LinkedIn

If you're using Facebook just to connect with family and friends, than it's not really for business use, and you can use a fun profile pic or whatever you'd like. Many people though will mix personal and professional use. For instance, you might have a Twitter account that you use to follow some celebs, as well as share business-related stories and articles.[read more]

A recent study shows Twitter outperforms LinkedIn and Facebook 9 to 1 for lead generation. For B2B marketers, that's a big deal. Here's a quick guide on getting the most out of your Twitter for lead gen campaign.[read more]

Under this section, LinkedIn lists other users who have these same skills. This can be used to find new networking contacts, but it also illustrates how easy it can be for a potential client to find you when searching for targeted professional skills and services.[read more]

Content Curation, in its most simplest terms, is the act of gathering related, targeted pieces of content and sharing it. Like an art curator, a Content Curator is a taste maker—an influencer—and has authority in a given topic. You can curate content that you create and curate the content that is important or interesting to you and your brand.[read more]

Most knowledgeable LinkedIn users would agree that best practice when sending an invitation to connect on LinkedIn should include a personal note introducing yourself and expressing why you want to connect. Although I personally don’t think it’s a crime to send a generic LinkedIn connection request, a well-crafted personal message will always increase your chances of connecting with the recipient. This is probably true for all social networks.[read more]

The truth is, LinkedIn is a personal network, not unlike meeting someone at your local Chamber of Commerce. You wouldn’t go into your monthly Chamber meeting, walk up to someone you’ve never met, and say something that sounded automated. Unfortunately, however, I’m seeing more and more people take exactly that approach on LinkedIn.[read more]

Social media is 24/7. Someone is always tweeting, posting on Facebook, or uploading a new picture to instagram. However, for social media managers and businesses alike, this can be quite of a challenge. We obviously can’t be online all day, even for those of us who are social media managers or strategist. But how do you know when to best reach your audience?[read more]

Use an aspirational headline. For heaven's sake, don't say you're unemployed in your headline. Don't even say you're a new grad. Try: "Aspiring Marketer," or "Mechanical Engineer." This is the LinkedIn version of "fake it 'til you make it." Post as professional of a photo as possible. Your duck-face Facebook profile picture is not a good fit here, nor is your action shot from the club field hockey team.[read more]

Richard Margetic, Dell's social media lead

Social Media Today had a chance to sit down with Richard Margetic, Dell's Social Media lead, to discuss some of the topics that will be covered at the Social Shake-Up Conference in September, where Richard will be speaking. Here is a transcript of that conversation.[read more]

LinkedIn is moving even closer to becoming your one stop shop for managing your business relationships. It has been adding features to contacts for some time now with tags and notes fields so you can use LinkedIn as a CRM tool.[read more]

Social media engagement

Social media continues to evolve and ways to improve engagement are also changing constantly. These five alternative tips -- ranging from Google+ Hangouts to Instagram -- should help you increase engagement and get more benefits from social media.[read more]

LinkedIn (Image Source)

Every professional should be using LinkedIn, and that goes for writers too. LinkedIn goes beyond just meeting new people, and participating in “getting to know you” conversations and lead generating “dance cards.” Follow these simple steps to create and use an All-Star author’s LinkedIn profile.[read more]

I just had dinner with a job-seeking friend lamenting the number of jobs listed in the local paper. It seems someone may be missing out on three-quarters of all available jobs: LinkedIn. (He confirmed he’s on LinkedIn, in case anyone is concerned.)[read more]

There are many different social networks out there, and if you're like me, you have accounts on a lot of them. Maybe you created a profile on Facebook to connect with friends and family, or maybe you got on Twitter because you were told it would be good for your business. Either way, statistically the average American has six different social media accounts, and that number is on the rise.[read more]

Lighter v2 by CJ Isherwood (NA, BY)

The name, or title, of your group is essential in drawing members to it. Be as specific as possible in the 48 characters you’re allotted. Don’t worry too much about being eye-catching. People are on LinkedIn for professional reasons, not to be entertained. When users are scanning the Directory for groups to join they’ll pass over all those that don’t seem relevant.[read more]

Five years ago, Dell had little presence on social media. That changed when the computer company realized 4,000 conversations about the brand were happening online every single day and the company was not present. Since then, Dell has invested millions of dollars’ worth of time and resources to join those conversations.[read more]

blogger outreach / shutterstock

Once you've gathered your intel, you're ready to start reaching out to your Influencers and building a relationship with them. Remember, everything in social media is about relationships. Sometimes a relationship can blossom overnight, but in most cases you'll need to harness it, to nurture it.[read more]

hashtag / shutterstock

Twitter processes 350 billion+ tweets daily. Talk about a noisy marketplace! For marketers who want results from their tweets, it comes down to carefully choosing the most potent hashtags. Want to try creating your own hashtag? Getting it going isn’t difficult, but does take some finesse.[read more]

This top tier of social networks contain those networks where you know your target client is active and engaged, and so your activity levels here are highest. You will have a complete profile, share updates and content multiple times a day, and will be looking for opportunities to engage and connect with prospects. These opportunities may include commenting on and sharing other people's posts, and participating in groups and communities.[read more]

Businesses need to choose either a direct sales approach, leading straight to a sale with no need for further endorsement, or self-promotion, showcasing their knowledge and skills to generate leads and do the selling bit later, the traditional way – face-to-face. In most cases social media is best used to generate leads, or send traffic to your website where you get a chance to do this again. Producing great content that your audience wants to read will help you do this.[read more]