FREE REPORT: How to WOW with Social Media: 10 Tested Tips to Help You Stand Out from the Crowd

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1 FREE REPORT: How to WOW with Social Media: 10 Tested Tips to Help You Stand Out from the Crowd

2 Social Media is a great way to inexpensively be in front of clients and prospects on a daily basis. The only thing it costs is your time. The problem is you have to stand out from every other business that is also trying to get your clients attention. People don t want to be sold to on social media. They want to be invited in and acknowledged. You can WOW on social media by making your followers feel special, just like you would face to face. On the following pages are some ideas that are tried and tested by small business owners just like you. Pick one or two and add them to your social media strategy. Deb Brown

3 Consistency is the Key This may sound less than WOW but I think the key to successful social media is consistency. Choose one platform at a time and learn the ins and outs of it. Maintain a strong presence by being engaging, offering value, asking questions and listening to your fellow colleagues. Follow this formula and your following will grow steadily. Shelley Webb

4 Why You Need a Social Media Strategy to Get Results! Social media requires a plan and strategy to be effective. A social media strategy is nothing more than planning out how you intend to use social media tools to achieve your business goals. Social media amplifies what you are already doing in your business! Begin by asking what type of a program will you initiate based on your goals? Will it be to generate awareness, sales, customer service or loyalty? What information will you share with your audience and how will you engage them to build relationship? Bottom line, every aspect of your social media strategy should focus on solutions that you provide to your customers via social networking. JoAnne Funch

5 LinkedIn Searches Instead of using the words anyone, everyone or someone in your referral requests, the next time you meet with a current client or networking partner do your research ahead of time and check-out their LinkedIn connections so you can make a specific referral request. Here s how: 1. Log into your LinkedIn account 2. Search for the person you are meeting by typing their name in the search bar at the top 3. Click on their connections on the bottom left-hand side of their profile 4. Click on the magnifying glass to search their connections by profession, industry, location or position Kari Switala

6 Keyword-rich Profile It's important to have a headline (optimized with keywords) because it goes with you everywhere. Not just on LinkedIn, but the search engines as well. If someone is searching for graphic designer on Bing, it's possible your LinkedIn headline could show up in the results. Also very important is a summary that speaks to clients/customers and grabs their attention, something that doesn't read like a resume and blah blah blah them to death. Make your profile enticing, sticky Focus on results - be client-focused Be descriptive Keywords, keywords, keywords Be client-focused Show value by talking about results, not features Angie Glotzbach

7 Publicly Acknowledge One way to nurture new clients and publicly thank customers for working with you is to create a status update and tag their name and/or business in your message. Follow their LinkedIn Company Pages and tag their name and company in a post. Follow them for news information updates, etc. and share their content. Who wouldn't want a public thank you on a site of their professional peers? How do you tag or Mention a contact or business in your status update? Sign into your LinkedIn Profile and visit your homepage. Click the share box, at the point in your message where you want to mentioned or tag your customer (they must be a 1st level contact), type the "@" and then begin typing a name in the box. You will see a list of people or companies. Click the name you want from the list and continue typing your message, after you select select someone, the person or company will receive a notification of your message. The name selected will now be a link to that persons profile or company page from your update. Sandy Zeisler

8 Create a Branded Signature Tip Series My favorite way to boost visibility and WOW fans, potential clients and partners is with a helpful branded signature tip series. Help them get to know, like & trust you. Be creative; showcase your personality and expertise. First, brand your series with a memorable name and use a # to make it find-able. Next, create remarkable content. You can re-purpose tips from old blog posts or create new ones. If you base your tips on blog posts you can link back to your site so people can learn more, buy or subscribe to your list. Pre-create as many tips as you can. Then, use a scheduling service to schedule them to publish daily or weekly to create consistency and trust. Mix it up with videos, pictures or text to keep it interesting. Make em smarter, entertain them and they ll reward you with their business! Kenya Halliburton

