General Motivation Blog » Networking Ideas

Adding Social Media to Your Business – A Beginner’s Look

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:26:22 +0000

Been Lazy About Social Networking?

You’ve put it off as long as you can stand it. Adding online social media to your business has been on your to-do list since the over-30 crowd started venturing onto Facebook, but it seems like a daunting task. You? Tweet? Perhaps you thought it best left to the likes of Ashton Kutcher, but let’s face it – these days businesses need a social media aspect. Your potential clients and customers expect it, and after all it’s not that scary. We’ll walk you through the simpler aspects to get you started. Before you know it, you’ll be opening up your business, large or small, to a much broader and international audience.

Twitter: I start here because although it may initially sound confusing, Twitter is probably the simplest social networking tool to handle once you’ve spent about 10 or 15 minutes playing with it. Basic setup is easy and quick and tweeting is simple: You write something – anything – in 140 characters or less. You can announce a sale at your shop, share a company goal, or talk about the weather. And since you can add a link to your company’s website within your tweet, you’re able to share who you are with lots and lots of people who have found you on Twitter and have decided to “follow” you. When you get an email letting you know you’ve got a Twitter follower, be sure and follow them back. It’s all about the give and take, and the more followers you have the broader your reach. You can check out our Twitter page to see who we’re following and who’s following us (right-hand column) for a quick and easy way to follow some interesting companies and HR professionals around the globe.

Facebook Fan Page: If you already have a Facebook account, then this one’s really easy. Just visit someone else’s Fan Page (here’s ours) and click on the link in the bottom left-hand corner (Create a Page for My Business) to get started. Facebook will walk you through the setup. You’ll notice on our page we usually announce whenever we have a new blog article so our Facebook Fans will know it’s time to swing by for a visit. But you can use the Facebook Fan page to announce whatever you’d like about your business. You can add links, product photos, video of your unique machining processes, etc. If you don’t have a personal Facebook page, you’ll need one to set up the Fan Page. It doesn’t mean you have to jump into Facebook headlong, however. A simple personal page is fine – you don’t even need to open it up for others to get into unless you really can’t resist the temptation. The point here is to add a layer of contact with your business that many potential customers want and will be happy to use.

Forums: If you’d rather just talk back and forth and share your expertise, you may want to check out the world of forums. It seems they exist for everything on the planet. Let’s say your company sells cat toys. Google “cat forums” and you’ll get 154 million (not kidding here) to choose from! Pick a few out, sign up, and search for areas where you can comfortably discuss the subject with those who have left questions that you can answer, for instance. While many forums poo-poo having you blatantly hawk your wares, you’ll still be able to share your knowledge and, when appropriate, mention your company products or services. You may find you’ll get yourself a nice following within some of the forums, and that means yet one more way to effectively reach out.

Blogs: Admittedly, you’ve got to really enjoy writing, or have someone in your staff who does, but having a corporate blog provides a great way to communicate with current and potential customers and anyone else in your business. Again, share your expertise. If you’ve got that cat toy company, you’ll probably want to blog about cat care, cat hair, cat pajamas, etc. There are some fantastic corporate blogs out there that receive huge amounts of followers. Everyone from Southwest Airlines to Coca-Cola to (ahem) General Motivation Company have added blogging to their social networking repertoire. You need not blog daily, but a once-a-week post can certainly add a fun and informative layer to a growing company.

These few suggestions just scratch the surface of adding online social media to your business, but they’re certainly good places for any company who’s ready to venture out. The important thing is to start! Even if you aren’t the sort to add your kids’ photos to Facebook, Twitter about your dinner, or blog about your family reunion, you’ll find a great advantage to looking at these networks as free and useful business tools. And make sure to let everyone know once you get going! Put up Facebook and Twitter links on your website, add a blog link to your email signature, let customers know you’re out there in the forums. Potential business is out there and it’s looking for YOU in these very places. It’s just a matter of hooking up.

HR and Small Business Online Forums – A Helpful List

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:40 +0000

Get Connected with the Click of a Mouse

Online forums are a great way to gain insight, share your experiences, ask questions, and gather ideas. Most online forums are free and require nothing more than a screen name and a password; if you’d rather just read what others have to say while saving your comments for later, that’s fine too. It’s well worth the effort to check out a few forums. Today we’ve taken some of the effort out by gathering a list of both HR online forums and small business and entrepreneur online forums. (Bigger businesses will find lots of good info here too!)

