As an independent agent or business professional marketing your business is crucial to your survival. Fortunately, social media has presented an opportunity to develop relationships online which will lead to future clients.
1. Having an internet presence is crucial nowadays.
The first place that most people look when they start to look for a professional to work with is the internet. If your not showing up in a Google search, or Facebook search, or even a YouTube search, your competition is. And you are missing up to 90% of potential business from the internet.
So many professionals are missing out on this opportunity. Be one of the first to get your information online in a blog and Google will make sure you are on the 1st page (of course – you’ll always have to keep it fresh with new information and target the right keywords). But you’ll be ahead of the pack because your blog was started before the others….and Google likes that!
2. People want to know who you are before they do business with you.
Make sure your social media profiles give a sense of who you really are. And, more importantly how you can help someone in need of your services. Fill them out completely and thoroughly. By having enough information, potential clients can get a sense of who you are. If you portray a great first impression, you’ll more than likely get their business. People need to get a good feeling about someone first before they want to work with them.
You should look at your social media profiles as a mini consultation with a potential client. You want to sell yourself but not come off as too aggressive or money hungry. Make sure you have plenty of benefit driven statements that clearly state what the client will get out of working with you.
You don’t want your profile to be totally about you, you, you. Let the potential client know your top priority is them, them, them.
3. Social Media is warm and fuzzy.
With the amount of marketing messages getting bombarded at people today, most are being ignored because it’s so overwhelming. People are constantly getting attacked by TV advertisements, cold calling, newspaper ads, direct mail, unsolicited email blasts, and telemarketers.
They are tending to block these messages out more and more.
You can think of social media is like an intimate party. A warm greeting followed by an engaging conversation and you’re well on your way to establishing a great relationship. And a potential client or a fan who will refer you business.
Build enough of these and you’ll be thinking about hiring a couple more assistants, and taking a 3 week vacation because your income has gone through the roof.
4. Social Media is extremely low-cost and fast to get started.
You can start a blog for very little money and creating a social media profile is absolutely free.
Setting up social media accounts takes virtually seconds, although you’ll need to spend a little time creating great client oriented profiles.
You can get a blog set up in a matter of hours and it just takes a few minutes a day to add some valuable content to it for your clients and potential clients.
5. Having an online presence gives you credibility.
Having a large number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, and blog readers gives you a ton of credibility. People will automatically see that you are a leader in your profession and someone to be trusted. By not positioning yourself as the go-to person in your profession you are missing out on tons of potential business.
