Starting Small Business

Though there are many popular social networking sites out there, LinkedIn continues to be the leading social media platform for making social and business connections. It’s a great way for professionals and business owners to connect, engage, and interact with each other, and information shared within the site is usually very valuable and informative, unlike other social networking sites such as Face book and Twitter, where posts tend to be more on the personal side.

Just recently, both Face book and Google+ have rolled out some new features, and it seems LinkedIn isn’t planning on being left behind, updating and upgrading as well. It recently acquired Index Tank, which provides real-time hosted search technology, and plans to improve the internal search within LinkedIn in the months to come.  

Google+ recently rolled out some new features along with Google+ Brand Pages. The site seeks to enhance its users’ experience, giving people a greater ability to connect, interact, and play within the platform.

So what exactly are these new additions, and how would these affect direct sellers? Well, as a direct seller, you have the unique opportunity of being your own personal brand and yet also representing your company’s. You need to do a bit of balancing act here, since it’s about how you relate with your consumers and audience as a person while still promoting the company and products you stand for.

Social media has definitely changed the way direct sellers can connect with their audience. Rather than having to go house-to-house talking to one person after another, you can easily connect with hundreds of your friends and followers with just a click of the button.  

As a direct seller, there are many things you can utilize in promoting your brand. You don’t have to be limited to the physical world – nowadays, more and more people are deciding to take their brand online so they can extend their reach and gain more leads. The Internet has become one of the most popular marketing tools, since compared to traditional media such as TV and radio, marketing your brand online is a lot easier and far less expensive.

There are various things you can do online to promote your brand. A website or blog is a great way to showcase your products as well as your brand – it’s a way for you to stand out from other direct sellers out there, by offering unique and relevant content to your audience.  

This is the time of year when there seems to be so many events. There are events to attend for professionals in private practice. The Corporate community has numerous events before they go into their next year budget mode. Entrepreneurs have a wide range of events to select from, ranging in subjects from website creation and optimization, to the mindset of the entrepreneur. One common theme for you is to bring with you all of your networking skills and techniques we have been discussing in the last few articles.

When you are attending events you must have your message clear and in focus. Put yourself in the place of the other person. There might be 100 people, 200 people or more attending the event. How will what you say be memorable enough so that each person will in some way recall who you are when you follow up with them?  

For those of us who have utilized social networking to establish a strong presence and visibility online, it has become increasingly evident that many sites such as Facebook and Twitter have limited potential in uncovering quality professionals and networks for all of your sincere business ventures. Whichever site you choose, you probably already gathered that most people intend to use these sites for the sole purpose of connecting with old friends and relatives.

It obvious that LinkedIn Ireland has quite a different motivation than displaying your relationship status and old pub photos alongside your business profile. Oh dear!

So, after joining LinkedIn (Ireland), I immediately tried to find ways to maximise the visibility of my business in order to find great applicants and potential investors in my field. A business partner advised me to try a program called Linked Influence, a video course intended to help me bring in prospective applicants with high-caliber experience and a strong business mind-set. Honestly, with all the substandard service reviews from the year before, this was just what I needed!