HR Online Forums:

HR.BLR.com’s HR Forum

About.com’s Human Resources Forum

Topix’s Human Resources Forum

HRmarketer.com

Labor Law Talk

Small Business and Entrepreneur Online Forums:

Home Business Online

Young Entrepreneur

Small Business Ideas Forum

Small Business Forum

These are just a few to start you out, but keep in mind for every facet of life and business, there are most likely several forums out there waiting for you to explore. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for? You may just want to start your own!

If you have an online forum in HR, small business, entrepreneurial, or PR, please let us know. We’d love to add you to future lists. You can leave a comment here or email us.

HR and Social Media – is it Necessary?

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:06:45 +0000

Seems these days there’s a lot of buzz about HR and social media, and whether or not they’re a good match-up. Perhaps the hold-off on jumping into social media full force has more to do with preconceived notions. After all, it’s rather impersonal, isn’t it? Well, maybe for keeping in touch with Grandma, but for an ever-growing global economy, it’s probably the only way you’ll ever get to know many of the people your business works with.

Yes, it’s true – social media big wigs like Facebook and Twitter may have started out as something for a technologically savvy group of teens, but these days there’s more to Tweeting than helping increase Ashton Kutcher’s following. And Facebook is becoming more and more of a hot spot for business professionals to make connections and put faces to the names they’d otherwise only see in the byline of an email.

Making more personal connections is perhaps the biggest advantage to having a presence in the social media scene. Sure, business lunch groups designed for networking time are still a great way to go for local connections, but for reaching out to the rest of the country – even the rest of the planet – nothing gets you ahead like making connections online.

If social media has made you nervous in the past, there are some fun and easy places to start. For instance, you can try smaller more specialized groups such as the Employee Recognition Community which makes it easy to sign up and get connected with other HR professionals across the country. Or try an HR forum such as HR Guru’s forum page. If you’re feeling like really jumping in, get signed up at Twitter and do a search for HR or for some of the companies you work with. You’ll be able to follow HR professionals and various business contacts from all over the globe. The General Motivation Blog Twitters too, so you can start by following us at hrhelper.

Do you already use social media to help you in your business? Feel free to leave a comment here and share your experiences.

Networking for Shy People (You can do it!)

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:18:07 +0000

Networking can actually be fun if you learn a few tricks

Networking isn’t the most comfortable situation for many people. If you’re not the bold type to just walk up and start a conversation, it can seem daunting. Talk to a stranger? About what??? But there are a few ways to break the ice and to create meaningful contacts, even for the most timid of networkers. In fact, being timid may just turn out to be your edge!

Do Your Homework. If you’re planning on attending an event, see if you can find out who else is attending. Take some time beforehand to check sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, and learn a little about the people on the guest list. Where do they work? What do they do in their spare time? Do they have a familly? This gives you somewhere to start when conversation starts.

Shy People are Great Listeners. Don’t want to carry the conversation? That’s perfectly fine. If there’s one thing lacking in today’s world, it’s a great listener. Think of the few times you’ve found someone to really hear what you have to say. It’s memorable, isn’t it? You don’t forget someone who’s truly interested in your thoughts and ideas. And what happens when you sit back and let someone else talk? They tell you all kinds of fascinating things. When you listen, you move from the level of “casual acquaintance” to “confidante”. You’ll get to know them better, and they WILL remember you because you took the time.

Prepare for Conversational Lags. There’s nothing worse than conversing with someone for the first time and hitting what I call the “elevator lag”. You know that uncomfortable silence in an elevator where everyone stares at the numbers on the wall? Yeah, that happens outside elevators everyday too. And it’s enough to finish the conversation for good, but if you keep a few questions in mind, you can waylay the silence. Try questions about their kids, pets, hobbies or workplace. Try to avoid the yes/no questions or you’ll be right back in the elevator staring at the little numbers.

Seek Out Other Shy Networkers. No one wants to stand around a social function all alone. If you spot someone hanging around the periphery of the room looking uncomfortable or attempting to look busy, they’re probably hoping against hope that someone will talk to them first. If you’re not very comfortable starting conversation, another shy person is a great way to start. You’ll find they’re so grateful you took the time to say hello that you may find the easiest conversation of the event occurs with them!

Arming yourself with a few tactics like the ones above can turn an uncomfortable networking situation into something you may just start looking forward to. Remember, being shy doesn’t have to hold you back from making some great connections who may just turn out to be great friends as well!