. Think of it this way, if you pre-schedule you can schedule a ton of Tweets, posts, pictures to go out to your crowd, even email to your list.
You can:
talk about your upcoming Blab
ask questions about content and conversation ideas
invite more people to be guests
and generally engage your followers on all your other platforms at the same time. It’s a total win-win!
When you are done with your Blab video you will receive an email of the audio and video content so from there you can start all over again with engaging your followers on social media using the links from that email to point them to the replay.
You can:
thank your guests specifically
thank your viewers and invite comments
ask for critiques
invite people to pick the next Blab topic you do
create a blog post out of that one Blab
One really brilliant idea: Make sure to take screenshots as you go, so you have images of all the guests as they move in and out of your Blab. These images you can later use in social media where they add such nice color and visual appeal to your feeds. Remember people respond so much better to images than they do to text (for the most part) which is why so much of social media is swinging toward video now.
I really hope to see you jump into Blab and explore this new medium. Think of the great posts you will have ready to rock for LinkedIn – and videos you can use as media on your profile to make it shine!
Follow me on Blab and check out my next video to get you started: blab.im/karenyankovich
I’m on every Thursday at 2:30 pm Eastern talking about PR and Social Media with Christina Daves!
For more technical step-by-step instructions on the nitty gritty I found these two articles very helpful: go here and here.
Have questions, concerns or just need support of a like-minded entrepreneurial group? Join me in my LinkedIn group where we have some fun while conquering the world of entrepreneurial and small business online marketing together.
I’ll admit it, sometimes I get bored stares when I start talking about LinkedIn. The most bored stares come from artists or other creatives who feel LinkedIn is a boring, simple platform. As a creative entrepreneur I definitely understand the desire to use a platform that “looks pretty,” and one that can also showcase your own art at the same time.
Now more than ever LinkedIn is useful for visually-focused people such as designers, artists, and others of the same tribe.
3 Fundamental Ways To Use LinkedIn’s Visual Elements
There are 3 fundamental ways that LinkedIn can and should be used to use full advantage especially if you are the artist or creative type.
First: Your header image.
As of early this year LinkedIn rolled out the ability to add header images to profiles. This profile header image can be used to your advantage in a number of ways:
Showcase a testimonial
Brand your business with an eye-catching logo
Describe what you do
Mention a current promotion
Show someone how to find you easily (@twitter handle, website, etc)
Don’t miss this opportunity to make an additional colorful and striking impact to those who find you and your profile. But work hard to make it look good, take your time.
Here is my header image. I chose bright colors that match my branding and I am currently showcasing an online tutorial of mine. Yours could be a series of your drawings, award winning photos, or a current makeup photo shoot scene. Truly the ideas are endless here.
What you must know:
Dimensions are 1400 x 425 pixels
Not all of the space is useable space
Some of the space is best used, and some best left alone, even if it’s visible.
Use this template here to create your image so you know what will be seen and what won’t.
With an eye-catching header image you can show your art, your work, and your vision on your LinkedIn profile to spice it up, make it shine, and make it 100% unique to you.
Second: Add media to each profile section you can.
Nothing adds visual expertise, creates engagement, and interest like clickable media with a great image – am I right? LinkedIn gives us the opportunity to add links to websites that populate with an image on your profile, PDFs, full images in a variety of formats, as well as videos. You can truly show a full portfolio here on your LinkedIn profile which is exactly where it should be!
Some ideas of media to add:
Are you an artist that can show a stop-motion video of you creating your art? Whether that is painting, sculpting, or creating a beautiful face, a short video is always a great way to give your audience a true peek into your style and expertise.
Do you have a portfolio of photos of your own or from a photo shoot? Add them here and make sure to add some interesting descriptions that tell people the story behind the image.
Are you a jewelry designer, interior designer, feng shui designer? Showcase before and after’s, add pictures of your newest creations, or add a picture that gives people an idea of how to create that look themselves with step-by-step instructions.
Have fun with it, and show people that you truly are an expert in your art online and off. Adding media to your profile is truly as easy as click, copy and paste.
Here is one of my media sections following my summary section:
Looks colorful and makes an impact no? This section tells readers everything I can do for them as a service or product, how to find me, how to interact with me, what I’m about and why I am good at what I do.
Just to be fair here is an example of another LinkedIn member who has done a great job of using media in her profile. (click here to see her full online profile)
Lyndsay Petruny has showcased her awards, videos of her on TV (demo reel) and other highlights that show us exactly what she does and how she does it. So easy to click on her perfectly described “demo reel” to get a quick taste of her on camera if we were a recruiter looking to nab a new prospect for their channel.
