Get Your Online Act Together
Posted by debrahelwig on February 27, 2009
When someone at your firm does something smart, it belongs online.
Says something interesting? Get it on the Web (and Facebook, and Twitter, and LinkedIn).
Helps someone? Yep, online it goes.
Tells a great story? By now, you probably get the drift.
This social media thing – thought leadership and connections to make yourself “addictable” (as Scott Ginsberg puts it) – is not going away. Social media is rapidly becoming a (if not THE) critical marketing driver for successful businesses. That includes professional services firms.
Yes, this means YOU.
If you’re reading this post on my blog, then you probably already understand this concept. BUT…(big pause here)…there are a ton of folks in your firm that don’t get it yet – many of them the decision makers in the partnership.
It’s up to you to make the case and get them on board.
To that end, here’s some great insight into why social media is do-or-die for your firm. Need fodder to share with others less enlightened? Check out these brilliant explanations:
Scott Ginsberg: How to Save Your Company $80,000 in Marketing Costs (takeaway: need to create a Visibility Plan, not a Marketing Plan or a Business Plan. Be more findable, more obsessable, more lovable, more addictable, more spreadable.)
Seth Godin: The Panhandler’s Secret (takeaway: interact first, sell second)
Debbie Weil: If You Can’t Link to It, It Doesn’t Exist (takeaway: I’d love to help promote you, but you have to provide me with a way to share it online)
Link. Tweet. Post. Have fun. Make a difference.
Whatever you do, get moving.
ThatGuySteve said
What are your thoughts on a company using Tweets as a sort of message board to keep it’s employees informed of projects going on?
I’m interested more along the lines of privacy issues and how much of a businesses day to day should be broadcasted.
debrahelwig said
Hi Steve: Sure you can. Just remember it’s a public forum. It certainly can work well – and your under-30 crowd will probably be enthused by it – but if you’re sharing information you consider proprietary you’ll want a backup plan.
If you’d be sharing much proprietary data, you could also check out a tool called Yammer, which takes Twitter-style microblogging onto a private platform and away from the Twitterstream (see https://www.yammer.com or http://www.theprlawyer.com/2008/12/yammer-new-internal-office-style.html for more info).
ThatGuySteve said
Great idea. Thanks.