Here’s an idea for you. Imagine the following scenario.
You’re at work, possibly pouring your morning coffee and checking your morning email. You scan through quickly and notice a few emails with subjects like “I got your name from…” or “Really liked what you had to say about…”. What are these people talking about?
These are just a few of the subject lines you COULD be recieving by utilizing SEO and Social Media to establish yourself as a trustworthy, knowledgeable resource.
Hubspot has been doing a great job spreading the gospel of Inbound Marketing and has even created a little mini series on youtube to portray its benefits.
So how do I start getting these emails and phone calls from people who want my services?
Well first of all, every ones social media strategy is going to be a little bit different. The key thing to remember is to position yourself as a knowledgeable figure within your industry. Magicomm does this by answering questions on LinkedIn and Twitter as well as following multiple conversations across assorted marketing networks.
Something to remember is that this little thing called the Internet puts a great wealth of information at our fingertips. If Joe Somebody wants something, all he has to do is Google it. So now all you have to do is become the result.
How do I become the result?
The main idea here is quality content (if i had a nickel for every time I said that …)
So where is your quality input needed?
First thing I would try is a user run Q&A site like LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers. This is a great way to establish your credibility and get your name out there.
Next I would find appropriate Ning sites to join as well as groups in popular social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Plaxo. The discussions in these groups are very focused and can be a great means of networking.
Finally I would take everything you’ve learned by participating in these networks and reading other people’s thoughts and questions, and I would use it to create original blog posts.
You’re leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that leads to your blog and hopefully, ultimately a phone call from an interested prospect.
Remember that social media is just a tool. It’s how you use it that makes it powerful.
