This past Friday I spent the morning hanging out with Hoda Kotb, of Today Show fame. I wanted to share this story with you and talk about how this all came about and what it’s doing for my business!
I listen to EVERYTHING I can find about LinkedIn. I wasn’t born knowing this stuff, and I like to hear what every single LinkedIn expert is saying! I learn something from everyone, and then I can determine if it’s something I can implement and incorporate in my teachings. So I’m listening to a webinar, and Christina was the guest. She was talking about how important LinkedIn can be for your Public Relations efforts. As she was talking, I was thinking “every word that’s coming out of this woman’s mouth is something I would say”. I LOVED the interview, and reached out to her after the interview to tell her that.
I was working on Portraits and Profits at the time and we were looking for someone to facilitate the PR piece of the training. Now remember, I didn’t know Christina AT ALL, but went with my gut. She loved the project and agreed to be a part of it! Portraits and Profits doesn’t have anything currently on the calendar, but Christina and I became fast friends and we’ve been working together on projects ever since. Oh and we have some fun too! Check us out backstage at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Spectacular with the camel.
Business Lesson 1 – JUST ASK.
I reached out to a perfect stranger, introduced myself and asked her to be a part of my project. She agreed. Since that time, Christina and I discovered how much more powerful our individual work was when we combined our efforts. We started bringing each other in on private client projects, she does her PR magic, feeds me names of journalists and publications she’s targeting, and I incorporate it into the social media strategy. MAGIC happens folks, I’m telling you. Our clients are getting amazing results.
Which led to Get Seen Be Heard. Working privately with us is an investment, it’s a ton of one-on-one time with us both. We wanted to find a way to bring these techniques to more people! #GetSeenBeHeard was born and we’re interviewing AMAZING smart successful people each week. They’re sharing their secrets on how they’ve grown their businesses, and we’re loving every minute of it. Join us live on Blab each week! Check either Christina’s profile or my profile to subscribe and get to chat with us both directly.
When Christina called me a few months ago to tell me she landed an interview with Hoda Kotb, I was THRILLED for her. She works her tail off to get these kinds of opportunities for her clients and I loved that she landed this one for herself. For months I saw her planning this event, getting amazing sponsors, pulling together the event of a lifetime.
About two weeks ago I said to her “I want to come”. I wanted to go, not only to be there to experience the amazing event, but to support Christina. I had (and still have!) no idea how or if this would benefit MY business, but I knew I had to be there. So I offered to come and do all the social media for the event, for free. Christina went into action, getting me a front row seat next to Hoda’s mom, getting me unlimited access to all of the individual events, and getting me my first press pass.
And it was unbelievably amazing. Christina knocked the interview out of the park, and I was running around like an ant taking pictures and posting them all over PR for Anyone’s social media sites. Somehow, I was the only person allowed to post, everyone else had to repost MY stuff! The event was held in the Capital One corporate offices, the Capital One social media team worked through me to get their stuff posted. The Virginia Tech people worked through me to get their stuff posted. The other sponsors worked through me to get their stuff posted. It was SO MUCH FUN.
And Hoda was a doll. As was her mom and her team. They were so fantastic and warm and friendly. Here are a couple of pics.
Business Lesson 2: Be generous with your expertise, even when you’re not sure how it’s going to pay off!
And then my girl Christina. Holy Macaroni. She ROCKED the interview with Hoda. She came up with a big idea and made it happen. Christina and Hoda are both graduates of Virginia Tech, and she found that commonality and made it win-win for them both. She created an event in Hoda’s book tour that is sure to stand out from the rest, and got to know and interview Hoda personally. Amazingness. How did she land this gig? She asked for it.
Check her out.
Business Lesson 3 – ASK for what you want.
Yup, it bears repeating. If you don’t ask, it’s a no. So in your business, what big dream do you have? Who can you ask today to take a step towards making it happen?
I want to know! Comment below, tell me what your big ask is this week.
I have a very important question to ask you. It’s a question I ask all of my clients, and it’s usually the first question I ask when I take them on.
I ask: Within your social media, exactly who are you talking to?
You might think I’m referring to: clients, customers, business partners etc.
But I’m not.
I’m referring to the personification of your ideal client.
Often I ask my clients: “So show me the profile of your ideal client.” And they might stammer a little, or pause for a long time, and then launch into some basic ideas about age and gender and buying habits.
And while that is a start, that’s not really what I mean.
Worse, they might say “Well I hate to narrow myself down, I can really help so many kinds of people”
When you talk to everyone, you talk to no one.
In order to have a solid, profitable social media campaign you need to first do some homework.
[Tweet “In order to have a solid, profitable social media campaign you need to first do some homework.”]
So…who are you talking to?
Five questions to answer in order to build a solid profile of your ideal client.
