After speaking with professional services firms across the country, I can tell you… the fears of social media are very real.
I had the opportunity to co-host a professional services tweet chat with Taryn Erickson at SoMeffect, to discuss “Fears of Social Media.” (You can find our original questions, see: Do you FEAR Social Media?)
During our chat, we conjured up many of the fears that commonly haunt professional services firms.
What are the typical fears?
“Is social media marketing a waste of time?”
“How can you control what is being said?”
“How do we show ROI to our partners?”
“How do we know where to begin?”
Where do these fears come from? How can we learn to overcome them?
In November, we’ll be hosting a special webinar for professional services firms to help uncover some of these fears, and learn what you can do as a firm to master them. Sign up here for: The Five Fears of Social Media.
Have you overcome your fears of social media? What worked for you and your firm?
Now that your professional services website is attracting searchers, passing the two second test, and has valuable content, your next online engagement goal should be to encourage repeat visitors.
Think about the sites that you routinely visit. I’m guessing that seldom updated, bland, self-serving sites aren’t very high on your list. Most people only frequent sites that offer entertainment value, the opportunity to learn something new, or regular updates. Of course regular doesn’t have to be several times per day, but it helps to be consistent. Daily updates are difficult to maintain, but once a month may not be enough to encourage repeat visits. Find a pace that works best for you.
Blogs and other social media updates are often the easiest to keep up with on a regular basis, but let’s consider more than the type of content you post–let’s think about the other ways to remind visitors to return. RSS, email subscriptions, and social links are other great ways to notify your audience when your site has been updated.
Bonus: A Little Help From Your Friends.
Don’t feel like you have to do all of the work yourself. Social sharing features make it easier for your visitors to share your site with your friends as well. Consider using Like This, Share This, Send to a Friend, and ReTweet features in your next site update as well.
So there you have it. The four levels of engagement for your professional services website.
What does your tradeshow booth say about your brand?
Our branding firm had the honor of sponsoring the opening reception of a regional conference this past week for an association of professional architecture, engineering and construction marketers called SMPS Heartland. While we enjoyed the fact that as sponsors, we were allowed to have “a booth,” we didn’t want to be one of those displays that people would just walk past. Our number one goal was to engage with conference attendees and SMPS members.
Something happened a few weeks ago that really got me thinking about the importance of networking, and more importantly, developing a solid strategy for it. I was at an event, and I was introduced to a group of college students from a local design school. I talked with them for a while, and before I left, I gave them each my business card. In design, like many fields, connections are crucial. The people you meet today can open a door for a job or project tomorrow. By giving them my card, I was offering myself as a connection and resource–knowing they will eventually graduate with the goal of finding a job.
After I left, I thought to myself whether I’d hear from any of those students. Unfortunately, I doubted it, and so far I’ve been correct in my assumption. This really made me think. What happened to the traditional rules of networking–to following up after a meeting, sticking your foot in the door, and creating a memorable connection? Are these rules obsolete in a society whose natural, everyday forms of communication, connecting, and maintaining relationships are online?
Which 2010 Super Bowl commercials did the best to build an already strong brand? Which brands invested in commercials that best introduced a new brand? Which were the best uses of Social Media, after the commercial? Which brands would have done more good by just donating their cash to a cause?
After they air, check here to vote for your favorite (and least favorite) Super Bowl commercials of 2010. Go Colts!
What’s the number one branding question we’ve been hearing from our professional services clients these days? “Should our firm be using Social Media?” Any guesses what my answer is?
“Nope.” That’s right, nope.
Not unless you have a strategy for how to make it work.
In reality, Social Media can greatly support your efforts to brand your professional services firm as thought leaders and experts in your field. So what are we recommending to our clients who are committed to making Social Media a part of their branding and marketing mix? If you’re operating a legal, accounting, consulting, architecture or engineering firm, you may want to read on.
1. Develop a Social Media strategy.
When considering Social Media, first devise a plan. As marketing goes, it can seem easy and inexpensive, but it requires planning, time and energy to implement well. Your biggest cost is the time of the people who are managing your Social Media.
