Getting Work In The Field Of Social Media
Do you know anyone who actually gets paid to update Facebook, Twitter and write a blog? Mindy Smith does. She works for David Hira, a professional speaker and magic entertainer. How did she find this fun job? That’s right, on Facebook. If you are looking for a job, read on to find out how you can follow in Mindy’s footsteps.
Looking for a “real job”
Though Mindy holds a degree in Sports Marketing from Texas Wesleyan University, like many recent college graduates, after graduation she continued to work at her college job, waiting tables.
In her spare time, Mindy looked for a “real job” on sites like Monster, Career Builder and Yahoo jobs. She also submitted her resumé to company sites even if they weren’t hiring. She mostly searched online, but did place a few phone calls to local businesses as well. Then she saw the posting on Facebook.
Mindy was connected to David Hira on Facebook. An accomplished corporate motivational speaker, David uses magic in his presentations, and belongs to the same magic club as Mindy’s dad—thus the connection. One day David commented that he was so busy he needed a second assistant. Mindy sent David her resumé, and let him know she could help him with marketing. After a conversation where Mindy also promoted her accounting experience and mentioned that she could use social media to market David’s business, the two began their working relationship.
Helping an Entrepreneur Utilize Social Media Marketing
Since David’s business is derived from word of mouth and referrals, social media is a perfect medium to encourage new business and communicate with clients. Though David is in the “over 40 crowd”, he has embraced social media as a communication tool and uses it very effectively. When Mindy began work, David already had a Facebook and Twitter account, but was mainly communicating with friends and fellow magicians. He wanted Mindy to move his social media usage from the “friends and family” mode into “social media marketing” in order to grow his business and improve customer service.
Blogging
Mindy now helps David to use social media more effectively. She’s encouraged him in writing his blog posts, explaining that his posts need to be from him (not her), in his words, should represent his ideas, and do not have to be fantastic as much as genuine. She’s also let him know he is not alone; she can help. As an example, when David is in a meeting, he can make a few notes on his iPhone and send them to Mindy, who can develop them into an article for the blog, newsletter, or both. This “back and forth” allows David to focus on the message and Mindy to focus on the tools, which include WordPress for the blog.
David has a Facebook account for personal use and another one for business, with quite a bit of crossover between the two. Though David does most of the updating needed, Mindy helps by suggesting content and recommending friends who can help build his fan base. Check out David Hira, Magician and Keynote Speaker.
David and Mindy are building a Twitter network of people, including people who know David well and audience members who have heard him speak. When David gets a new follower, Mindy makes sure to respond and see if David should follow the person, too. She also does a lot of searching and listening on Twitter and connecting with meeting and event planners.
To keep organized and on top of content, Mindy uses TweetDeck with the following columns: Motivational Speaker, Inspirational Speaker, Corporate Speaker, Direct Messages, and Mentions. Mindy and David keep Twitter fresh by posting David’s favorite quotes and “trash talking” with other magicians (which once led to a cook off in Austin due to the boasting between David and friends).
YouTube
Since David is an entertainer and keynote speaker, it’s natural that he would use video for promotion. It’s a wonderful medium for visitors to sample his work. “If you are a meeting planner, you can click on the ‘YouTube’ icon and see a quick video before contacting us about a booking,” says Mindy.
Flickr
Besides posting pictures on FaceBook, Mindy has added a Flickr account. She says, “Flickr has grown as an accepted place to search for pictures of keynote speakers and entertainers. To be effective in marketing, you have to go where your customer is.”
Newsletter
You may not think of a printed newsletter as social media, but the content in David’s newsletter ties in with the blog posts and updates on Facebook and Twitter. His newsletter formula for success consists of feature articles, favorite recipes, business recommendations, and business tips. By referencing the electronic version of the newsletter on the company website, David and Mindy extend the usefulness of the newsletter, and tie in to social media.
