Why are companies not found on LinkedIn or Facebook?

We have been working with multiple companies developing social media profiles lately. In the efforts of building a branding and consistent character basis for companies, we have seen more and more that there are too many companies without a presence on LinkedIn. Not talking about an individual profile - which is very concerning that over 3.5 million users are on the site, but yet millions more haven't ventured into building a profile is overwhelming. To start there, if you don't have a presence on this site as an individual, you are telling the world that either you don't want to be connected to, you aren't savvy with the Internet, or you would rather spamming sites publish information about you instead. One of the most beautiful things about LinkedIn is the searchability factor through google. 4 out of 5 customers will search LinkedIn for their potential vendor representative (or potential new hire) to gain character perspective and knowledge about this person. If you don't choose to put information about your history that you want people to see, they will find out information about you on sites that pay a lot of money to Google to post personal things such as pictures of your home, family members & so on (an example of this is 123people & there are many other sites out there who "phish" for your information & post it freely online). Should you ever find something like this - you can contact the publisher for it to be removed. Know that the most important piece of us mentioning this - is the fact that THE INFORMATION YOU WANT POSTED ON THE INTERNET - SHOULD BE THE INFORMATION THAT YOU CHOOSE TO BE POSTED - NOT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE DECIDES FOR YOU!

This holds true about information for your company. If you don't have a website - how will your customers know what you offer & if you are a real business person? Same with social media. If you are not "out there" and "current" how will people know how to do business with you, connect with you, follow you and want to maintain relationship with you????

With that being said, as a business owner you have thought about a few things:

(1) what is my logo?
(2) what is my brand?
(3) where will I market?
(4) how will I market?
(5) who will I market to?
(6) build a website

Will all of these things in place, there is still a laundry list of things that need to happen as well.

FACTS:
(1) If you have a website, it will have either detailed - or not as detailed - information about your products/services
(2) You may be choosing some print marketing or mailers for your potential or existing customers

These are important - but what should go in hand with this?

***SOCIAL MEDIA***

If you have a personal presence on Facebook, you should NOT be marketing your company on your "personal" page, rather you should have a business page where people can "like" your company and follow your updates.

If you have a personal profile on LinkedIn, you need to be sure your company profile is established as well so people can easily find you through your company or your personal profile. Individuals can also "like" your company page for updates. You should also have recommendations of your work that your customers, vendors or staff can post about you - this is a great character building piece and can also encourage a history of your experience.

A newer feature of LinkedIn is posting products & services. The great thing about this is you can get recommendations for these products or services right on the company page - a great marketing tool.

My challenge for you - If you have a personal presence on FaceBook or LinkedIn - then create a company profile for them both. It will increase visibility, credibility & ownership of your brand.

How can you get connected in Social Media specifically for Telecom?

I wanted to let you know about a new package we are offering to Agents. There are 2 variations.

Social Media Ramp-Up & Social Networking Support

Social Media Ramp-Up includes setting up & developing your Social Media Sites to promote your branded individual & your branded company to your connections & future prospects. We will get your profiles developed with essential keyword searches, content & stamp your company in the social media markets. We will also setup for you & teach you how to use all of these sites via a free online portal that will optimize your productivity. We will consult you on the best practices in marketing specific for Telecom, Telecom prospects & build your following quickly.

Social Networking Support is a service we offer to monitor these platforms for you with reporting on a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly basis. It is important to have current visibility on these platforms with consistent activity to build trust, relationships & knowledge of your services. You can have access to the media platform at any time to view productivity in addition to the reporting options we will provide to you. You will be able to target specific prospects via the social networking tools & market your business in a way that you haven’t been able to do before.

Fact: Qwest developed a team of social media experts to support existing customers. What they found is when people would complain about their services online, there was no visibility to help them & they were losing business. 7 out of 10 of complaints on Twitter about Qwest were responded positively by the end user & customers were retained. In the last 6 months, large companies including Qwest and Cisco have not only branded but perfected the customer experience by helping the customers real time with their issues.

Fact: Customers will research your branding/profile prior to calling you back on a cold call. How do I know this? Many of you did the same with us before calling us for support services. Where are they looking? LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google. If you don’t have a website, you may be overlooked. In addition, Google pulls feeds from LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter for specific keyword searches. If you aren’t on active with a broad profile on these sites – you may be overlooked because they won’t know much about you.

Fact: By allowing us to manage these services for you – on a flat rate basis each month – you know the following:
(1) You won’t have to learn the specifics about Social Networking ins & outs
(2) You will be in the field more – instead of trying to figure out how to connect & maintain your profile
(3) All direct messages or inquiries will be filtered to you immediately with the option for you to personally respond

If you are interested in letting us help you grow your business through this new technology, let me know. The tools we use are completely free, the only cost to you is our flat rate.

Don’t be left behind because of a lack of online presence.

Don’t let your customers feel neglected if they contact you online & you infrequently login.