Day three of our Entrepreneur Playbook Video Series and we’re ready to take on Twitter.

I have a confession to make.

I was a non-believer.

Card-carrying hater, actually. But – I connected my blog and occasionally checked out some folks. Followed sports writers. You know – nothing major.

Then….I got a client. Then another. Both from Twitter. Both LOCAL.

Weird, I thought. Ah, no….that’s opportunity knocking.

So – here’s my Non-Believer’s Guide Video Post in homage to the Tweet.

Great list of tips on email marketing and growing your list from one of my amazing mentors, Fabienne. Thank you – and pssst…pass it on.

1. Put your previous business contacts on the list. Even if you are doing something completely different, colleagues will be curious how and what you are doing.

2. Add your holiday card list to your list. Let your friends and family know what you are up to as well. They are likely to be supportive so don’t miss out on sharing your news with this close group.

3. Once you join a few networking groups, adds those contacts to your list. If you are in BNI, the group likely hands out the member list at each meeting. Be sure to get their permission first before adding them!

4. Look for speaking opportunities and ask the audience if they want your irresistible free offer by email. That will encourage them to provide their contact information. Send around a clip board so they can sign up.

5. Offer the same irresistible free offer on your website. This will help you capture the contact information from visitors by giving them a reason to share it with you. Make the offer available on a special landing page or your home page.

6. Offer free teleclasses and distribute flyers at BNI and other networking groups.Remind BNI members that if they share the event with colleagues who attend, this counts as a referral! That will help motivate and engage your members.

7. Announce your free irresistible offer and free teleclasses on Facebook and LinkedIn which will drive people to your website to register. Keep in mind that you‘ll need a special web page for the teleclass sign up.

8. In your newsletter, ask people to spread the word and share your ezine. Don’t be shy. Just put your request in there and you’ll be pleasantly surprised that many readers will follow through.

Now, where have I heard THIS before…. “it’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it that counts.” Oh, true…so true.

We’re talking about SOCIAL MEDIA, people. Settle down.

By now, I think most of us understand that just putting up a Facebook page or checking Twitter once in a while is not going to bring your business any benefit. You have to know how to use it – and share with others in the sandbox – to really make social media relevant to your business.

So….how can you do that without eating up tons of time in development and execution? Here’s my top 5 tips….

1. Be relevant. First, you have to know who you want to talk to and WHY. Just knowing you have customers and clients is simply not enough anymore.  You have to know something about them and why they would want to seek you out. When you figure this out, it will be a lot easier to address their concerns, offer information and share with them – and that approach will, in turn, grow loyalty and grow referrals.

2. Be consistent. Ya gotta show up. Every week, every day. Pick the days of the week you will blog – and do it the same time, the same day EVERY week. This consistency will also build trust – and people will start realizing your there to help and be a reliable source of information for them. This is very valuable to clients and customers at this stage in our consumer evolution.

3. Be giving. By giving I mean this: give of yourself, your expertise, your knowledge. Sharing some of what you know is not going to keep people from coming to you as paying clients. In fact, the opposite is true. If you give freely, this will only serve to cement you in their pantheon of “go to pros” when they are ready to spend money. Have a little patience – it will pay off big time.

4. Be transparent. Transparency = authenticity. The social media landscape is very solidly customer-driven. Transparency in all things is king. If you can be open handed about how you do business, what you recommend, how you deal with adversity and in general, with clients and colleagues, this will also rank high among those presently kicking your tires.

5. Be helpful. Answer questions. Seek out conversations on all social media outlets that may relate to your business. Don’t worry that the person may be out of your market or out of your league — if you know an answer and can provide information, do it. You never know how it will come back to you – but trust that it will.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,683 other followers