Third: Add symbols to your profile!
This is a fun one, and one I get asked about all the time in my LinkedUp in 30 challenge groups. Go here to find hundreds of different bullets, icons, shapes and fun designs of the perfect size to add to your profile to make it pop just a little bit more!
All you have to do is highlight the symbol, click copy (command or ctrl + c) and then paste it to the exact spot you want to use it in your LinkedIn profile.
Use these little symbols in:
Your header to delineate skill sets
Your summary section to bullet important parts you really want to make sure people read.
Your experience section to denote a list of skills, achievements, and successes in the main text as well as in your experience headlines.
I love stars and use them throughout my branding, take a look at my headline you can see where I sprinkled in a few stars to really make my main profile headline pop.
One item to note, be consistent with your symbols please. Don’t choose 5 different symbols to sprinkle throughout your portfolio. Just like in your messaging and branding you want to be consistent and steady so people come to recognize that this special magic is something that only you can create.
A sampling of all the “stars” you could use:
Bonus tip: Post to LinkedIn, posts that have beautiful header images. These posts and their main image will be showcased at the top of your profile underneath your profile picture and headline.
Mine aren’t so “pretty”, but they serve their purpose by explaining exactly what the post is about and are still eye-catching at the top of the page.
Here are two examples of how posting to LinkedIn can do double duty on your profile:
Mine:
A fellow creative friend of mine:
Both styles serve their purpose well.
So, my dear creative entrepreneur, no more stalling on getting your beautiful self and your amazing work up and showcased on LinkedIn. There’s never been a better time to use this robust platform to show the world how unique you are!
Have questions or concerns? Worried about the technical nitty gritty? (It truly is very easy) Come on over and join my LinkedIn group where you can ask any question and get support and answers from me and the rest of my group. See you there!
I know I often talk about the social media machine, posting up to 22 times a day (that’s for Twitter) and engaging, engaging, engaging.
But what happens when you need (Yep I said need) to go on vacation? As business owners and Entrepreneurs we all should make a point to step away from the craziness of building and running our own businesses. (Yes I am giving you permission!) Vacations are so important because these breaks keep your energy flowing, your creativity boosted, and ideas jumping so your business can expand, grow and thrive.
So my post today is about 5 important steps to take so you can feel happy and carefree heading out on a healthy vacation with your family or on to a solo relax-cation.
[Tweet “5 Important steps to take on social media for a carefree vacation.”]
5 Important Steps to Take For a Carefree Vacation
First: Schedule those posts ahead! I hope you are already using a scheduler to make your social media life easier. If not read my posts here and here that talk about my favorite apps to use and how to use them. Scheduling not only takes the bulk of social media posting off your plate, it allows you to focus on building engagement and the more organic posting that comes from finding trending information that crosses your radar each day. Make sure to schedule a lot of posts that are foundational in nature, meaning they are evergreen, they never “expire”. You can talk about this stuff for weeks and months because it is related to your business why, who you serve, how you serve them, and what they can expect when they hire you or buy from you.
Second: Be honest. I really preach the value of being super authentic with your crowd of prospects and followers. Here is an example of that. It’s really simple – just tell them you will be on vacay and you love them and you will miss them and you will try to check in on them a few times, but you really need the vacation and… ok no. Say “Hi all! I’m heading to the beautiful beach with my family for a week long vacation, so my responses will be delayed. Post all the funny stuff that happens while I’m gone! Have a lovely (week/weekend) I will “see” you soon.”
Or something like that.
The aim here is to just be truthful and direct. If you are a one man show advise what the turnaround time might be for an answer to a question if a customer posts on social media. Give yourself some extra time in case of snafu (kids sick, hotel wifi out, too many margaritas by the beach) Your fans will appreciate this knowledge especially if they need to reach you for a customer service reason. You wouldn’t want to inadvertently create a frustrating customer service scenario where there doesn’t need to be one.
Third: Check your social media a few times. Yes, yes I know. Terrible thing for me to say, and possibly pretty unpopular, but at the end of the day you are trying to grow a business and a sustainable one at that. So my advice? For the first couple years of this business growing phase take vacations where you know you can find wi-fi somewhere, somehow. After that when you are wildly successful and have a team to manage everything you can head off on that African Safari or to the middle of the ocean. But until then, make a plan to check up on your biz and social media at least a few times during your trip. Oh and make sure you pack your cell phone and computer chargers, pack them right now. You can hate me while you are doing it and then you can thank me later.
