LeadershipHQ Magazine June 2015 2nd Edition | Page 32

2. Yelp: If you have an up and coming local business – especially a restaurant – start here. Yelp has taken over Zaggats as the realtime authority on local business. I was speaking with my barber about encouraging his patrons to write reviews. Not every review is treated equally, but if your business gets enough positive reviews, you’re going to come out on top. It certainly doesn’t hurt to advertise with Yelp either. Think of Yelp as the new phone book for your business. It’s how people find you and, more importantly, determine if you’re the kind of business people want to do business with. 3. LinkedIn: If your business is not “customer facing” (meaning you’re a B2B company), then LinkedIn is for you. LinkedIn is about networking with other people you want to be working with. Beyond having a company page, you need to have a full profile to be taken seriously. You need to spend about 2-3 hours filling in all the gaps to ensure you have a robust profile that explains in no uncertain terms how you add value to your clients and why someone should consider working with you. Once you’ve done this, search around for companies and people you’d like to be doing business with. Introduce yourself. Don’t be a used car salesman with high pressure tactics. Instead, find common interests and see how you can help the people you’re interested in doing business with. 4. Twitter: My personal favorite. Twitter is a phenomenal research tool. It is great for both B2C and B2B companies. If you’re confused by Twitter, read this article on how Marji J. Sherman grew her followers to over 100,000 in less than a year! I took her advice. When I wrote that article, I had 150 followers. Now I have about 7,000 – in less than 6 months. But that’s not as important as the incredible business people you meet on Twitter. You’re reading this article because someone reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in contributing. Twitter is about finding and capitalizing on the overwhelming abundance of opportunities in the world. By limiting conversations to 140 characters, you find that you can connect with more people each day by keeping your conversations short and to the point. It’s fantastic. 5. Instagram: If you love photography – either taking pictures or viewing them, then this is your social network. The reason Facebook bought Instagram for a billion (US) dollars is because it’s completely mobile based and was capturing the hearts and minds of the twenty-something audience which Facebook really needed in order to continue its growth path. That saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” is where Instagram focused and became so popular. You don’t need to write everything down if you have a great shot that captures the essence of what you and your team are all about. Again, this can’t just be about your company, but rather what you’re company is doing for the people it serves and all the ways in which you’re giving back. 6. YouTube: Did you know that after Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine? Or that more than 100 hours of video is uploaded every minute? If you have a complicated story, a video is a great way to simplify the complex. “How to …” videos on YouTube also help increase your SEO rankings on Google. That’s because most people would rather watch a (short) video than read an article. Videos also have the added benefit of humanising your business. As you speak to your audience through your camera, you are sharing your personality with your customers and potential customers. Before anyone buys from you, they need to “Know, Like & Trust” you. And these are just a few of the more popular of the many social media platforms at your fingertips. The ROI of social media for your business is that you’re still in business 5 years from now. If you choose not to engage, collaborate and build your customers through social media, you’re going to find it increasingly difficult to not only thrive, but even survive in today’s hyper digital economy. This is not a scare tactic, but an acknowledgement of how most business is done today. Even if people transact with you in a physical store, they are using these networks (and others) to research your business before they ever meet you. Who you are online helps shape the opinions of your potential customers well before they ever connect with your business. Bill Carmody is the CEO of Trepoint, one of the fastest growing private companies in the US according to Inc Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @BillCarmod, read more on Inc.com or reach out via [email protected]. 32 | © LeadershipHQ 2015