A great team
David and Mindy make a great team, blending the experience of an entertainer and speaker with the enthusiasm and social media awareness of a recent college graduate. By hiring youth and matching it with experience, they’ve come up with a winning combination. Whether you’re looking for a job, or looking for a way to leverage social media for your business, you’d do well to follow their example.
HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NETWORKING
In the video, Eric goes over how to use Social media as part of your sales pipeline.
Transcription
Hi it’s Eric McGehearty with Globe Runner SEO today and I wanted to talk to you a little bit about how to use social media for networking.Now, one thing I think is really critical is if you meet someone in person, how do you maximize that relationship? Social media is not just about online communication, it’s about developing relationships. So, here at Globe Runner SEO we actually offer social media training and we also offer social media sales training. I just wanted to show you a really brief overview of some of the concepts that a sales person could use for social media or a business owner could use their social media connections and how to maximize that relationship.
So let’s just go through them, I’ve drawn them out real quick, real, real simple. You meet someone in person. So, you meet, maybe you talk on the phone, maybe you meet them at a networking event, whatever it is. You meet, you connect, and generally for a business to business relationship I would recommend a LinkedIn connection. So you meet, connect, and then that’s going to lead you over here to communicate. So, meet, connect, communicate. Communicate through that LinkedIn connection, that’s going to lead them to your website, your blog, your twitter account, etc.
There are many, many more opportunities, maybe a Flickr account. All of those different opportunities to display your business, maybe a Powerpoint presentation on your LinkedIn account to display your concepts, what you do, and what you offer. So you meet, you connect, you communicate and now your potential understands what your business does and now they see you as more of a person because they get to read your background, your bio, your story and maybe see a link to your Facebook page and get to see your family a little bit.
They have now met you in person, they know a little bit about your background, and they know a little bit more about the proposition you are offering. Then you reach out to them again and your reconnect with them, hopefully in person again, or through online communication, email, etc. and eventually that will lead to a return be it a sale, a referral, a reputation build, or just an opportunity.
It could be a job opportunity, a business partnership or a business development opportunity.
So the general concept is that that first meeting, if it stays here, the odds of you guys maintaining that relationship are slim to none. If you can keep that relationship going and this process right here might be a process over a long period of time, but if you can keep that relationship going, through a social media connection, this is one of the best ways to stay up to date with your people.Now one thing that is great about once you’re connected on LinkedIn, if you are constantly updating your status with relevant, interesting information, then that status is going to feed out to all of your connections. So all of the people you meet in person are going to repeatedly see little notes from you and that is going to keep you on their minds. So when they do have a referral, they will remember you and not some other guy who didn’t connect with them. So that’s the value of social media, particularly in a networking situation. Really think about how to maximize these really big opportunities and they are really simple to do.
So if you’ve got your LinkedIn profile, make sure you have places to lead your potential customer to give them that info they need to have to understand your value proposition and then you can reconnect with them to lead to a sale, referral, reputation build, or business opportunity. Thanks so much, this was Eric McGehearty with Globe Runner SEO for more always visit our website at GlobeRunnerSEO.com. Thanks!
GEO-TARGETED SOCIAL MEDIA
If Twitter was the social media platform of 2009, Foursquare may very well be the social media platform of 2010. It hasn’t quite hit its tipping point yet, but I’m predicting that 2010 is going to be the year of geo-targeted social media.
What is geo-targeted social media?
When you use this new type of social media, it factors your current location into a social media platform. As with other platforms, you develop a network of friends, but in this situation, your location plays a large part in your interaction. The probable leader in this field, Foursquare, is primarily used on the iPhone or other smart phone device. Foursquare notes your current location, and then displays nearby businesses. You can then “check in” to those businesses, earning points and badges, especially if your friends have recently visited those locations as well.
