Chris Ducker

Expert Business Growth, Virtual Staffing & Personal Branding

3 Simple Steps to Maximizing Social Media for Your Small Business

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Today I have a very sincere message for every business owner out there that is using social media to promote and market their business…

Stop having one night stands on your social media channels.

If you really want to utilize this medium to grow your business, then start getting married, instead.

Let me explain my thoughts further.

A short time back, I had marketing expert and world-renowned speaker, David Meerman Scott on the VBL Podcast. I’m a massive fan of David’s and literally read everything he puts out. The guy is my marketing Yoda, plain and simple.

The one thing that he mentioned that stood out, more than anything else, was that people have got to stop pitching and start engaging more, to be able to make social media work for them in business.

So, in reverse order, here are three quick and easy tips to start utilizing social media to help grow your business faster than you thought possible… The RIGHT way.

Tip #3 – Fill Up Your Social Media Calendar

At the beginning of February I had the opportunity to fly over to Phuket, Thailand and speak in front of 160 passionate entrepreneurs on the subject of boosting traditional / brick ‘n mortar success, by engaging the online world of business.

Throughout the course of the 3-day conference many successful business owners, myself included (duh!) presented their pearls of wisdom to the highly energetic crowd. One session was on the subject of getting your social media strategy in place – for the entire year!

The strategy is to post something, across all your channels every day of the week.

Its better to try and automate as much of this as possible, so you just have to focus on the interaction side of things, once people start replying, commenting and RT’ing your posts.

It included things like:

  • Video clips.
  • Links to blog posts.
  • Famous quotes.
  • Questions.
  • Useful resources.

Perhaps I’ll go into this strategy a little more in the near future, but the big eye-opener for almost all in attendance was that, with a little planning and execution, you can be everywhere, be engaging, helpful, resourceful and reap massive rewards through social media, in a non-spammy / sales-pitchy way.

So, get creative, plan your posting schedule (in the same way you would as a blogger), and then put it all on autopilot. Following this, all you have to do is pay attention and engage.

Tip #2 – The Twitter Tactic that has Transformed My Businesses

The one thing that I love about social media is that it’s instant.

Sometime last year I had issues with my hosting provider – our sites went down. I quickly went onto Twitter and discovered that there were a lot of people in the same boat, all using the same provider, just by doing a quick search.

This got me thinking. Surely if people were using the micro-blogging site to bitch and moan about problems they were experiencing, then they MUST be using it to find solutions, too.

I was bang on, right!

So, I immediately started stalking search.twitter.com, searching for people that needed help and support in my niche, and started reaching out – without pitching my company or services. I figured that if I helped them out willingly, that they would go ahead and visit my profile, click on my links and check out what I had to offer – when they were good and ready.

I was bang on, right – again!

Nowadays, I don’t do this searching myself. I leave it up to my VA, who manages all the searches via TweetDeck, and sends out pre-written responses that I produced in the course of my experimenting myself, as well as other types of interaction that she handles herself, too.

She does this with her own Twitter account, some company ones, and even sometimes using MY account, too! So, people think that they are chatting with me, as a thought leader in our niche, before they actually DO start talking to me. Smart so-and-so, aren’t I…?!!

For me, it works… Check out the tweets below, showing social proof.

Chris Ducker

Tip #1 – My Number One ‘Social Media for Business’ Tip

This is simple, yet so many people overlook it.

It’s time to minimize and simplify.

Having a presence on the major social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn is important (click at random to interact with me on these channels). However, being actively involved on them all is just unrealistic – especially if you want to make a major difference in your business and more importantly, genuinely help your customers and prospective customers.

So, stop chasing the social media dragon and start getting smart.

Pick ONE channel that you enjoy using more than any other, and then GO FOR IT in a major way. That doesn’t mean that you won’t utilize the other channels frequently (or even have a virtual assistant manage them for you), it simply means that this one channel will become your social media focus.

For me, it’s Twitter. I like to tweet because it’s quick, easy and very mobile (thanks to my iPhone4 and iPad). It also enables me to add images, videos and links to other cool and helpful resources for my list of over 40,000+ followers.

For my aforementioned buddy, Pat Flynn – it’s Facebook. Pat’s fan page is ridiculous – in a good way! The engagement he has with his fans is unlike any other Facebook page that I have seen. Why? Because he decided a long time ago, that this was the way he wanted to answer fan questions, help, support and interact with them, away from his blog. He does a great job of it, too.

I’ll leave you with this…

10 People Doing it RIGHT!

There are LOTS of people doing things right already. However, here’s a list of ten of them that I see using social media in the right way (consistently), as discussed above, to engage, motivate, inspire and educate (as well as promote their businesses!).

Check ’em out on Twitter, and emulate, people.

What are YOU Doing Right… or Wrong?!