Fourth: Hire that VA you’ve been wanting to hire. Starting to build your team is the best way to ensure that you can step away for a vacation, or more importantly for a family emergency, and your business won’t suffer. A VA can create, plan, and post to all of your social media sites, can be trained to answer most customer service questions (or at least soothe the customer until a real answer can be found), and most importantly keep your business humming while you are away. Sure you might field the occasional phone call when he or she runs into a roadblock that only you can authorize a solution to, but for the most part a VA can handle a lot of the little details of social media and incoming emails for you. Start interviewing and test-driving a few of these assistants today so you are ready to pack a bag and head out without looking back!
Fifth: Share your photos later. Resist the urge to post vacation selfies of you looking amazing and perfect lounging on your amazing and perfect vacation. Be patient, take a lot of pictures, but don’t post them. Create a fantastic blog post that is peppered with the most beautiful photos of your trip, showcasing a product idea you had while lying on the beach (it’s happened to me!) or take the opportunity to create a personal behind the scenes post. Keep it professional and polished and this post (or posts) can have a nice effect on driving engagement your way.
So what’s the very next step you need to take? That’s right! Join me in my LinkedIn group, where we can all help each other get the courage to take a vacation from our businesses… we can, right group?? We definitely CAN.
Periscope is all about engagement. Engagement and using social media for authentic social selling has been my biggest belief and something I have staked my business on since I started.
Twitter and LinkedIn won’t have be jealous though because there are many ways to integrate these three platforms together to make an intensely strong marketing strategy that will engage your customers and bring you business.
[Tweet “Find out what Periscope can do for you!”]
But first, let’s talk about my new love, Periscope, why I love it and what this platform can do for you!
Your audience can ask you questions and you can answer back. This is a perfect way to engage your audience, show that you value their time, and showcase that you do know what you are talking about. Really dive deep here into your presentation you never know where a question might take you.
Your videos can be viewed for 24 hours. So simple to capture the people in your niche who are busy at the time of your Periscope video. WIth a 24 hour window you have the option to promote it to different social media sites several times and make sure those on the other side of the globe from you can watch it in their own comfortable time zone. AND, if you’ve saved the video to your device, you can repurpose all over the place.
The Twitter icon that you can turn on before you broadcast. This simple feature allows you to auto-tweet out to your Twitter profile notifying your followers that you are broadcasting on Periscope. Such an easy way to connect two of my favorite platforms.
Remember in my recent blog regarding ideas for posting to Facebook? (Read it here) Well Periscope brings you the ability to show a behind the scenes day in the life of your team, of your work, maybe even a peek into your personal life if that is something that will spark interest for your prospect clients and followers. I know in the social media world a lot of the people I work with want to know my systems for everyday social media posting. It’s so easy now to walk them through my office where I can step-by-step them through my process as I work!
You don’t need any video set up, high tech expensive gear, or even your computer. Periscope can all be done from your smartphone and very easily I might add. Don’t worry about editing and making things look perfect. People don’t want to see that anymore! They want to see the real you. Reality TV at it’s best, so whip out your phone and get started. Though I will admit I always try to brush my hair before I turn that video on 🙂
Periscope highlights the mundane and makes it valuable. You know most of life is the mundane day to day business we have to get through, highlighted by the more poignant memories we cherish. I firmly believe mundane is not bad. I do a lot of the same things over and over again every day and so I’ve become an expert at them in my field. I love taking those mundane moments and making them more exciting, more educational, and more valuable to me and my audience. And you can too. What in your life would you like to pass on and move from mundane to memorable?
I love the “hearts” feature. I admit it. I think this is such a clever feature of the Periscope application. This hearts feature I’m referring to allows your viewers to tap on the screen and send heart icons when something is happening that they are “applauding” or approving of. It is such a small gesture, similar to a “like” on Facebook, but so fun and unique. This makes using Periscope that much more interesting to me. Want to send me some hearts?! I would love it!
Your title is worth everything. Think of your headline in a blog post, your headline in LinkedIn, your URL, SEO, everything all rolled into one. That is what your title does for your Periscope viewing audience. Be sure to think about this one a little bit. And use emojis! Make it fun.
From the simple and clear: 10 Favorite Ways to Use Periscope
To a bit more exclusive: Sneak Peek Into How I Use Periscope Live
To unique and interesting: Social Selling: I get 100 viewers I’ll Do the Worm.
