For the consultant and the solopreneur, nothing can be as important as their social media marketing. Sure, your SEO is an ongoing and successful project but it is in the social media arena where you will have the best chance to shine and outrun your competitors. Recent research done at AdWeek revealed that over 90% of the businesses they talked with stated that a sound social media strategy is critical to their success. For the solo, however, it can mean so much more than mere survival.
- You first need to determine which particular social media platform will do you the most good. While being on multiple platforms is not necessarily unhelpful, concentrating on one will prevent burnout and increase your ROI if chosen correctly. If your concentration as a solo or consultant is in the B2B arena, Facebook is likely your best bet. People spend an average of an hour a day or more out there and much of your potential business base is likely already out there. If you are more niche and B2C, Instagram and Pinterest (especially if your customer base is female) are likely your best bets.
- Stay focused and only be where it will be the most effective for you. You can’t be out at six platforms and expect to not burn out because your working 20 hours a day just trying to keep up with social media obligations. Stay within yourself and your expertise. You can’t be everything to everyone. Those that try to be all that generally go down in flames. Don’t be on more than three so that you can concentrate your primary energies and content to a primary platform which can feed the other two.
- Set yourself up and an expert, an influencer, and then never cease your networking. For the consultant and the solo, networking is the absolute key to success and growth. No one is telling you anything new here but so often solos neglect their networking in favor of other schemes-of-the-day. Aside from those great face to face networking opportunities like trade shows and chamber of commerce events, your social media platforms are the ideal way to gather in clients. By publishing authoritative content, and even writing a book, it sets you up as a premier authority in your field or industry. Such credentials carry a tremendous amount of weight and you will see the results are more clients are driven your way.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
