Marketing yourself online

Thank you, Michele! Show you how to apply some of those principles online. Talking about social networking, Hosting stuff online like webinars and videos, and also about email marketing – a good way to tie all those things together. One request. Covering a lot of material here. Any questions, please wait until the end of the presentation. We'll have a chance to talk.
Start with online social networking. I'm going to focus on best practices here. A lot easier to learn how the “how-tos” than it is to learn how to behave once you've gotten past that. It's not enough to know how to sign up and add a picture. That's the easy part. So, let's start with some basics that apply to online and offline networking. Let's say you just signed for an account on LinkedIn or an Arlington Entrepreneurs. User name and a password and now you're wondering what to do next. Good way to answer: Well, what would you do if you walked into an in-person networking session?
Introduce yourself! How do you do that online? Through your profile page. All members get one, not all members fill it out. Your profile page is critical. This is where you tell others about yourself. This is the first place other network members go to find out more about you. What will they see when they go to your page? Here's what they should see!
At the very least, you need to include the following information: A Profile picture (paper bag over your head at a meeting) Information about your business (name, type, etc.) Contact information (so they can reach you) Can do other stuff, too, but these are the basics, and the most important things. Okay, you've filled out your profile. Now what?
Participate! Take the initiative. Like the wall flowers at a networking event. The people who hide behind the drinks table or stand near a window and stare outside. * Like in real life networking - Do nothing and get nothing. You're there to create business relationships so get to work. How do you do this online (assuming filled out your profile)?
Listen first, then reply, then add your own content. Read and respond to others' posts (group, blog, forum). Okay to say you're new. Introduce yourself in a blog post Add some visuals if appropriate (artist, web designer) Use the updates box to post quick messages. Include links to other sites, if that's appropriate. Don't let your presence get stale. On the other hand...
Don't hog the conversation. Too much posting is worse than too little. You notice the people that won't shut up?
8 – 10 tweets a day, 5 – 6 Facebook postings, etc., etc. Your email inbox gets regularly visited by this company or person, so you eventually just tune them out? Remember that marketing saying, right? * It’s not about you Have to respect the community you've joined. This may fly in the fact of the typical best practices for posting, but I really do think too much is too much. * Listen first, respond to others, then add your own content * Add updates strategically. Too many and people will tune out, get annoyed And, finally, along the same lines...
It really comes down to respecting the difference between marketing and advertising. This is a marketing outlet. This is where you build the relationships that will lead to new business. Please remember: * People on social networks are there to talk and work, not get spammed (which is what this amounts to) * Some groups have a special place for promotions. Go there if that's what you want to do. * Some networking sites let you send emails to your contacts. Be very careful with this. Your contacts have agreed to connect with you, but they haven't agreed to join your email campaign. If there's something really important, really critical, that has to go out now, then email your social networking contacts. Otherwise... Use email marketing tools.
Email marketing can be your hub, the center from which all online marketing spokes radiate. (from the email go to your blog, to your website, to your Facebook page, YouTube, etc.) Just about everybody knows how to open an email, even if they can't do anything else. Don't have to do it that way, but it is an effective base – if it's used properly. By properly - If you're a business, use a business email marketing provider.
There are a lot to choose from and they're not expensive. I use Constant Contact – there's also Mail Chimp, iContact, Vertical Response – a lot. Here's why you want to use one of these tools...
* Business email is permission based . People choose to sign up for your messages. Won't be as likely to treat it as spam. * Want to be able to track your results – who opened it, what did they do afterward? Who read what? * Want to be able to organize your lists by interest, region, or whatever * Want to be able to time your posts by day, and time of day * Don’t want email software to block your message because it thinks you’re spam/junk mail. That sometimes will happen, but the software is set up to help you stay out of the junk folder. Finally, I want to talk very quickly about what I call “show and tell” marketing. If you have an email service, it's a great way to show this stuff to people who wouldn't otherwise have access to it.
This is a way to use social media to promote things you do in the real world. If you have a good social networking presence and an effective email marketing strategy, you'll be even more effective with these tools.
So, events. How did I get you all here today? Didn't send a paper mailing. I didn't advertise in the paper. I sent an email. I posted it on Meetup, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook. People registered online using Eventbrite. This is where online marketing really saves you money when compared to offline equivalents. Let me give you some examples (next slide)
+ Meetup.com ($19.00 for owners, free to join) + Eventbrite (free events no charge, paid events take a low fee) + Constant Contact Events (start at $15.00/mo) * Cost reduction is significant here. Consider what you'd pay for: o Paper mailings o Newspaper/magazine ad o Radio spot I can’t afford that. I do that all online.
Social networking sites have event listings, mostly free. Combine them with PayPal or Eventbrite to collect fees or manage or manage attendees. Then again, if you can't come to the event...
Bring the event to you! * Host a Webinar. Compare that to the cost of renting a room for a talk or a training, if you can even find one. Two of the ones I know about are: + AnyMeeting.com (free) + GotoMeeting or GoToWebinar (charges) There will be a learning curve with this, but Presentation-making is a learned skill, so consider it part of the initiation.
Don't want to do it live? Try an online video or a slide-show. Here are some relatively simple tools for do-it-yourselfers: Goldmail . It combines still slides with your voice narration. Makes it easy to combine a slide with your narration. Send as an email, or upload to video sharing services. SlideShare . If you have a slide presentation (PowerPoint) you've already put together, upload it to Slide Share. No sound, but the presentation can go online, and can attach to your profile page on a lot of social networking sites (LinkedIn). YouTube . Youtube has some new editing features, including a featured called “annotations,” which lets you put a link to your website on the video itself. You can also add captions and subtitles. Some limited ability to add music and to edit the video itself.
So, before I close, I'd like to share a few thoughts to take home with you. Social media marketing takes commitment, like any other marketing effort Social media marketing requires time, if not money. It’s free only if your time is worth nothing Be patient - building relationships takes time Honesty is the best policy - people don’t like being manipulated. Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you'd want others to treat you. And you'll be fine!
Thank you very much! Any questions?

Marketing yourself online

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