9 ways to Share to Grow

Good Evening, Social Rabbit here with your guide to the world of social media.

Firstly, an apology for all my avid daily readers, yesterday just completely ran away with me and I didn’t blog, so to make up for it, I will blog twice today 🙂

Today’s topic Share to Grow encompasses all that social media is about, the sharing of ideas, value, results, helping others without expecting a return and growing your business based on the fact that people trust you and love what you are doing.

How you can share to grow:

1. Write a blog post in your area of interest/expertise and post it on your Facebook page, on Twitter, on LinkedIn etc.  Add it to http://www.ezinearticles.com have it on your website, share what you know with others, believe me it works!
2. Write a whitepaper (whitepaper’s are basically pdf documents on a topic, usually a few pages long) on your area/passion and give it to people through social media, again it positions you as an expert and allows you to get your brand out there
3. Create a short video and share it on YouTube/Facebook/Twitter, this doesn’t have to be super high tech, you can see what we do on Social Rabbit TV.  If it’s amusing and/or useful it will go viral spreading the word about your business
4. If you have done a presentation recently, as I did today, then create yourself a free Slideshare account and upload it.  The presentation I did on using social media for B2B is now up on Slideshare.  If you look around Slideshare you will see that the presentations are sometimes a few slides and sometimes lots, so you just say what you want to and then put your branding on it, just try to make it topical
5. Use the answers section in LinkedIn (click on the more button on the top navigation to get to it), answer questions from people in your areas of expertise, you will find that you will quickly grow your network and opportunities will start to come your way
6. Read other people’s blogs and make comments – not just a cool thanks comment, but adding value, it could be an example of when you have seen that working, or asking for more clarification, if you add value feel free to put a link back to your site/blog at the bottom
7. Write up a case study of your successes with social media/or other topics, tell the world, don’t be modest.  There are lots of doubters on social media out there looking for ideas and suggestions, so tell them what results you can get.  Plus it helps others when they are writing presentations.  For the B2B preso I did today I struggled to find case studies that actually gave results – a lot of people do not share well.  The case studies can be used when responding to blogs, answering questions on LinkedIn, posted on your blog, tweeted out, posted on slideshare and will get you a lot of exposure
8. If you are using Twitter regularly search on hash-tags that are relevant to your business, and then respond to comments, eg I sent a tweet asking about venues in Brisbane for the events next week, I got a response from a conference centre asking if I needed any help – I liked that
9. If networking groups are looking for someone to talk on an area you are an expert in volunteer (it’s highly unlikely you will get paid), but it is good exposure for your business, and again positions you as an expert and you can share your knowledge with others.  Don’t forget you can approach them as well.

The moral to this story is put yourself out there, you are an expert (in something) so show people.  Opportunities do not very often just land in your lap, instead you have to put the work in for them to fall.

I’d love to hear of any successes you have had sharing with others, please tell me in the comments or on the Social Rabbit Facebook Page.

Choosing the right fork, is like choosing the right social media

Good Morning, Social Rabbit here with your guide to the world of social media.

Today I read a great article on personal branding which basically helps decode some of the confusion around which social media to use when, it is worth a read.  This lead me to thinking about when you go to a restaurant (or someone’s house if you have posh friends) and get served an 8 course meal, the dilemma is which fork and knife do I use for which…..  Social media is the same, except instead of 8 courses there are a hell of a lot more, try 100.  So how do you decide on which fork with which food?

Tips for choosing your social media utensils…

• Work out what you are trying to do with it… eg sales, brand awareness, handle customer enquiries
• Work out who your audience are and where they go, eg if you are targeting people in China you are not going to be using Facebook, as the government has blocked it
• Which utensil has what you need? eg ability to upload links, photos, have friends etc
• What are your competition using?  Note: this doesn’t mean they are doing it right, but you should be aware, particularly if they have a big following, as you my be able to ride on a few coat tails
• How much time do you have to put into this?  Can someone help you?  As easy as social media looks, it takes time to get results
• Can you use the utensil you’ve chosen to integrate into EVERYTHING else you are doing?  and I mean EVERYTHING people  – business cards, website, email signature etc
• Ask people, you probably know people on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Google Wave, writing blogs etc find out why they like the one they use
• Finally if all else fails hire an expert, they will be able to advise you, help you get set up and then you can run with it

If you feel like you are still using the wrong fork with your prawns because you just can’t seem to get them in your mouth, then get some advice – good luck.

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