10 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Presence

Simple tips for enhancing your online brand loyalty

@gletham

10 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Presence

Ok, you've gone to great lengths to create social media properties for your company. You've spent countless hours customizing the look and feel,built a following, curated and created content, so now what? The biggest thing you can likely do is to tell people about these resources. There's a number of subtle and effective ways to share pointers to your social streams. and

grow your network.

@gletham

1. LIKE Like similar and complementary content on facebook - when using facebook, use the service as your company identity and not as yourself or your personal profile. Then, Like relevant companies and also be sure to Like and share posts to your stream - never under-estimate the power of a Like!

@gletham

2. PROFILE Create a truthful, professional description - For all your social streams be sure that you create an accurate, professional "about me" profile using good descriptors. Stay away from terms that are too general or fluffy and use words that you would want to have people interested in - if LiDAR is important to your business then use it in your descriptor!

@gletham

3. SHAREShare and help on LinkedIn - Don't bombard your linkedin stream, however, you can easily share a couple of news items each day. Share items that help give you more Klout in your industry and most important, comment periodically on group posts, this will also help to bolster your appearance as an expert in your field. Offering up recommendations on people you know and providing positive feedback can also go a long way.

@gletham

4. ABOUTConsider creating an About.me landing page - About.me is a like an online business card for all your social streams. Create a professional looking profile, customize the page, and list all your important social properties there - consider using your about.me custom url as your website referenced in all your online bios. (try About.me/gletham for an example)

@gletham

5. PRIf you create and distribute promotional material for your company or product (PR releases, flyers, brochures, posters, etc...) always include your Twitter @name and relevant social links in them. If you have long, clunky urls leading to your resources then consider using a shortening service like bit.ly to generate clean, trackable weblinks.

@gletham

6. NAMINGIf you got to the social game late it may be tricky, however, be sure to be consistent in naming your social media properties. For example, try to select the same username for twitter, facebook, pinterest etc... it will make it easy for people to locate you. If possible, stay away from "funky" characters like hyphens, periods, and underscores in your names

@gletham

7. BROWSEBrowse Twitter several times a day for a few minutes. ReTweet (RT) a couple of items each day (don't do too many else you'll bombard your followers) and be sure to also create curated, useful lists and favorite lots of items you like - when you fave or list people they will usually notice that and may follow you back if they don't already do so. Be sure to mention companies and people who you want to have notice you... if they see that you mentioned them they may notice and follow you back. Finally, never under-estimate the power of a simple "Thank you"

@gletham

8. EMAILDo you use email for business? If so, be sure to create a clean, professional signature and always include some of your important social media links in the sig file... most important is to list your Twitter handle and LinkedIn page

@gletham

9. CARDSIf business cards are your thing (yes they are still relevant) consider having 2 or 3 options to select from depending on the kind of event you are going to attend. I have a professional "Geo" personal card, a more social media flavored one, and a personal card - all of them include my Twitter @name and various social links. I suggest you get creative and try a cool MOO card, perhaps in a different size or style, something that will stand out.

@gletham

10. TEAM UPFinally, to grow your corporate social efforts involve the whole team. Get the whole crew on Twitter, be sure to develop corporate policies and practices and rotate through the staff letting everyone have a crack at running the content periodically... 2 heads are better than one!

@gletham

BONUSUse video! If you aren't already using video (youtube in particular) then think about it as video is a terrific way to extend your brand and connect with your network.

@gletham

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Glenn Letham @gletham

about.me/gletham

@gletham