You can use geo-targeted social media to develop a large network of friends who enjoy the same sort of location and activities. When you walk into a coffee shop, for instance, you can see which of your friends have been to this coffee shop recently. You can find out which visitors frequent the shop, even if they aren’t your friends — yet. You may learn that someone likes the same coffee shops, clubs, bars, etc., and request to become friends. If you are in a new city, you can look up nearby places recommended by your friends. You can even play games, such as treasure hunts, by going to different locations that your friends have marked or suggested. All and all, the concept is to utilize your location in your social interactions.
How does this relate to your business?
Using geo-targeted social media, businesses can set up different rewards or incentives for customers to come to their locations. Consider this scenario: A Foursquare user checks their account on their phone, and sees that your business is nearby. Then they notice that you’ve given them a special incentive to visit, be it an in-store discount or a badge on Foursquare or other geo-targeted platform. You’ve just plugged into their social life, and most likely gained a visitor. It’s exciting and fun for the user, and a great opportunity for businesses to interact directly with potential customers nearby!
TOP THREE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Social media can be a valuable tool for your small business, if you make sure to develop a value proposition for your customer. People lead busy lives. Spending time on your business Facebook page is the last thing on their mind—unless they get some sort of value out of their interaction. If customers see that what you offer has real value, they will not only spend time on your site, but they will pass on your information to their friends.
Include Exclusive Offers
The most common and effective way to utilize social media is to provide valuable content, or to present special and exclusive offers to followers and fans. The more exclusive and immediate the offer, the more powerful! “Facebook fans can get a free coffee today only by mentioning this offer!” is a much stronger incentive than “We have a special running this month.” Your offer should immediately drive people to your store, be it your website or physical location, and encourage them to regularly check your updates on the social media platforms.
Provide Valuable Information
A second common tactic is the distribution of valuable information. For example, a home improvement store might regularly post “how to” and “do-it-yourself” tips. Globe Runner’s Twitter account frequently includes posts about technology news, as well as links to informative blog posts and videos that Globe Runner followers may find interesting. Providing valuable “insider” information can help to make you an authority on certain topics, especially in a specialty field, and can be very effective in generating referral business.
Organize Local Events
A third technique: If your business has a physical location, (i.e. a restaurant, coffee shop, bar, or even a retail store,) you can use social media profiles to organize live events, meet ups, or special happy hours. You can coordinate local events, as well as sponsor existing social media organizations or fan groups who are interested in your business’ subject matter. This can create loyalty among your existing customers, and serve as an incentive for them to mention your business or service to others.
These strategies can sometimes be used in conjunction with one another: you might organize a special event where there will be an exclusive offer, for example. The key to a successful social media campaign is to ensure that visitors to your site or social media page can clearly see the value you offer.
TIPS FOR USING LINKEDIN FOR SEO
For a long time I have been telling clients and friends to use LinkedIn to get an easy free link to their website. But now it looks link LinkedIn added no-follow tags to their links; I still think it is a good idea to put the links on your public profile even if they don’t do much for SEO anymore. See the video for the full story.
Transcription
Hi! This is Eric with Globe Runner SEO. I was about to do this great video about how to put links on your LinkedIn profile, and I still think it’s very important, but this is really breaking news, to me at least, LinkedIn has now put no follow tags on their profile links, which is a brand new thing. So, let me show you what I’m talking about. This is a good chance for me to talk about no-follow tags in general.
So, a no follow tag, you’ll find it in the code of a website, and it’s after a link, so you can see on my profile here, I’ve got these links that are outbound links to different websites that I own. BabySafeTravel.com is another company that I own and I wanted to put a link on there so that everyone that is connected to me on LinkedIn and viewed my public profile could go to my website. Just this last month, these were valid links that actually passed link juice, that actually promoted the page for BabySafeTravel.com, and gave it some link juice. I just found out that LinkedIn, probably with their connection with Twitter, have added no follow tags. I have a tool here that shows no follows, it highlights them in pink. You can see that now we have no follow tags added to those links on the page. I’ll just go ahead and click over to Twitter, to show you guys Twitter and you can see that Twitter does the same thing. Here are the links inside Twitter, and they have no follow tags on all of the links on their page.
