In order to effectively grow your business, whether just starting out, or trying to move it to the next level, increasing your visibility is a vital component. I am pleased to wrap up this series on starting the New Year with a bang by sharing this informative post from guest business expert, Joseph Baker with some basics on expanding your reach via social media marketing. Thanks, Joe!
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When attempting to brand (or rebrand) yourself, you must take advantage of all the resources at your disposal. This means advertising on various mediums, creating a website that’s aesthetically pleasing and navigable, and using social media to your advantage. Social media marketing represents a new and exciting way to get your personal brand out there for everyone to see.
Facebook isn’t just for staying up-to-date with friends and family anymore! Facebook for Business allows you to create a page where you can interact with present and potential customers. Then you can create ads and sponsored stories that increase traffic to your page, with the option to personalize your page with plug-ins and custom apps. In addition to this, Facebook offers users the opportunity to “check in” to places, thereby increasing awareness of your business by Facebook-word-of-mouth and increasing interaction with your existing customers. Facebook is a free service (although the advertisements and sponsored stories are not), so this is a prime opportunity to spread the word about your brand without breaking the bank.
LinkedIn allows you to build your brand through networking opportunities and by demonstrating your expertise through interaction with those in your industry. You can customize your personal profile through the Skills section and by adding applications such as Polls, Reading List and Blog Link. In addition, you can join groups related to your background (University of Michigan), industry (Online Reporters and Editors) and interests (Indianapolis Colts Fan Club). The Companies tab allows you to follow developments such as hiring, activities and blog posts at any of thousands of different companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Starbucks. By using all of the features that LinkedIn has to offer, you increase you visibility, and create a network of fellow entrepreneurs and potential customers.
Twitter for Business offers a variety of options for branding, and building and maintaining a loyal customer base. By tweeting throughout the day, you not only show everyone the personal side to your business, but you also give them the opportunity to directly interact with you, and to share your tweets with others. Additionally, Twitter offers Promoted Tweets, Trends, and Accounts, which allow you to create a brand that is well-known and in high demand among your followers. Promoted products are reasonably priced, and will exponentially improve your brand recognition.
Triberr
Triberr works in conjunction with your blog and Twitter account by increasing your number of followers, therefore expanding your reach. Upon signing up for an account, this site pulls information posted on your blog from your RSS feed. After this, it is then posted to the tribe “board” and your tribe members can retweet your content. You can choose the tribes to which you belong, making this a personalized experience, one that can be crafted to meet your needs as an emerging brand.
Tumblr
This site offers users the opportunity to create original posts, or to repost blogs, photos and videos with a single click. In doing so, you create a scrapbook of sorts that immediately personalizes your brand, and lets consumers get to know you and your business better. According to the New York Observer, Tumblr “is beloved by its users for its clean interface, ease of use and community,” making it ideal for everyone from the novice to seasoned veterans of the business world.
As you can see, the Internet has everything that you need to create – or recreate – your brand, and to increase brand recognition and awareness. Gone are the days of countless hours spent distributing fliers, creating newspaper advertisements, and the like. With a few clicks of your mouse, you can be well on your way to becoming the brand that you want to be. Get to it!
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Joseph Baker’s business experience in management spans more than 15 years. A leader of development and management teams, he also implemented budget reductions professionally and as an independent contractor. Joseph led strategic planning and systems of implementation for nine organizations, public and private, and worked extensively with small businesses.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.
Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece 
2 Comments
Awe, my favourite topic, Shannon! Cudos for making Getting Noticed, noticeable! Women entrepreneurs (in particular) seem to have a hard time standing up and standing out to get noticed. The ‘shrinking violet syndrome’ has been manifested in our personanities by our moms and grandmothers who said it is not polite to toot our own horn. Well ladies, clear out your spit valves, because it is time to start the symphony!
Linda, I love your perspective! And yes, it’s time to start a symphony. 🙂 There are so many different ways to approach improving our visibility, and I was therefore very grateful to have a guest post on the topic to start out the New Year. There is no room for shrinking violets in entrepreneurship, no matter how well-intentioned our predecessors were. Thanks for tooting your horn, and encouraging the rest of us to follow suit. Shannon
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[…] How to get noticed. It would be great if effectively communicating over just one channel were effective. Unfortunately, as we all know today, it’s not. There are many ways to get your message across and “getting noticed” is about choosing the right one. Dr. Shannon Reece […]