Outsourcing Social Media? How to Effectively Work With Any Social Media Consultant You Hire
Posted by LinkedIn® Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo
Whether you are already working with a social media consultant on your LinkedIn, Facebook and/or Twitter account or you are looking to hire someone to manage your social media marketing efforts – you need to know how to manage the person or team you choose.
If you want to achieve maximum results and a higher ROI, then you can’t just let your social media consultant run a muck. It’s you and your brand they are promoting. It is your reputation at stake. You need to take a more active role in your social media marketing efforts.
Start with following the 8 tips I provide below that will help you develop a stronger relationship with your social media consultant so they can market you more effectively. These are the same tips that we give our clients when they invest in our monthly ongoing LinkedIn marketing program.
8 Tips to Help You Achieve Better Results and ROI from Your Social Media Consultant
Tip #1: Give your social media consultant or service provider as much information about you, your targeted audience, your business and its goals and needs.
I have a questionnaire that I developed to help me learn as much as possible about my new clients. I ask a series of questions designed to get as much information out of them as I can get. There are questions about their business, their targeted audience, their business goals and needs. The answers give me a better understanding of what type of marketing approach they need and how I can get them the best results possible.
For clients that use my monthly services I send them a special questionnaire each month about what types of events they have planned or what they have scheduled for their business. This way we can adjust our marketing on LinkedIn to match their branding.
In each of these questionnaires, we advise our clients to provide as much information as possible. We tell them that failure to educate us will result in limited success. And, because we take the time to get to know our clients – we’re getting results like those found here: http://www.getlinkedinhelp.com/category/linkedin-marketing-results/
Tip #2: You provide the content for the conversations and discussions your social media consultant is starting for you.
Most social media consultants post questions that are totally unrelated to their clients content or goals. Have you ever seen a posting like “what is your favorite summer activity”? I don’t know about you but I don’t really care about that, it has nothing to do with my business or my clients. You might generate more comments and discussions from a question like that, but it does not set you apart as a thought leader.
If you have your consultant just regurgitates content based on research from the web, how will that show prospects that you are any different from others in your field. You need to have content based on your own experience so that the reader sees you and not your consultant.
Your social media consultant should then create conversations based on the content and information you provide in your blog, articles you get published, your special reports, videos or squeeze pages.
To get help with creating your social media content – email me at kristina@getlinkedinhelp.com
Tip #3: If you do have your social media consultant create content for your discussions, it should be taken from your own work such as your books or transcripts for your teleseminars, webinars and speeches.
I have social media content creation services as I am partnered with Article Marketing Experts Founder, Eric Gruber. However, we do not create content completely from scratch.
If I generate content from scratch their social media discussions and comments will lack continuity. I cannot capture their style and tone; their “voice” cannot and should not be duplicated. If I simply take content from research on others in your similar field then I am not helping you become a thought leader. I am not showing your audience how you are different from your competition.
That’s why before we create social media content we view our clients bodies of work like their books or transcripts from their teleseminars, webinars and speeches. Then, we tweak this content and work our magic in turning this already created content into blog posts and articles that discussions can be created from.
Tip #4: You need to constantly reevaluate your goals and plans.
A social media consultant should help you test, tweak and create new strategies based on your current needs. For example, if you want to host a webinar or teleseminar, which will help you promote a boot camp then our LinkedIn marketing efforts will be aligned with that goal in mind. We would create a LinkedIn event marketing plan that gets your LinkedIn community involved, interacting with you and engaged so they will want to sign up. We’ll make sure you have a content marketing plan in place that will help us promote your event and get as much exposure as possible. And, we’d try to get you as much publicity for the event as possible.
Tip #5: Results and successes need to be shared with your social media consultant immediately.
You should regularly be sharing your clients’ results, your own business’s results and success stories with your consultant so he or she can use this to your advantage. Notice on our GetLinkedInHelp.com website – that we have a special clients’ results blog where we showcase our successes. (See our clients’ results blog now!)
When you view our clients’ results blog, you will see that we not only brag about the results, but we also demonstrate our expertise by showing you why we received this success and how. This way we can share the success stories with our LinkedIn group and the other groups that we belong. This way we can create discussions and conversations based on the work we have done.
Your social media consultant should be creating a strategy to put your work in front of your targeted prospects’ eyes.
Need a social media strategy to get started with right away – email me for a free strategy session - kristina@getlinkedinhelp.com
Tip #6: Make sure you measure your return on investment.
I have heard people say that you cannot measure ROI on social media efforts. They say it is like measuring ROI on adding coffee in the waiting room of your office. However, anything you do in business, including adding coffee to your waiting room can be measured. In the case of the coffee you are measuring your clients comfort levels. Are they agitated or are they willing to stay and wait for you? Are you getting more return clients?