So, I will go ahead and show you how to put these links in your profile because I think it’s important to have them, but now that they have no follow tags, they are not going to pass link juice or boost your SEO, but you will get traffic if you have a lot of connections. People will look at your profile and follow it to your website. The links go right here under “website,” you can edit them and add them here, and you can add up to three. The way to make them public is by going under “accounts and settings,” and scroll down to “public profile,” and right here you get to pick what you want to be public and what you do not. So, I want everything public on mine but you may not want any past positions or things such as that public. Here is the important part, “website”, you want to make sure that is checked and that those links to your website are in the public version so that everyone can see websites that you are associated with. If you are a company owner, I highly recommend that you get all of those employees to put your company on there. You don’t just want them to say “my company,” it’s much better to get them to actually use the name of the company. To do that, I will just show you one more thing. If you look at these links right here, you can say “edit,” and I will go ahead and edit BabySafeTravel.com, and I want to make sure that it says BabySafeTravel.com or GlobeRunnerSEO.com, NOT “my company.” Simply using “my company” doesn’t give the user any information. Select “other,” then type in the company name. This way, people know what website they are going to and what they are going to be looking at. It’s a valuable thing to do whether it passes link juice or not.
I will show you on BabySafeTravel.com for instance, we use no follow tags on some of our links. No follow tags were created to stop spammers from spamming comment boxes and things of that nature. It’s something to think about when you want to use them and when you don’t want to use them. When you are gathering links on the web, you can look inside the code and find the no follow tags. Let’s see if we can’t find these tags on LinkedIn. I’m going to view my public profile, then I’m going to view source.
This may take me a bit to find but let’s see what we can do. What you need to do is scroll down until you find your websites. Here are the links to my websites and it says “ref = no follow,” and that makes it a no follow link. Although it is a valid link, Google will not actually count that as a valid link and pass link juice through it for SEO purposes. No follow tags are a great thing to know about for this reason. Thanks so much for your time, we will come back and do some more great tips for SEO soon!
Please follow us and leave us your comments, we would love to hear from you! Thanks again, this was Eric from Globe Runner Search Engine Optimization.
STREAMLINE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT – FOUR POWER USER TIPS
In today’s world, your business is missing a huge opportunity if you’re not using social media. By creating unique and interesting content, and distributing it through social media accounts, you can establish yourself as a known authority in your given field. How to make the most of this opportunity? I’ve compiled four great tips, below. (A note: there are hundreds of social media sites. In this post, I use only the most popular sites as examples.)
1.) Syndicate Your Blog: It is important to get your content out there. One of the easiest ways to do this is to syndicate it through automated syndications linked with your Twitter account, LinkedIn account, and other social media accounts. You can easily connect your blog’s RSS feed with your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. This allows your blog content to be pumped out into your social networks.
2.) Link Your Accounts: Now that LinkedIn and Twitter have formed a partnership, connect your accounts. Facebook will also accept a feed from Twitter. By linking accounts, you can populate all of them with just one typed message, keeping your entire network informed on your activities.
3.) Automate Your Bookmarking Services: Social bookmarking is an important part of your total SEO, and it’s also a great way to let people in your networks know about sites you think are link-worthy. You can do this by using services like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and many more. Logging into these accounts and creating these bookmarks can be very time consuming, however. To automate these services, you might consider using a service like Only Wire. Though it takes a bit to set up, Only Wire will bookmark multiple social media accounts simultaneously, or share content over multiple social medial accounts—and it takes just one simple action on your part.
4.) Sync YouTube with Your Social Media Accounts: Today with phones, cameras, and other media technologies, you can quickly create content on YouTube. It’s then easy to embed that content onto your website, and syndicate content with your social media accounts, broadcasting it out through Twitter and Facebook. You can also create video content with your phone, and email it to YouTube, which then automatically syndicates it with your social media accounts.
Social media drives connections and customers to you, establishes you as an authority in your field, and boosts your search engine rankings.
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