When you think about finding leads for business on social media, it’s just like fishing. You must fish where the fish hang out. Take a look at the demographic of those using each platform before choosing where you create your presence.
As of the writing of this book, Facebook is the leader in popularity when it comes to social media platforms. Other social networks worldwide ranked in the order of number of active users are:
We confess to not having knowledge of all of these platforms. Some we’d never heard of until doing research for this chapter. This reminds us of how important it is to keep abreast of changes in the social platform arena. Heaven knows that were we to discover that many of our potential clients are using a platform we’re not familiar with, we’d make a quick study of it and establish our expert presence there. Or, hire someone who does have knowledge of its workings to set us up properly. It’s wise for you to consider that same practice.
With so many platforms available, it’s important to analyze the top three or four where your clients are most likely to be found. Managing a presence on all those listed here would require a team of social media managers. Our personal experience has been with a select few of the platforms and we’ll be using those for our examples. Most of the strategies we’ll be covering should translate to other platforms as well.
1. Facebook
According to WhatIs.com, Facebook is a free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues.
The site, which is available in 101 languages at this writing, includes public features such as:
Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.
Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.
Events- allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to attend.
Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.
Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online and to chat.
Within each member's personal profile, there are several key networking components. The most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member's Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or copyrighted images. An interactive album feature allows the member's contacts (who are generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates, a microblogging feature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member's friends.
Do you have a Facebook profile? Do you use it strictly for personal communications? Facebook personal pages are usually used that way, personally. If that’s the case with you, it’s wise to limit who can see that profile to your close friends and family. Be cautious about who you include in your list of accepted friends. Take advantage of Facebook’s Privacy Settings and consider the setting where only the friends you have accepted can see your posts. Or, create separate lists of your contacts and use Facebook’s list feature to determine who sees which postings.
If you are in a type of business where you do business with friends or the typical demographic of people on Facebook, this may not be an issue for you. If it is, but you do want to communicate with potential and existing clients via Facebook, consider setting up a Fan Page separate from your personal page. Fan pages can be a better option for businesses, brands, and organizations. It’s not a bad idea to keep your personal posts personal but keep a separate presence on Facebook for business purposes. After all, when you have a powerful, positive presence online you do want to be found. If your company already has a Facebook Fan Page, learn the company’s policy on who can post and what can be posted there, and watch what’s posted there. There’s little worse than having a potential client ask you about a recent social media post and you not knowing what they’re talking about.
What would you post on your own Facebook Fan page?
Your company logo (if the company you work with is ok with that)
How to contact you directly and the hours you’re available
Pictures of your products
Photos of yourself in business settings
Interesting