Be a Geek for an Hour-a-Week
December 29, 2011 by Corey Perlman
Filed under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
I’m really excited about a new product we’re putting together called Be a Geek for an Hour-a-Week. It’s a 1-hour assignment that will be emailed to our clients each week. This idea came from two challenges that our clients face:
1. Time
2. And if they had time, they’re not sure where to spend it.
I wanted to give our blog readers a sneak peak into Week #1 – here it is:
Note: COPs stands for Customers or Prospects
Week #1: Getting Started
Assignment #1: Spend some time thinking and researching where your COPs are spending time online.
Time: 20 Minutes
Overview: You don’t have to be on every social media site. There should be a legitimate business reason for you to spend time on any one site. Doing some quick Google searches, you can start to see some key demographics for each of the major social networks. For example, this link will give you some great info on Facebook users:
http://www.kenburbary.com/2011/03/facebook-demographics-revisited-2011-statistics-2/ - and there are similar stats for all the major sites. The goal is to get a sense of where your COPs are spending time online. Then all you have to do is meet them there.
Go to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and do some digging. See if some of your COPs are active on these sites. Quickly, you’ll start to see a pattern and you’ll undoubtedly be more motivated one way or another.
Another informal test is to ask COPs if they are active on sites you’re considering using. Send an email to your list or contact a few them via the phone. Again, you’ll start to see a pattern and determine if it’s worth your time and effort.
Assignment #2: Scan and edit your LinkedIn Profile
Time: 15 Minutes
Overview: Do you have a nice, recent photo uploaded? If not, change it. Is your profile updated with your latest company info? Is your description up-to-date? You’ll have a chance to improve the quality later, but now just make sure the info is current and accurate.
Assignment #3: Review your Facebook Profile
Time: 10 Minutes
Overview: I’m a firm believer that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of allowing business contacts to be friends with you on Facebook. But I’m not trying to convince you of that now. I just want you to spend these minutes reviewing your Facebook profile and removing anything from your Timeline that you’re not particularly proud of. Even if you don’t let your business contacts in, you’ll feel better about having a profile that’s PG.
Assignment #4: Update your social media profiles with something of value.
Time: 15 Minutes (5 minutes a day / 3 x a week)
Overview: This should be one of the following:
- An article that you wrote or found that offers value to your COPs
- An inspirational quote
- A provocative question that your audience is likely to want to answer
- A picture or video with a comment from you relating back to your audience.
- Ex: A roofer could add a picture of a cat with its hair standing straight out and say ‘Is getting a new roof stressing you out? Get a no hassle, free estimate by clicking here.’
Till next week,
Corey
Hi Corey:
I enjoyed reading this sneak peek, and wanted to share a story with you. I recently heard a marketing consultant, Emily Kelly at Rainmaker Consulting, tell an audience that everyone ought to have TWO facebook accounts, one for personal and one for business. So I had some business contacts friend-request me and was ignoring the request, waiting to decide what to do about this separate account issue.
Then, I had an appointment at Henkel, one of my best accounts. One of my facebook friends saw me there, was so excited to talk about some things on my FB and hers, and acted as though we were BFF’s. She walked me around the office and introduced me to some VIP’s that I hadn’t yet met. I saw instantly the value of being her “personal” FB friend, so I drove home and accepted every friend request in my in-box.
So, I am pretty sure that, if you don’t have anything personally embarassing, and if you practice good human relations skills on your fb, leaving out politics, you probably SHOULD become fb friends with your business contacts!
Just my 2 cents!
Great story, Marilee! This has been a hot topic in recent weeks and I’m a firm believer that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when deciding whether or not to connect with your business contacts on Facebook. Your story illustrates that perfectly!
thanks again,
Corey