Since the explosive growth of social media over the years, many entrepreneurs have learned how to take advantage of using various free marketing platforms like Facebook and twitter, to make themselves increasingly visible online. Social media marketing is by far the easiest and cheapest way to establish your online presence. But let’s be real, some people are clearly way better at building there presence online than others.
You may be wondering if there is some sort of trick to this social media frenzy or an exact blueprint to follow that will guarantee success (I know I did when I first started…no such luck)!
During my many hours of research on social media marketing, I did however, learn a lot. I started reading the blogs of the people who seemed to have it all – a large blog readership, massive amounts of followers across their networks and lots and lots of references to their information being reposted and retweeted by others.
I subscribed to those that were interesting to me and who are in my industry. After a short time of following my new favorite bloggers, I began to feel connected to these individuals as if we knew each other in “real life”. I started feeling comfortable commenting on their blog posts and sharing my opinion with them, I even found myself sharing their links with my personal friends whom I thought would appreciate and get the same value from this great content I had discovered!
Then, low and behold…I had an ‘AHA’ moment!
My favorite bloggers built their presence online by simply possessing a deep passion for what they do. Each article, blog post, product or piece of advice they shared originated from an idea or talent they enjoy sharing with others. Simple..huh?
Do you know what else I realized? Their success didn’t happen over night either. They were consistently writing and sharing value with their followers day after day (and they shared that same valuable content even when they didn’t have any followers…imagine that!)
The key points I learned when I set my desires on building my business around my online presence…be passionate about what your doing, be willing to give 100% all of the time and practice discipline and consistency on a daily basis…even when you think nobody is watching!
Are you ready to build your powerful presence online?
Check out a few of my tips you can use to help you get started!
- Determine your specialty. What are some of the things you are really good at? Think about the skill or training you received from a prior job or career. Where do your passions stem from? Ask yourself, “what value can I bring into the lives of others?” This is a really important factor when determining how you will build your presence online because this is the way you will develop your brand and what you will be known for online.
- Who is your audience. So you’ve figured out your specialty and your passions. Now you’ve got to figure out who wants to be connected to you based on what you can offer. It may sound a little selfish but you’ve got to give before you can get! If your a financial advisor specializing in small business, your ideal audience would be small business owners and entrepreneurs. Cater to serving the audience who can most benefit from what you offer and make sure you can give them what THEY need.
- Where is your audience. Before you can connect with them and invite them into your space, you have to find out where they hang out online. Yes, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are great places to expand your presence but they may not be the only places your audience chooses to congregate.
- Introduce Yourself. Once you have determined your specialty, figured out who your audience is and where they are you can begin to introduce yourself to them (notice I said introduce yourself…NOT your business!!!) How do you introduce yourself? Simply by writing a brief yet compelling and descriptive bio of yourself and what you do. This way, you give people just enough information about you to help them determine if they’d like to connect with you.
- Sharing value. The best way to build a solid foundation online is to of course…share your original quality content and handpicked resources. The best way to do this is to blog. Implementing the key factors mentioned above will come into play in your writing…be passionate about your topic, giving 100% all the time and being disciplined and consistent. These 3 factors alone will help you establish yourself online as the “real deal” and an expert in your industry.
Finally….don’t give up! If you are serious about not only creating your online presence but a community of loyal followers, you must be committed to making it work. Staying focused on your audience and keeping their needs in the forefront will assure you achieve the results you desire.
Stay tuned for my next post as I will share with you How to Create the Right Connections Online.
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This is a very good post with good tips that I plan to utilize for my own blog and brand. Thanks for sharing!
Your very welcome…and thanks for stopping by!
I Love Your “Stuff”.
Thanks again,
Marilyn Angelena
Thank you Marilyn!
This post has a lot of easy to follow information. One thing that I have learned is to take in the information that you can find there is plenty of good free info out there. Once you feel you have conquered that move up to some info. that may cost you a little it will be worth it to learn more especially from someone that specializes in a particular field.
Shayla, I’m happy to hear the tips were easy to follow. It is true, if you spend some time doing a little research, most times you can find valuable content for free. It’s all about taking the content you find, applying it and see how it works for your business. You can always learn from any information you find…good or bad! Thanks for sharing your comment.