Business owners and influencers know that they absolutely MUST be active in social networks to stay in the forefront of customer mind and stay competitive in their markets. If you're not an expert in social media, it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are a few of Virtual Assist USA's favorite tips for each of the top 3 social networks -- Linked In, Facebook and Twitter.
1. Linked In:
If you find someone that you would like to connect with and add to your Linked In network, but are unable to because you are not a classmate, co-worker or business partner: there is a way around it. Select the "Groups & Associations" bubble, and select a group that you think might interest them. People don't typically read that part of a request anyway. What's important is the personal note you write in your LinkedIn request. Take half a minute and write about something you and that person both have in common. End by saying you hope to add value to their business/career, and would like to be a LinkedIn connection. Show that you are taking an interest in what they are up to by making the message personal. It's nearly gaurenteed to work.
2. Facebook
Do you have hundreds or thousands of friends, and you want to send a message to them all at once? Of course you do not want to sit there and manually type in each friend's email address. You can do it through the Events tool, whether or not you have an event to get out there. Step one is to create friend lists named Z-1 through Z-10 and quickly add all your friends, alphabetically, up to 90 at a time. So Z-1 would include your friends with first name "A" through "C", perhaps, up to 90, and Z-2 might be "D" through "G". You can now invite all your Z-1 through Z-10 lists to the event, and message all guests. All your friends will receive the message to their Facebook inbox. The more you can systematize or automate tasks that you do repeatedly, the more time you have to work on your business!
3. Twitter:
The greatest thing about Twitter is it's viral marketing possibility. You say something of interest; and your followers will "re-tweet" or re-post it. It's imparative to make sure your tweets allow enough characters for others to re-tweet you. How many do you leave? 6 plus the number of characters in your username. Make sure you're re-tweetable too! This is one of the keys to your messages going viral. If it's not retweetable it's not repeatable.