Consider Your Social Influence

Top 5 considerations

1. Do I have a social presence?
2. Am I an ‘influencer’ in my market?
3. Am I reaching my target audience?
4. Am I spending enough (quality) time online?
5. Have I created a strategy to reach my social goals?

Print, TV, Radio, and now Online Marketing.  Online marketing is a force to be reckoned with in today’s business age.  This is not to say that you go out and spend $2000 on online advertising.  Much of your marketing and branding options online are for the most part FREE.

Do the three letters S-E-O mean anything to you?  If they don’t, you may barely be getting your feet wet in the social marketing arena.  If you have spent more than 10 minutes researching “How to grow my business online” the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is prominent.  Most of your online content (you control how much or how little you publish online) contributes to your SEO.  Online content is published in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Blogging, Website, and more.

What is SEO? Briefly, SEO is the term used for organic search results on a search engine.

What are organic search results? Briefly, these are the results populated  when someone types in a phrase on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc… These ARE NOT the paid advertising on the sides of the search or the top 3 which are usually highlighted.

Let us now, Consider our Social Influence:

1. 1.    Do I have a social presence?

• Have you taken the time to create content on what I call the BIG 4 (many people actually use the term BIG 4 or 5, they may also have a difference of opinion of included social sites.)  Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn.  In my humble opinion regardless of your industry every business and professional should have a presence on these 4.
• Are your profiles complete? Up to date information, links to your website and company information.
• Do you have current and relevant social activity?

1. 2.    Am I an ‘influencer’ in my market?

• Do your followers and fans look to you for information in your area of expertise?
• Are you actively offering your audience facts, quotes, and other information pertaining to your area of expertise?

1. 3.    Am I reaching my target audience?

• Much like any other marketing plan, have you identified your target audience?
• Have you identified where to locate (online) your target audience?
• Are you actively participating with your target audience?

1. 4.    Am I spending enough time online?

• Unfortunately, spending 5 hours a day online doesn’t necessarily mean you are covering your social marketing needs.
• Make sure you are spending time posting relevant information and engaging with your target audience.
• Online marketing is about quality time in the key areas of publishing and engagement.

1. 5.    Have I created a strategy to reach my social goals?

Now for the fun part – bring it all together for the greater good of your social influence.  Create your social strategy:

• Identify your target market/audience.
• Locate the best online spots to engage with your target market/audience.
• Create a calendar of daily/weekly/monthly quality online marketing time. Include:
  • Blogging (once a week is great!)
  • Social media posts (daily recommended, these can be scheduled using a 3^rd party such as Hootsuite.com)
  • Engagement time: conversing with your followers, fans, other pages, business influencers, and target audience.
  • Be disciplined in your social marketing time.
  • Measure your results:
    • Take note of people who Retweet you, favorite, comment and share your content.
    • Take note of increase/decrease in engagement.
    • Set goals to add new followers and friends (this month I want to increase my twitter followers by 75).
  • Start where you are.  Repeat and tweak your strategy as you see fit every month.

The time you invest in your social influence is not in vain.  Everything you publish is adding to your:

• Brand
• Credibility
• SEO
• Influence

Social networking is more than just publishing information.  Make sure you take the time to engage with other influencers, networking friends, and your target audience.  Be real, genuine, and sincere!  Remember, people do business with those they LIKE, KNOW, and TRUST.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, take a class, and do your own research…  There are many social media sites around – you may also need to devote time to site like Pinterest, or other industry specific sites.

Margaret Hernandez is an Entrepreneur and the Founder of SocializeLA.com.  She is an early adopter of social media and a lover of all things business. She is the key player with businesses across the country as their social media marketing guru. She helps her clients grow, manage, and monitor their online presence.  Her key responsibility as an expert is to build credibility, brand awareness, and social influence for the clients of SocializeLA.com.