Photo by luc legay
For those who have not tried it, social networking is the new way to connect to others and to market yourself and your services. To do this, you connect to a social network service. A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
MySpace and Facebook are very popular with young people. Senior photographers often recommend a presence on these networks for connecting with teens. Some even show senior photos on these sites with client permissions.
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site mainly used for professional networking. On his blog Jacob Morgan’s Blog on Social Media, Technology, Marketing, and Life, Jacob writes about 15 Ways to Market Yourself on Linkedin.
Many people don’t realize how powerful Linkedin really is. Linkedin is a great marketing tool for any company or individual. Recently Gary Kelly the CEO of Southwest Airlines, asked a question about how an airline can make people more productive. Well of course I jumped at the opportunity to throw in my suggestions! You can find valuable connections and career opportunities on Linkedin, you just have to know how to market yourself.
Here are some essential Linkedin steps you can take to market yourself or your business:
- Update and complete you linkedin profile
- Add/find existing contacts (friend, family, co-workers)
- Leverage your contacts to get introduced to THEIR contacts
- Join a group, there are tons of them
- Create a group, preferably one that either doesn’t exist
- Have meet-up events or get together with members of your group
- Answer questions that are posted in your network
- Post questions for others to answer
- Place a linkedin widget on your web page (if you have one)
- Change the linkedin URL to end in your name or web site address. So instead of looking like this: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/722/21ca, it will look like this http://www.linkedin.com/in/jmorganmarketing
- Allow your profile to be viewed in search engines (under the settings tab)
- Get recommended from your contacts
- Browse the jobs section (if your looking)
- Rinse, Lather, Repeat
Following these steps I was able to triple the size of my contact list; which now includes CEO’s, marketing executives, lawyers, etc.
Not only that, but I was also able to help create a community with over 400 people (in just a few weeks) called the Search Marketing Salon. Now I can start holding events and meetings to further expand the member base and increase brand awareness (we’re getting there).
If you don’t have a Linkedin profile, I highly recommend that you create one and start networking ASAP. While your networking, don’t forget to join my network.
