Everyone is in sales. How are you differentiating yourself?
Our value in the future will come from perceived trustworthiness
online. Sharing valuable business information will help others see you and your
organization as experts in your field. When someone does an online search for your
name, your organization’s name, your product or service, social sites pop up
first and you want to have the good stuff on the top. You are already active in
your community, on boards of directors; give your time and energy to good
causes. You know how to network face-to-face, so look at social media as an
extension of your offline network. You have a lot of experience and education.
Some days, it feels like you are not getting the respect you deserve for your
accomplishments, or that these things don’t matter anymore. They do matter! The
trick is to convey how awesome you are online so that your influence translates
to the rest of the world.
If you are worried about privacy issues, make your Facebook
profile all business. Otherwise, learn how to use the lists so you can feel
comfortable sharing different messages with different groups of people. If you
are already using LinkedIn to share articles with your network, sign up for
Twitter and share to both platforms at the same time. Continue to connect with
everyone you meet at offline networking events online – LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Use social media on your smartphone – down time or in
between times. Learn where to find quick and relevant information to share on
the fly. Flipboard is a service I have been using on my new Samsung Galaxy Note
II and I love it so far! Even if you are not great about having a daily social
media routine, don’t forget to use social media before, during and after events
that you attend. They are a perfect way of connecting with other attendees,
sharing what you are learning and giving the organizers feedback.
The more you start to use social networks for yourself, the
better understanding you will have of how your customers want to connect with
you. The future of customer service is 24/7/365 via social media. Business
hours are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Future employees will judge
your personal brand and determine whether or not they want to work with you
based on what they see online. If you are not already, you will start to hear
about marketing automation systems and social CRM. You will need a basic
understanding of why these tools are important to have.
If you need help, find someone who is patient. Don’t ask
younger relatives for help because it will be hard for them to take the time
and walk you through each step until it clicks for you. People who grew up with
computers have a difficult time understanding why it takes older people so long
to operate them.
