George Clooney wouldn't make this mistake

What do you and George Clooney have in common? Quite a lot when it comes to how you and he promote your respective personal brands.

Are you struggling to decide whether you and your business should be spending time on social media? You kind of believe you should be committed to it, if only because everyone else, including your competitors are using social media. The challenge is that you feel like you're standing at the bottom of a very steep mountain, looking up at a summit that is so far away that you honestly wonder whether it's worth the bother. How on earth will you get noticed? Perhaps you can learn a lesson from 'Gorgeous George?'

Many people I meet when I speak at conferences and other events also feel like they have a mountain to climb when it comes to getting to grips with social media. In fact, this Wednesday I'm anticipating another full house to hear me speak at the Brand Yorkshire Conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Most who sit and listen will be hoping to hear something new, some nugget that will help them scale their own social media mountain and yet the reality is that there isn't anything new. I can tell you however, that there are a few fundamental approaches you can take that will help propel you up that mountain and increase the chance that you will reach the summit.

Know who you are

Now George clearly knows who he is. He's crafted an image, a brand and a look that has worked pretty well for him since he moved on from the American sitcom Rosanne many moons ago.

So stop! Before you post an update on LinkedIn today or tweet a piece of 'useful' content, ask yourself; why should I bother to read your post compared with anyone else's content in your industry? What do you stand for, what is your brand message and does it set you apart from others in your sector? Maybe it's time to stop posting news and instead start posting views - your views and opinions. Know who you are and share your voice in a way that will attract attention. Next time you go to post something on LinkedIn or you're about to write your next blog, apply the 'so what? test. Is what you're about to say setting you apart from others in your field?

Do you stand out from the crowd?

I'm not saying you go hire a speedboat and invite the Paparazzi to take a ride with you on the waterways of Venice but George and his new bride certainly caused a stir and attracted a lot of attention last week.

Ask yourself, how many people on social media do what you do? What are they posting, what are they saying about themselves on their profiles? Are their messages all pretty much the same and is yours actually any different?

What makes your business stand out from the crowd and how will you turn that difference into a message on social media that will make your target audience sit up and take notice? Would a quirky or engaging video of you or your team doing something unique, strategically placed on the media section of your LinkedIn profile or attached to a tweet help make you stand out in a positive way?

You have to be in the room

If you're not in the room then you won't be noticed, it's as simple as that. The average life of a tweet these days is around 30 seconds - half a minute before that message about your latest offer, carefully crafted white paper or blog disappears to the foot of your follower's news feed, rarely to be seen again unless some kind soul happens to stumble upon it and retweets it to his or her followers.

PR plays a vital role in George Clooney's life, without it, like many actors, he runs the risk of people no longer realising he exists. Posting on LinkedIn or any other social media site once or twice a week is simply not enough, you will not be seen.

My advice is that if you intend to implement a social selling strategy then you need to post varied and interesting content (yours or others) several times a day. Choose the most relevant times of day (down times) when your target audience are likely to be checking their smart phones, tablets or PCs. Make sure you vary the content type and format (blog, video, question, comment etc) and avoid sharing several posts all within 10 minutes of each other or you will soon become a nuisance to your networks and followers.

Commit the time and resource and be smart

'How do you post so frequently?' This is a question I'm constantly asked and this is why my LinkedIn profile is consistently in the top 2% of profile views compared with others in my network.

Use a 3rd party content sharing platform - In my case, I use Hootsuite and allocate a few minutes each day to schedule my content sharing - this is my brand awareness strategy. Once this content is scheduled, I am free at other points of the day to engage in conversations or group discussions as time allows. The important thing is that I'm acting smart and my brand is continually in front of my network of connections and followers even when I'm busy with a client.

Outsource your content posting - Starting this week, I will be outsourcing or in this case 'in-sourcing' my social media posting to Heather who works with us at Linked2Success. Heather will be responsible for sharing my blogs and curating other useful social media content that she will then share 7 days a week from my social media accounts. The reality is that as important as maintaining my brand awareness is, as the owner of our business my time also needs to be spent on other more strategic aspects of the business as well as engaging directly with clients and potential clients by having conversations that matter.

Ultimately, George's successful career is down to having a great brand, which is regularly publicised. He outsources his PR to someone else and then ensures that when he has to engage directly with his audience he does so very well. I'm not sure if he uses Hootsuite to reply to his many adoring fans who reside in different times zones around the world, in fact I'm even struggling to find a legitimate Twitter account for him but what I do know is that he doesn't ever stop promoting his brand. Never mind girls!

If you're wondering what it'll take to raise your brand and make social media work for you in your business then I can very quickly tell you what won't work and that is a half-hearted commitment to using it. Like any other form of marketing or business development, I'm afraid it will take work, time and effort. However, by applying a few simple and smart strategies, the kind we train to businesses of all sizes, you will soon start to an increase in engagement with your audience on social media and who knows, you might even end up on the Hollywood walk of fame!

Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to hearing from you, if you need to increase sales and attract more new clients to your business.

If you liked this post, please would you share it with your connections, thank you.

Steve

PS- anyone know where I can pick up a speed boat?

Check out these client case studies to see what impact our training had on these businesses - click here

Steve Phillip is Managing Director and co founder of Linked2Success, specialising in measurable social media sales & marketing support for businesses.

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