In social media you are measuring ROI by:
- The number of high-quality, highly-targeted connections you are making with prospects, referral sources and media professionals.
- Your LinkedIn group or your Facebook fan page conversion rates
- How engaged your social media community is with you
- How many new visitors to your blog and website you are getting from you efforts and conversations on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
- The publicity you receive from your social media efforts using the strategies I reveal inside my LinkedIn Publicity Course at: http://www.HowToGetMorePublicityWithLinkedIn.com
- The number of offline conversations and free strategy sessions you are giving as a direct result of your social media efforts.
- How much you have increased your client base, sales and clients.
So you need to evaluate your ROI so you and your social media consultant can take steps to improve it further.
Tip #7: You need to work with your social media consultant to generate a lead generation system that works for you and the rest of your team.
For example, if you are a sales organization then there has to be a system and coordination that will move prospects through your funnel starting with your social media efforts. You need to map out with your social media consultant how leads should be processed and what the next steps should be. You can see a basic, lead generation system that you can implement right away by downloading the Power Point Presentation that I used with my NSA-New Jersey Chapter Speech.
Tip #8: You need to be proactive in your social media efforts and responsive to your social media consultant.
As I mentioned, it’s your branding and reputation at stake. Using social media, you can become a thought leader and go-to expert in your industry. Or, you can look like everyone else and focus on getting more “friends” that do nothing for your business.
If you want to become a thought leader, then you have to:
- Take interest and be proactive in your social media efforts
- Create content that positions you as a thought leader – so your social media consultant can effectively put you in the limelight. If you need help, grab these article template: http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com
- Be responsive – When your social media consultant or manager gives you a lead to act upon – don’t let that lead fall through the cracks.
- Embrace your social media consultant and let them inside your business. Provide them with as much information as possible on a regular basis.
Now, if you are willing to follow these tips – and if you are ready to be proactive in your LinkedIn marketing efforts, then we want you as a LinkedIn marketing client. If you are interested:
- See the clients we are working with
- Look at the results we are achieving
- Check out our LinkedIn marketing services
- Email me at Kristina@getlinkedinhelp.com
Category : LinkedIn Marketing Blog &Outsourcing Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts
New Social Media Debate – Is There Such Thing As a Social Media Expert
Posted by LinkedIn® Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo
With the wide use of social media around the world, everyone is trying to jump on the social media bandwagon and call themselves a “social media expert”. But is it even possible for someone to be a so called social media expert? And even more importantly, would you want to hire a social media expert?
My answer to that question is an emphatic NO! That is coming from someone who is recognized by The New York Times as a social media expert!
Why I Believe There Is No Such Thing as a Social Media Expert
Reason #1: Saying you are a social media expert is like saying you are an expert on the human body and all of the bones, muscles and systems included.
Can one person really be and expert on such a vast topic as the human body? No doctor would ever claim to know all there is to know about how the body works. That is why there are specialists in different areas and systems. There are too many aspects, systems and muscles throughout the body for someone to be an expert in all of them.
Being a so called social media expert is very similar. There are too many social media platforms, tools and applications for someone to fully understand and use effectively. Wouldn’t you want someone who specializes in an area and knows the ins and outs of making you higher quality interactions that leads to more clients and sales?
Reason #2: Those who claim they are social media experts are generalists. They do not work within one area enough to create, test and tweak systems that lead to success.
LinkedIn alone offers many opportunities for small business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, B2B marketers, business development teams, PR professionals and business executives. You see, I work on just LinkedIn every day whether it is to promote my business or my clients’ businesses. I like to think that I spend more time on LinkedIn more than its own company executives. As a result I have created, tested and tweaked…
- A complete lead generation system to help my clients retain more prospects and JV partners with LinkedIn.
- Processes to help business professionals get more publicity using LinkedIn. You can get a sneak peek inside some of my processes by grabbing my Free LinkedIn Publicity Ecourse at http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicitywithLinkedIn.com
- A 14 step event marketing system for LinkedIn.
- Different ways to increase group conversions along with strategies to keep group members engaged. I discovered what content works best within groups and get members engaged.
You see, I am continually testing, tweaking and adapting systems based on my clients needs. Those who claim to be social media experts are dibbling and dabbling with every platform. They are not getting into the nitty gritty that will actually help you get more prospects, referral sources, media opportunities and clients.
Reason #3: Making connections, creating Tweets and obtaining more friends on Facebook and adding content on LinkedIn does not make you an expert.
Just because you know how to navigate all social media platforms does not make you an expert. Making connections and friends and updating tweet statuses or adding blog content to a LinkedIn group is something anyone can do, including the most inexperienced internet marketers. That’s why all of a sudden, you see virtual assistants claiming to be social media experts and business consultants are now adding social media to their areas of expertise.
