What Does Your Social Media Activity Say About Your Business

You’ve attended a networking meeting, had a 1 2 1 with a perfect lead and walked away with that warm fuzzy feeling that all went well and you can potentially work together

And then they arrive back at the office and check your Social Media profiles

Deal over

Just as great Social Media can massively increase a companies bottom line, poor use or lack of Social Media can often be the end of the deal – and trust me, this is not an exaggeration

THE 7 SECOND TEST APPLIES ONLINE
We all know about the 7 Second Test – the fact that it takes only seven seconds for us to judge another person when we first meet them

The same applies online

That 1st impression of a Twitter profile, a LinkedIn profile, the opening couple of lines of your blog – what does it say about your business?

You can judge a lot about a person by the way they use social media

• Are they committed?
• Do they turn up every day?
• Are they exciting, creative and inspirational? Or are they beige?
• How are they different from competitors?
• Are they a giver? Or are they a taker?
• Do they show gratitude?
• Do others say great things about them?

And you thought it was just 140 characters rather than a personality test or a look at your emotional intelligence

YOU ARE WHAT YOU SHARE
We live in a world where people in the UK check their mobile phone 150 times a day on average

And the average person in the UK spends 1 hour 20 minutes a day using Social Media

So whether you personally like Social Media or not you don’t have a choice whether you use Social Media. You simply have a choice if you use it well or not

The chances are that those people you meet at Networking once or twice a month will actually have eyes on your Social Media updates more than they do face 2 face conversations

Here are some top tips to make sure you create the right impression for those post-meeting Social Media searches

TOP TIPS

1. Click on your Twitter Profile and hit Tweets & Replies option (Desktop Only)
If you are to view any profile from just tweets only, which is the default option for Twitter, then most people would look like it’s all “Me Me Me”

It’s on the Tweets and Replies option that you truly get to see how people use twitter and whether they take the time to engage with others

We all hate that person at a networking meeting that offers a monologue AT you rather than having a 2 way conversation with you

Tweets and Replies offers a window to the type of person they truly are in business

2. Back It Up With Data
Twitonomy.com can analyse your Twitter profile and gives huge amount of data

Things you can find include
* Number Of Tweets per day
* Percentage Of Tweets that are Replies or Retweets
* Percentage of Tweets of yours that are Retweeted
* Users You Most Engage With
* Hashtags used most

For ourselves at Altrincham HQ in any given period it shows us that 68-70% of our tweets are replies and retweets

That means the data backs up the social element of what we do in terms of Social Media and often we find it’s double that of our peers

3. Run Searches On Your Name
Important stat for you – 31% of brand mentions on Twitter alone are indirect, not using a company’s handle

What will you find if you search your company name? How do you respond to it? And how is your response perceived by potential clients

Set a saved search up for your company names and “slang” variations of it where appropriate

4. Have a LinkedIn Profile You Can Be Proud Of
Repeat after me … LinkedIn is a professional network!

If you are in the B2B sphere as many reading then there are things that are standard and everyone should know, but often don’t
– Have a Professional Photo – not a holiday shot or one holding the kids up
– Don’t leave any unexplained gaps in your career history
– Don’t post Facebook Style posts – yes Quizzes, Maths Tests or Riddles

The biggest turn off however is no Recommendations on a LinkedIn profile

So often I meet businesses at networking meetings and they talk about an illustrious history spanning decades working with hundreds of businesses and then you connect with them on LinkedIn and they have zero recommendations from clients

People like to do business with people they Meet, Like, Know and Trust …. and part of the process is seeing testimonials and recommendations from people they also Like Know and Trust

SO ONCE AGAIN – WHAT DOES YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA SAY ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?

At Altrincham HQ we specialise in growing businesses via effective Social Media Marketing