You’ll need some goals to think through which strategies make the most sense. Do you have a sales goal? Database growth? Hopes for PR or public speaking? You’ll need a solid strategy to get there.
2. Understand how Social Media is unique.
It’s not like advertising or even in-person networking. It’s a two-way conversation that allows and even encourages others to take part in the discussion. It can reveal a level of authenticity (or lack of) in your brand. And you’ll want to understand the SEO implications of Social Media as well. In some sense, it’s like word of mouth marketing that everyone can see and comment on.
3. Demonstrate thought leadership.
As I mentioned earlier, Social Media is a great opportunity to build on your brand’s reputation as thought leaders or establish a unique positioning for your firm. It’s a matter of sticking to what you know, taking a unique point of view, and asking for feedback.
Compelling thought leadership can also attract top talent to your firm.
4. Use the right tools.
Not every social medium is right for every business. It all goes back to the strategy – who are you trying to reach, why, and what do they want to hear?
LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook Fan Pages may be good fits for most businesses, but for deeper content sharing, consider blogging, compelling videos, or even taking an active role on other industry blogs.
Meanwhile, don’t forget to incorporate your social links into your other more traditional branding efforts – website, business cards, and email signatures.
5. Social Media is not the end game.
Thought leadership, in the end, is only one strategy to build your brand. If you’re selling legal advice, it may be a great strategy. If you sell cardboard, it may not be. Consider your audience, and develop the right social media strategy for your brand.
Social Media isn’t going away anytime soon, so before you jump in, be sure to spend time thinking through your strategy. It can be a great avenue for professional services firms to brand themselves as thought leaders.
Who are the thought leaders in your industry, and how do they use Social Media? Please share your thoughts:
It’s just like I told one of our designers on Friday as we walked out to our cars, “One week down, 51 weeks to go.”
What are you going to do with the next 51 weeks? Are some of your New Year’s Resolutions already a little out of focus? What were those again? Eat healthier. Exercise more. Make more money. Sound familiar?
Last year, one of my clients said, “If you want something different, you have to do something different.”
This year do one thing different.
Look at your list of resolutions and goals for 2010. (I’m assuming you have written them down? If not, do that first.) A long list can be intimidating. Circle the one big goal that will be the biggest game changer for you in 2010. Which goal would most impact your ability to live a healthier life, or most significantly change the way you do business? Next to that goal, write down why it’s important. Maybe you really can achieve that, but so what? What’s going to change?
Anyone who’s been through a goal-setting workshop is probably familiar with the concept that to be achieved, goals first need to be S.M.A.R.T.
S – Specific M – Measurable A – Actionable R – Realistic T – Time-bound
That’s a great starting point, but my guess is 99% of your goals last year were “S.M.A.R.T.” and you still failed to achieve most of them. Why is that?
This year, do one thing different. Choose that single, most impactful goal and tell everyone about it. You may even try creating fun, positive and negative consequences for your performance. “If I do X on time, I’ll reward myself with a new laptop. And if I don’t do X, I’ll owe my whole office a steak dinner.” What would your rewards or consequences be?
Or try another approach. Condense your goal down to one word, print it out and post it on your wall, your desk, or your bathroom mirror. Focus on your one thing.
This year, my one big goal is to write a book. I’ve been talking about it for years. This year I’m actually going to get it done. Here’s why. First, having a book will be a great asset for our business. And second, I made a deal with a friend of mine who is also “writing a book.” We agreed that we would hold each other accountable to have a complete first draft of our books finished by July 1, 2010. He recommended that if it wasn’t a short-term goal (in this case, six months) we’d put if off until the end of the year. But since July is already near, we have no choice but to get going.
In addition to being able to push one another towards this goal, we’ve also created some really ridiculous consequences for not achieving our goals (I won’t give too much away, but the bet involves getting a tattoo and teaching a class in drag). So far, I already have one chapter written. That’s one chapter more than I wrote in the past few years. All in all, not a bad start.
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