As a savvy business owner, you know the need for a company website–and you probably already have one. But the growing rush of eyeballs to social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter means you need to establish an online presence there ahead of your competitors.

Before you simply cut-and-paste your About Us page into your Facebook profile, take a look at how you must transform your attitude before you can create an effective social media presence.

On your website it’s okay to say, “Sign up for my free report” because the visitor is on your turf. If you make the same offer on social media turf–while commenting on a blog post or a topic in LinkedIn Answers, for example–you’ll cause a lot of eye-rolling and may find yourself publicly scolded, labeled as a clumsy newbie, or reviled as a spamming shark.

Show your leadership and PULL others to follow you. Lay out a solution to their problem, a shining path to success in content you publish in free videos, posts, updates, and tweets. Just make it easy for them to find your e-mail and website address so they CAN find out about your offerings when they’re ready.

You must interact with those you meet online. If you’ve set up the appropriate Google Alerts, you’ll know whenever anyone anywhere on the web mentions you. And they expect you to respond. In fact, the more you make your presence felt, the more positively they’ll perceive you and your brand.

The social media landscape is almost unimaginably huge, and your resources are limited. So be strategic. Go where your customers are. Use Google Blogsearch, Twellow and other tools to find them. They’ll recognize and appreciate your exclusive attention.

Step 1 is to listen. What are they talking about? What matters to them? Then prove you’ve been listening by giving back and adding value. If someone says something you like, say so! An insightful compliment goes a long way.

To demonstrate your expertise, provide assistance and authoritative information. Point people to interesting resources like blog posts and videos–occasionally your own if they’re relevant to the conversation. And that’s the trick.

No one minds if you’re a good leader and a good marketer, as long as you put the common good first. Show your leadership, your preeminence, by consistently putting the interests of others before your own. That’s how to develop trust, a solid starting point for any business relationship.

An “expert’s expert,” Susan Raab helps you connect with new leads through social media, add prospects to your e-mail list at your web site, and then market information products and services to your list members via e-mail. She writes high-conversion “sales letter” landing pages, social media and e-mail campaigns as well as website copy. An author of best-selling books on sales and marketing and an award-winning corporate publisher, she can also help you create compelling information products to increase the lifetime value of your own clients.

Tags: business, clients, Facebook, grow, LinkedIn, online, people, someone, Twitter, VA

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.