However, an expert knows how to engage prospects and clients and build profitable, meaningful relationships. They know how to make a social media platform work for a client. Notice I said platform and not platforms because the way you market yourself and your business on LinkedIn is different from they way you market yourself on Facebook or Twitter. The strategies are different and the marketing goals are different. That is why you need to work with specialists in the different areas of social media.
Now, before you hire a social media expert to handle your social media marketing efforts – ask yourself:
Do you want a generalist who handles the social media basics on every platform or do you want an area expert that is focused on one area but digs deep and creates systems that will actually give you a return on investment?
If you’d like a LinkedIn marketing expert on your team – check out my LinkedIn marketing services then click here to contact me
Category : LinkedIn Marketing Blog &LinkedIn Marketing Debates
New York Times Calls LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo — “A Social Media Expert”
Posted by LinkedIn® Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo
In today’s case study, I show you how I ,(LinkedIn marketing expert Kristina Jaramillo), started my business and became known as a prominent LinkedIn Marketing Expert who is asked to share the stage with top internet marketers like the Information Marketing Association President, Robert Skrob.
Now, along with my coaching, live profile review services and ongoing LinkedIn Marketing Services, I am also the creator of the first and only Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates sold on the global market today.
A Little Background on Me – LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo
For several years, I was the Article Marketing Experts online business manager who handled customer service inquiries while learning everything I can about LinkedIn. Once I proved myself to becoming a LinkedIn expert, Article Marketing Expert Eric Gruber gave me an opportunity to work on his own LinkedIn profile and group page. He soon learned the power of mixing article marketing with social media as my efforts increased his website traffic by 33.8%!
I then started testing with some other experts like PR LEADS Founder Dan Janal and Adam Hommey – and they too have improved their profits. So, using Eric as a coach, I created a special report that prospects opt-in for, launched my own website and started my business. You can get this report for free at http://www.getlinkedinhelp.com
In, just 12 weeks after setting up my LinkedIn business, the New York Times called me a “social media expert.” You can see the article that quoted me as being a social media expert at:
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/this-week-in-small-business-is-the-horror-over/
Look under the section: DON’T TELL ME SOCIAL MEDIA IS JUST A FAD
How I Gained This Expert Recognition and Instant Credibility So Fast…
1. I captured instant attention.
Out of all the social media platforms, LinkedIn is the most misunderstood. So, with article titles like: LinkedIn Secrets – 3 Reasons Why Most Business Owners Fail to Attract Clients Using LinkedIn, Kristina was guaranteed attention.
2. I incorporated statistics up front that attracts the media – and shows readers the abundant opportunities they have to build relationships and profits if they use LinkedIn to its fullest potential.
This is an example of how I start my articles: “There are over 100 million influential professionals from over 200 countries on LinkedIn that can become your potentials customers. In fact, LinkedIn’s membership is what Neilson Online is calling “The world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals” as you will find executives from all Fortune 500 companies there. Plus, you will find experienced professionals from large and small companies and every type of business and industry imaginable. So, why aren’t you able to attract more clients? Why is no one connecting with you?”
Now, if you were not making connections on LinkedIn – wouldn’t you be wondering how can you not when there are over 80 million members? Guess what – the media will wonder why its readers are not connecting either.
3. I provide value.
I am not skimpy on the information I provided in my articles. I give supporting proof and facts. In fact, I even reveal how I get my content in front of 50,000 prospects fast.
4. I write on controversial topics and reveal insider information that other experts in the social media arena do not want you to know. I even write articles like: There Is No Such Thing As a Social Media Expert
5. Because of the information I provide, I can target top websites, ezines and blogs and integrate it with my LinkedIn marketing and not just Ezinearticles.com. You see, the New York Times reads credible blogs like RINF.com whose content is often featured on The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, Google News and MSNBC. RINF.com, which published Kristina’s article, has an Alexa traffic ranking of 60,176 out of 10+ million websites that Alexa tracks.
Your Next Steps:
Step 1: Grab my complete instant article writing templates collection that will help you become a thought leader. When you act today, you’ll also get access to Kristina’s Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates that consists of:
- 100+ Fill-in-the-Blank Headlines
- Instant LinkedIn Profile Templates (20+ Summary Templates and 10+ Experience Section Templates) including examples
- Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates including group templates, email templates and free strategy session templates
- Recommendation Templates
Get access now at: http://www.InstantLinkedInMarketingTemplates.com
Step 2. Start mixing your LinkedIn marketing efforts with article marketing and PR so you can become a thought leader fast. Learn how with my free LinkeIn publicity course at: http://www.HowtoGetMorePublicityWithLinkedIn.com
Category : LinkedIn Marketing Blog &LinkedIn Marketing Results
LinkedIn Marketing Quiz – Do You Need a LinkedIn Profile Makeover Immediately?