1. How would you talk to your ideal client in a conversation? Would you:
keep it short and sweet? (think Twitter)
be fun and chatty? (think Facebook)
stay professional and helpful? (think LinkedIn)
This helps because now you know a) where to find them and where to focus your energies and b) how to communicate, even who to hire to help you communicate if your personal communication style is vastly different.
2. What does your ideal client take time to read online and off? Do they spend their time on:
Healthcare blogs or inspirational blogs or follow news blogs every day?
Creating Pinterest boards of ideas for recipes, travel plans, or exercise ideas?
Reading what people post in group discussion boards or the latest trending youtube videos and their comments?
This is important to you because now you know a) where to guest post to reach this audience, b) what to create (videos, memes etc) next in your social media campaign and c) what to follow and comment on.
3. What does your ideal client think about everyday?
Do they:
agonize over decisions about health and wellness?
wish they had help with finances and budgets?
hope and dream about becoming their own boss someday?
This is helpful to know because now you can pinpoint your ideal clients anxieties and stressors and address these specifically in valuable web content, blog posts, newsletters and the like.
4. How does your ideal client define success?
Do they define it by:
money and profit margins?
happiness and freedom?
ability to be at the top of their game?
This is helpful because you can now tell your prospect client exactly what they will achieve that speaks directly to their definition of success. You are speaking their language in your web copy, social media advertising, email marketing and defining your products and services in terms they understand and more importantly defining your offerings in specific ways that show them it fulfills what they need.
5. You found your ideal client’s journal, what does it say?
Yes this is a tricky one, but well worth the effort if you take the time to dive deep here. You can use this information to craft tweets, posts, LinkedIn updates or even the best connection letter you could ever create that hits home each and every time.
Does the journal detail entries about:
their family and friends?
deep dark fears and anxieties?
past traumas and events they overcame?
fantasy solution to a problem they are deal with?
This is helpful to you because now you can address their exact pain points and fears. You can craft products and services that solve these problems and really start to be a valuable expert in helping people create better lives.
And that’s ultimately why we are all in business isn’t it?
When you have crafted this profile of your ideal client, along with the basics of age, gender, hangouts and salary your social media campaign can really expand, dive deep and get results.
Which is ultimately what we want in business isn’t it?
Do you have questions about how to craft your social media campaign or create your ideal client profile? Join me in my LinkedIn group where you can get answers to these questions and more!
If you are reading this you are most likely a business owner and using social media for marketing that business. At least I sure hope you are!
As a business owner myself I know how hectic, harried and overwhelmed your days can be, because mine can be too. But I always make time for social media marketing because of the power it has to bring me customers, partnerships, and a lot of revenue.
In order to make social media marketing successful it needs to be streamlined and efficient. It can get overwhelming thinking of all the posts, comments, tweets, likes etc etc that need to be taken into consideration as you step forward into becoming successful in this realm.
[Tweet “In order to be successful in social media, you need a routine.”]
In order to be successful you need a routine.
Just like everything else in your business you need a system.
Your successful social media system must contain four essential parts:
1. The ability to create valuable content for your people. 2. Consistent posting and tracking of those posts. 3. Engagement with fans who comment, like, and tweet. Don’t let their comments hit a brick wall of silence! 4. Growth. A system to steadily grow your followers, these followers who turn into prospects who turn into paying clients down the road.
What’s your routine to address all four of these pieces?
DO you have a routine?
Let’s start creating one now.
First: Write it out. Open up a document on your computer and call it “SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) For my Social Media Plan”. Just brain dump all the little pieces of the puzzle you currently handle, or hope to handle. What platforms are you one, how many posts to each platform, what topics do you want to cover, when where how do you engage. Slowly you will see some patterns forming and start to organize it into a system.
The beauty of getting this out of your head and down “on paper” is now (if you already have a VA) or in the future when you can afford one, this paper will be worth its weight in gold. You will have the structure ready to hand over to someone to let them take over the lion’s share of social media marketing already written out, less confusion, quicker training, less money and hassle for YOU.
Second: Take a look at what you have written down, do you have a recognizable system for each of the 4 main parts I mentioned above? Part 1. Do you know where and how you find and create content to post on a consistent basis?
Go here for my blogpost to read a step-by-step process on how to curate content ahead of time so you aren’t faced with staring at a blank “status box” wondering what the heck to post today.
Part 2. Do you have a system in place that shows you when, where, and what to post? That would be an editorial calendar and having one makes all the difference from confusion to concrete. Plus you can also share this with your team.
Go here for my blog post on editorial calendars, get a step-by-step tutorial with examples you can copy and create your own today.
Part 3. Do you have a system that allows you TIME to engage and respond, retweet, repost and comment on other social media in your niche? As well as respond to those who engage with YOU? I hope so. You can’t grow your circle without engagement. You can’t build your brand without engaging those who are similar. You can’t entice your followers to fall in love with you without communication. So set aside time in your editorial calendar, in your overall system calendar, or just in your daily to-do list. Make engagement a habit and see your efforts returned!
