Four ways business consultants should be using social media
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Busy, time-starved
consultant struggling
to see the relevance of
social media to your
small business
Here are four ways I think you can benefit from allocating some time to Twitter and Linkedin. You don’t have to try all of them – perhaps only one of them is relevant to your current situation. But I challenge you to give yourself a month to try just one of them and then let me know whether or not it has been time well spent!
1. Keep up with thought leaders in your industry and business news
On Twitter follow the leading publications for your industry and profession to keep up with the latest news, case studies etc – anything that can help with your own personal development and general knowledge of what’s happening in your field and region. A business news story could alert you to an opportunity to pitch your services or help with a meeting … Create a TopTweeters list and put all the people and organisations you don’t want to miss into it. Then keep an eye on the conversations in this list – and RT and reply as appropriate. Be selective, and don’t be afraid to remove or unfollow people whose posts you don’t find interesting!
2. Spy on your competition
Follow your competition on Twitter (and their Linkedin Company Page if they have one). Keep an eye on who they’re talking to, what they’re talking about and how they are promoting themselves. Anything they can do, you can do better!
Switch your Linkedin profile to anonymous (ask me!) and have a look at your competitor’s profile. How does yours compare? Who are they connected with?
You can also research your prospects on Linkedin in the same way – find out if anyone you know is connected with your ideal client and ask for an introduction. Research any new people you are meeting – find out what you have in common with them, what are their interests.
3. Find people to help
On Twitter you can use advanced search to find people – job titles, keywords, locations. If you offer help with a specific problem – search for people talking about it!
On Linkedin you can use advanced search to find people with a specific job title within a particular radius of your business, a great way to build a list of prospective clients to connect with!
4. Shout about your achievements and success (aka promoting your professional services)
On Twitter and Linkedin, demonstrate how good you are at what you do by sharing your clients’ success and achievements – with their permission of course! Alternatively, you could offer opinion and comment on high profile case studies (eg good and bad PR from this week’s news is popular in my industry). You can talk about any training/development you have invested in, conferences you attend, CPD you complete – and also ask others (ideally happy clients) to provide testimonials for your services.
How are you using Twitter and Linkedin? Please share any other ideas or tips about things that work for you!
-- Helen Kitchen, an independent PR consultant helping SMEs find the right voice, stories and platforms to connect with the people that matter
A version of this article was first published on LinkedIn
Photo credit and thanks to geralt on Pixabay