9 Twitter Lists Twitter is a great way to stay in touch with current and potential clients. However, we know it can be overwhelming to keep up with all the tweets. You need to weed them out! A great way to stay top-of-mind to your current, potential, and dream clients is to make lists on Twitter. This way you can see tweets from only them. This will help you watch for tweets that you can interact with. The more you engage with them on Twitter by retweeting, replying, and mentioning the better relationship you are going to build. This is a great way to show that you care and keep your name on the top of their mind. Angie Weber tena.cious

10 Follow New Subscribers As an introvert, social media is one of my favorite tools for sparking relationships and engaging with potential clients. I love following new subscribers to my list on social media. After they opt-in to my list, they see a thank you page where they can enter their Facebook and Twitter information. I then have my VA go follow them back from my account. In the last year I've added over 250 people to my social network this way. And when I shout them out on Twitter or thank them on their Facebook page, I ve added one more connection point with my VIPs (very interested prospects). This is a simple way to increase my likability, credibility and visibility. But more importantly, it s a way to build relationships with my ideal audience. Tai Goodwin

11 Social Media Shout Outs When you put other people in the spotlight it helps take away some of the nerves about how you will come across talking about yourself. Doing this also builds your reputation as a resource who people want to get to know and have in their network. So it s a win/win! A great way and easy way to do this is via social media is by doing shout outs. The person being highlighted will appreciate that you took the time to give them special recognition. An added bonus is that their friends and followers will also see them in the spotlight and will often be interested in learning more about the person or business that put their friend the limelight. Tag the person and recognize them for something they have done. Congratulate them on achieving a goal, completing a project or sharing their expertise. Recognize them for a business anniversary or an award they have won. When you shine a light on others, it reflects back on you. Teresa Thomas and

12 Handling Negative Comments How do you handle negative remarks on your social media pages? Although it s tempting to just delete them DON T! By addressing the negative comments vs. deleting them you gain credibility and trust amongst your fans. How do you address these comments? Start by apologizing (even if it wasn t your fault) and let them know you want to rectify the situation. The next MOST IMPORTANT step is to take it off-line so it doesn t become a drama that plays out for all of your fans and contacts to see. Ex: I am so sorry that you didn t have a positive experience with our company. We want to make it right! Please call so we can discuss this further. Kari Switala

13 BONUS TIPS from Touch Your Client s Heart Here are some things I do that catch the attention of my audience: 1. Ask questions. It doesn t have to be directly related to your business. It just gives people an opportunity to interact with me and I get to know them better. 2. Create shareable graphics with quotes from your articles and blog posts. I used to share quotes in a text format. As soon as I started putting them in a graphic format, I saw an increase in likes and shares. (There are several free sites where you can do this. I use quotescover.com.) 3. Showcase your work visually, if possible. When I share photos of the projects I am working on, I get more interest. If your work is visual in any way, take pictures and share on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. 4. Always respond when someone comments or posts on your social media. Even if you just like their comment, they know you saw it and are acknowledging it. Deb Brown

14 I hope you have some new, juicy ideas on what you can do to add WOW on social media. When you WOW on social media, people start to pay attention. You stay top of mind and develop relationships. All of these things lead prospects closer to sales and keep clients more engaged with you and your business. Social media is only one aspect of your business. If you are interested in finding other ways to WOW, schedule a Personal PowWOW with me. We will look at what is working and what is not working in your business and find ways to help you stand out both online and offline. Follow the link below to fill out your application for a Personal PowWOW: With Love and Gratitude,

15 Deb Brown is the founder of Touch Your Client's Heart, a client appreciation company. We believe the key to client retention and word of mouth referrals is as simple as client appreciation gifts and keeping in touch, but it must be done the right way. To find out HOW to WOW your clients, go to Touch Your Client s Heart offers both strategy and execution for small service-based businesses who want to increase client retention and referrals. We can help you develop a plan to maximize the relationships in your business for greater revenues. We research and send gifts. We create meaningful small-scale mailings to help connect you to your clients, prospects and partners. For more information, go to