Part 4. Do you have a system for building followers and growing your list? This can be done in a variety of ways. Consistent posting, engagement, and valuable content all three mentioned here today are top ways of building your fan base.
Do you have a system that allows prospects to opt-in? Do you have a system that leads them exactly where you want them to go over and over again?
Go here to learn more about creating a squeeze page and how to market it effectively across all platforms to steadily grow your list, increase your followers, and build momentum for your social media campaign.
Third: Feeling overwhelmed and need some help? Look for a local social media workshop! I’m in New Jersey and I regularly help local business owners with this very strategy.
My upcoming workshops and events can be found by clicking HERE.
In the New Jersey area on November 20th? CLICK HERE for details on my next Profitable Social Media Workshop. Get a social media plan for 2015 to bring you results!
Not near New Jersey? Find these sorts of workshops in YOUR town!
Some Ideas:
• Check LinkedIn for local groups that might know about local events. • Check with your city classes, Chamber of Commerce, and small business events online and in the local paper. • Search Facebook for local business groups and see if they hold events. • Google Meetup.com and use their search feature to join a few local business groups that sound interesting and are in your niche.
Bottom line, get some help!
When you have a plan the process becomes simple and doesn’t take up much of your time.
Plan for success – I’m here to help!
Join my LinkedIn group to ask questions of me and the group – others in your exact same situation – learning and making their way through this wild world of social media marketing.
You grab your morning coffee and fire up your computer for the day. You glance at your to-do list. It is long, but you are energized because, well, you are running your own business! And that in itself makes you want to dance a jig (when you’re not so tired from working so hard). But then your eyes get to a hastily scrawled note added after the fact to the page. You sigh deeply. You sigh again because you know you didn’t do it yesterday, you probably won’t do it tomorrow, and you reaaaallly don’t want to do it today.
This note to yourself says: Post to social media TODAY!!
TODAY actually meant yesterday, and the day before, and probably the day before that.
What Do I Post?
“What do I post?” and “Where to find the right information?” is something that I regularly hear from my clients, and truth be told I pretty much hear it from everybody who wasn’t born with social media already in their lives every minute of every day.
Do you find yourself staring at a blank Facebook “Status” box more often than you’d care to count?
We’ve all been there, yes even me. So let’s stop the agony and procrastination with a little bit of healthy planning and you will see how easy (and actually time saving) social media can be when you do it right!
[Tweet “Let’s stop the agony and procrastination with a little bit of healthy planning for social posts.”]
First: You must make content curation something you do way ahead of time.
Create a Dropbox or Google Doc folder, even Evernote will work. Something you can access from all of your devices. Because if it’s not convenient it won’t happen.
When you are online in your daily business and home routine and you see pictures of something you’d like to share, just save it to that folder you have created. Dropbox and Evernote both have icons you can place on your web browser that allow for drag and drop or click to save uploading that makes everything happen in about 2 seconds flat.
Dedicate just a little bit of time to research each day. This feels a whole lot better than “I must create something to post today.” Just take 5 – 10 minutes daily (or make it a weekly longer habit) and spend some time on Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook. Search out your relevant terms. Watch what comes up and keep saving these pictures to that folder.
Second: When you sit down to share a post go to your content folder first!
Look through your stash of photos and visual media and decide which fit best the platform you are wanting to post on today.
Click copy, save and share – all in a matter of a couple of minutes. No deciding, no hemming, no hawing over what might be theperfect post. Because I will tell you right now – there is no such thing!
Third: Do this same process for text type posts.
Create an Excel spreadsheet (or even a simple list) and upload this to the same applications listed above. (Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs)
Give yourself a bit of time each day or each week to sit down and just free write a bunch of Twitter sized posts.
Create a new sheet/document/file for each type of content. For example you might have a quotes list, a statistics list, your marketing messages would be a good spreadsheet to start, as well as short posts with links to each of your blog posts.
Every time you come across something online, find a link you want to share, come up with a marketing message that you would like to get across, just add it to the relevant tab with (or without) a link to match.
Fourth: Watch that list of posts grow over time so you never feel at a loss again.
Remember this is all done ahead of time, a few minutes here, 15 minutes there. Set up the foundation of folders and files so you have a place to set this information down and easily retrieve it later.
The time you invest in this on the front end of the social media posting process will save you hours of sitting in front of your computer wondering, “What the heck do I post today??”
Try it and let me know what you think. I promise you, you will like it.
Have questions about how to set up these tabs and sheets and folders?
Want me to take you through it step by step?
Just join my LinkedIn group! In the group, I answer everyone’s questions personally, and I’d love to answer yours.
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