Working with all the different portals, business sites, visibility tools, and social media sites is close to a science, but the MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember is this: get active and stay active. If you don’t have them yet, open accounts (and create business pages) in the top 6 social sites: Facebook, Twitter, Google MyBusiness, Instagram, YouTube, and Linkedin. You can great tips and ideas for posting and managing social media pages through our blog, Twitter or Facebook sites. You will also get great information, trends, stories, and media coaching through our monthly emails along with amazing monthly discounts and promotions.
Over the past few years, PureEdge Media has created our own community helping to build audiences, readers and subscribers for our clients. Here are a few things we’ve learned along the way that will help you in your community efforts.
1. Get Active on the Top Six
We've already stated it in the opening paragraph above and it can't be stressed enough if you want online success; if you don’t have a business account with the top six, get them. Set aside 30-minutes to an hour for the next six days and concentrate on opening one account per day. Spend some time with each account; go through the settings, enter all of your business information, contact information, products & services, hours of operation, logos, business images, etc. Then make sure you link to each of these accounts through your website header or footer. Likewise, make sure you are directing each media account back to your business website.
2. Start a Blog
Starting a blog can sometimes be intimidating. It means you set aside time and start writing about your business, your product, your customers. It means those who are looking at your business and others in your industry consider you to be an expert in your field. And, because of these, it's absolutely why you must start your blog. Setting up an account is easy. If you don't use PureEdge Media for your web management or visibility management, there are other places to begin. Open a Blogger account with one of these: Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram, Blogger, and more. If you are a PureEdge Media customer, get in touch and we can help you.
Here's a great please to start. Begin by writing with the goal of helping others in your area of knowledge. As you begin to answer common questions or solve problems, you learn to communicate effectively through blogging. Answer questions, be helpful, solve problems and show that you are an expert in your field. Write a new blog as least once a week but shoot for two. Then, link to that blog through all your social media pages.
3. Connect with Successful People
When I was a young boy, my father used to quote these little cliches, as I’m sure many fathers do. Things like, “If you want to be treated like an adult, you need to act like an adult”, or “Why don’t you think before you act?”, or “If you want to be successful, you need to hang around successful people.”. A very successful businessman I looked up to and worked with also said the same thing; so dad must have been right.
Someone also has said, “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time around.”. Spend time around people you want to be like and who challenge you. Always try to be the dumbest person in the room — I’m not saying you need to be or act stupid; I’m saying you need to listen, ask questions, be aware, and watch. You’ll find you’ll have more job security through your own network of successful people than you ever will with a job.
Push yourself, grow and see what happens. People are attracted to action. It might help your community that much more.
4. Don’t Worry About Being Original
I love trying new ideas and I’m not afraid of it. Some ideas work and some don’t. But to be honest, most of my ideas are not original. They’ve been tried, some have been tested, and most have been done before. Originality is overrated. But if you can take something that’s been done before and improve it while putting your own spin on it, you can evolve the idea into something compelling.
Evan Williams, the founder of Twitter, credits ideas with being a ‘secret to success’. You don’t have to do something completely new; you just have to do it better.
5. Be Strategic
If you try 100 different things, 90 of them will do nothing to move you forward. Ten of them will move the needle, but only one or two of those will catapult you forward. Find and focus on those few things.
What’s important here is that you know which efforts propel you forward and which efforts kill time. It’s a quick lesson in time management. Hone in on what matters and forget the rest.
6. Do Something Interesting
Don’t fall into the trap of writing just to be writing; say something worth talking about. You may have a great story that's compelling to others. Use that story and you'll be surprised how others start to flow.
People pay attention to Chris Guillebeau partly because he gives great entrepreneurship advice, but also because he’s traveled to every country in the world, and he’s telling a great story with his life.
Writing becomes easier when you’re doing something worth talking about and you can put it in story form. Be interesting, and people will flock to you.
7. Do Something Scary
Once you start to grow, challenge yourself to do something you’re not sure you can accomplish. Something that scares the daylights out of you. Then go out and make it happen. Push yourself, grow and see what happens. People are attracted to action. It might help you and your community that much more.
All of these points help build a community of followers. Concentrate on the points and get active and you’ll begin to see some amazing results.
Need PureEdge Media to Manage your Social and Web Visibility? PureEdgeMedia.com/visibility