What experiences have you had with social media in regards to utilizing it for building your brand and promoting / marketing your business?

I’d love to hear about the good, the bad AND the ugly in the comment section below.

Quick Request: If you liked this post and found it even remotely helpful, I’d really appreciate a quick share of it on your favorite social media channel. Here’s the URL, so you can copy and paste it quickly. Thanks in advance! – https://bit.ly/ygb0dO

The Not-So-Secret Biz Development Strategy You’ve Probably Forgotten About!

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If you’re wanting to embrace the Virtual Business Lifestyle then you are a busy, probably over-worked business owner that is consistently looking for new business opportunities and clients, or even possible partners. Although this blog revolves around building that lifestyle, I recently read an article on how entrepreneurs are using the social networking medium more than ever to gain market share, build reputation and amass a strong following online, and wanted to glance upon this genre of promotion / reputation building. Especially in regards to one particular avenue – LinkedIn.

It seems that nowadays, professionals are jumping onto the social networking bandwagon like never before, and right at the top of the list is LinkedIn – “Facebook for People with Jobs” as it is sometimes humorously referred to. If you are a business owner and not already enjoying the networking opportunities provided by LinkedIn, wake up – you can boost your success further as an entrepreneur, be it online or offline, by expanding your network, your market share and your revenue, by utilizing the site to put your business on a whole new global scale.

Let me make it real simple. Last year, I brought on board business worth approximately $43,000 in gross income – without even trying……. Just by being listed on LinkedIn.

This year I am spending more time hanging around on the site…!!!

As a LinkedIn user myself for many years (you can connect with me by clicking here), and as I recently created a group for this blog on the site, I wanted to post a few tips that I have found useful over the last few years in using the site myself that have worked out well in connecting me with good quality business people all around the world. Not only this, but this one website alone has brought on board more clients to my business than any other – FACT! (Well, other than our own corporate site, obviously!).

Simply follow these quick five guidelines that I pretty much live by, when it comes to LinkedIn, and you’ll be reaping the rewards of additional business networking almost immediately.

Think Quantity, Always!

Networking is basically about numbers. The more contacts you have the better, so invite everyone you meet to your network. You meet new people every day. The acquaintances that you get in contact with at conferences, business meetings and even those you communicate with by telephone or e-mail are sources for your growing network. Any one of your contacts may know someone with whom you can close a deal. That’s one wonderful thing about networking. When you create your LinkedIn account, you’ll have the option of importing email contacts to start building your network immediately – do it.

Think Quality, Always, too!

Add quality contacts. You should also invest some amount of time in having credible contacts, those whom you can benefit from. Use the advanced search tool at LinkedIn to check out your other business contacts to see who is already hook up on LinkedIn, then send an invitation to those you want to network with.

Get involved with Groups!

Make your online presence felt by joining different LinkedIn Groups. Expand your network further by joining LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your industry, or areas of interest. Groups serve as a platform for like-minded professionals to “meet” and engage in discussions. Joining groups that are relevant to your industry, or areas of interests will help you expand your network. You have to actively participate in such groups, don’t be a side-liner – get involved and get create with conversations, posting links, etc. You should also check out conference groups and alumni networks and you’ll be surprised to see familiar names that you have no doubt forgotten for your past.

Take Advantage of LinkedIn Answers!

Take advantage of the LinkedIn feature called LinkedIn Answers. Use this tool to seek answers that will complement your business as well as send responses to establish yourself as a key player in the industry, a thought leader of such. You will be attracting the people you are interacting with in this question-and-answer forum to your network, which is the whole point of this thing, right!?

Beef up your Profile!

This is probably the most important part of your LinkedIn experience. Your profile serves as your main asset and there are a lot of ways you can sell yourself and your business by promoting your profile. Fill your profile with as many keywords as possible and link to it in other places, such as your personal websites or blog – like I have done. You should also mention your profile in other social media spots, too, to increase your search-ability. Another way for your name to come up, and for people to find your LinkedIn profile, at Google or other search engines is to customize the URL for your profile, so that it will rank higher in Google. Be sure to spend time on your profile, it will make a big difference to your overall experience using LinkedIn.

All in all, social media and networking is becoming more and more popular. Bottom line is that if you’re not involved in it in some way, at least, you can bet your bottom dollar that your competitors are, for sure!

Nowadays, I don’t manage my LinkedIn account as much as I used to. In fact, my assistant does almost everything for me, bringing me up to speed with group info and connection requests, etc. I probably only spend around an hour a month on the site personally, but that doesn’t stop me from gaining some great business contacts and enjoying getting involved in conversations.

So jump on board, and sign up for a LinkedIn account today – and when you do, invite me to connect and become part of your network, I’d be happy to hear from you!

Also, if you want to get REALLY Social – Follow me on Twitter, Add me to your Circles on Google+ and Become a Fan of the VBL on Facebook, too!