Periscope is so new there are yet unknown ways to use it! I Love a new platform where I get to figure out what works and what doesn’t all for myself. Use some of the Periscope stats to hone in your research after you have done a few videos. Be sure to note, how many viewers you had, how many replayed your video, and how many hearts you received on each video and keep track! Then later go back and decide what was the most compelling subject matter for your audience, and do more of
The Periscope audience does not expect a professional video. What a relief! Be sure you take note of background noise and other distractions but aside from that all have at it and have fun! Periscope users know that this is a livestream and thus the bar is set fairly low. There is a lot of forgiveness on Periscope as it is a new platform and just starting to emerge as a major player in the world of social media. I’m sure in the future there will be Periscope videos out there that rival the pro’s, but for now, it’s you and me and our home offices, and I will take full advantage of that!
Looking to start out on Periscope but want to make sure you have a few viewers that tune in? Join my LinkedIn group and let us know! We will be glad to come and support you!
I love the hustle and the bustle. I love meeting new people and making connections. And I really love the exposure the conference itself can give me as I tweet, post and write about the event.
But often people miss out on a crucial first step to making the most out of this time.
One of the best ways to lay the ground work for a successful conference or event is to do some legwork before it ever even begins.
[Tweet “What’s one of the best ways to lay the ground work for a successful conference or event?”]
Ideas to lay the ground work for a successful conference
First, check to see if they have an event only Facebook page. If they don’t, jump in and offer to create one for them! Getting behind the scenes in that way, offering to help, will make you memorable and possibly go a long way to getting you invited back next year to be a keynote instead of just a participant.
If they do have a Facebook Event Page, then stake your claim here. Post useful links, updates, facts and figures, that will help all guests who are going. In this way your name becomes visible and you are linked in guest’s minds as a ready resource of information. That goes a long way toward setting the foundation of trust and expert status.
Second, share the event flyers around your platforms online. Share them often and early. Try to generate buzz around the fact that you are going to this event. Ask questions of people who have been there before. Ask questions to engage those who haven’t.
Questions such as: “What is the best place to park – locals help!” or “Dish me up the best ice cream spot”. or “Who knows the smartest place to start?” Or “What is the #1 question you would like me to ask and bring back the answer?”
Third, find out the event hashtag and use it. When posting on Twitter, sharing your excitement, asking questions, and posting good information, be sure to use that hashtag so you can be found in the stream of people focused on the same event.
Fourth, do some research on the hashtag and see who else is talking about it. Retweet or share or favorite their posts too. Dig a little deeper and see what business niche they are in, where they are from, etc. Introduce yourself and offer to meet up (if they are local and you feel good about that) or share information to gain maximum benefit from the conference. You never know what prospect client or partnership is waiting!
Fifth, create a Twitter list of the speakers and sponsors. Remember my blog post on why I love Twitter lists? One big reason, the convenience of finding and sharing specific information, you can use that right here! Just click on the names in the list and each day share something new from a speaker or sponsor. Promoting others is one of the best ways to gain attention, traction and engagement. Keep it up and you just might get noticed! Sixth, research the speakers. Use this research when you engage with them during the conference so you can talk intelligently about recent events they have done and specifics about their business services or products. Be ready to network like you would a career building job interview! Be prepared and the luck will follow.
Seventh, ask yourself: can you use anything you gain in the conference for a promotion or giveaway on your own website and platforms? Maybe as an attendee you get half off a 2nd ticket, or maybe you will receive a “prize bonus” for buying early and staying late. Is there something related you can create that works as a fun prize for a contest you run on your own social media before or after the event? Promotion and buzz along with a little bit of fun goes a long way toward social media prosperity.
Finally after you get home, unpack and do that laundry (ok maybe do this before the laundry) the final step is to be sure to connect with all your new contacts via LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the place to do business for business people. Add them to a newly created contact tag so you can remember how you met! Unless you met your new best friend, if that’s the case Facebook all the way, it’s wise to keep the connecting to LinkedIn. And remember to remind your new connect-tee where you met! Making your connect request personal leads to an exponential increase in that request being accepted.
Read more about do’s and don’t here: this article is a nice cohesive list of the social media etiquette before, during and after conferences.
Tell me, what is the next event you are attending? And what are you doing about it now?
Need some quick tip guidance on what to do first? Join me in my LinkedIn group! There I always answer questions directly and quickly.
I look forward to hearing your after-conference-success stories here or on LinkedIn!
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