Posted by LinkedIn® Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo
By Kristina Jaramillo – LinkedIn Marketing Expert So, you created your LinkedIn Profile and you are one of the 100+ million people on LinkedIn. You may have created your own group (and if you didn’t already, you should!). You may have joined other groups that your targeted audience belongs to. And, you may have already made a few connections – and even received some new clients from your LinkedIn efforts. But, is your LinkedIn Profile working for you as effectively as it can be and should? I challenge you to take the quiz below to find out if you need a LinkedIn Profile Makeover.
Are You Up For The Challenge? Take This New LinkedIn Marketing Quiz
LinkedIn Marketing Question #1 – Is your LinkedIn profile attracting the right audience?
Are you receiving lots of invites to connect that are not your ideal clients? There are a few reasons for this, first of all your LinkedIn profile headline does not identify who you are and what you do, in order for others to figure out if they should connect with you, they need to know more about you and your business. Second of all your summary does not speak to a certain audience, it needs to attract your ideal client. Lastly you are not informing prospects in your contact section who should be contacting you. You need to identify your audience and state it throughout your profile in order to inform readers who is your ideal prospect.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #2 – Are you stopping prospects dead in their tracks and pulling them in to read your profile to learn more about you and what you do?
Does your profile headline read like this “CEO of XYZ Company”? You may think that this tells people what you do but all it does is tell people you are in charge. It fails to inform the reader what you do or what your business is all about. It needs to be more attention grabbing and enticing. Your headline will be one of the first things a prospects reads about you, so it needs to pull them in and make them want to read and learn further about you.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #3 – Are you engaging your targeted audience?
Are you giving your prospects reasons to stay and learn more about you and what you have to offer? You should be including videos, presentations, blog link, polls and events. There are a number of tools that LinkedIn offers to improve your profile. Use these tools to create a personal connection to your readers who will want to discover more.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #4 – Does your profile read like a resume?
When was the last time you read an interesting and intriguing resume? Most resumes tend to be boring and bland. Now, how is this going to help you attract viewers and prospects? Simple, it can’t. A resume is not personal enough. The goal of LinkedIn is to connect with people and build relationships. The only way you will connect with prospects is to personalize your profile. Most resumes lack that human touch that LinkedIn can provide if used correctly. You need to make your profile interesting and enjoyable to read. You have to keep in mind that if you want others to read it, you should want to read it too.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #5 – Are you using the power of the media on your profile to build instant credibility?
When you are quoted in the media, have an article published or you are thought of an expert in traditional media, you gain immediate credibility with prospects. So why not take advantage of this instant credibility builder within your profile, for example one of my profile headlines reads “Read My Profile Now & Discover LinkedIn Secrets from the Woman The New York Times Called “A Social Media Expert”.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #6 – Are you missing these credibility elements?
There are several key elements that every LinkedIn profile should have. Testimonials, Articles & Publications, Videos Results Awards and Honors & Achievements, these aspects of your profile will help to enhance your authority in your field as well as develop a relationship with your prospects.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #7 – Are you failing to tell people why they need to go to your website?
Does your profile guide the reader back to your website? The ultimate goal of a LinkedIn presence is to get people visiting your site.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #8 – Can your profile be found for your keyword phrase on LinkedIn or Google?
Do you have keywords listed throughout your profile to boost your findings on LinkedIn and Google? Whatever area or expertise you want to be found for you have to make sure that it is mentioned several times throughout your profile. If you do a people search on LinkedIn with the keywords LinkedIn Expert, you will find that I rank number 1 out of 5,997 results. If you do a search for my Executive Coach, Carrie Jacobs is found as number 2 out of 102,090 results.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #9 – Are you giving prospects a reason to keep coming back to your profile – so you stay on top of their mind?
What are you doing to stay in your prospects minds? You have to make sure that you are the first person they think of when it comes to your field of experience. You should be switching video content and adding new articles to your profile, then me sending a note to your contacts to inform them. If you regularly do this your contacts will get into the habit of visiting your profile, this way when they need help they will think of you first.
LinkedIn Marketing Question #10 – Are you creating multiple funnels to your website?
Your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to direct prospects to all the helpful tools available to them on your website. For example, in my summary I provide the link for people to receive a copy of my free report. Now who is not going to at least check out what my “free” report is all about? This entices views to actually visit my site and this will lead to them learning more about what I can do for them. I also provide a link for viewers to sign up for a free strategy session. You should also be adding links to different areas to your website pages within the experience section of your profile. This way people see what you do in a specific area, they can go to your website to get more information.
Now, how did you perform on our LinkedIn Marketing Quiz?
If you past the test, then congratulations are in order. If you think you passed the test but you are unsure and you want to make sure everything is in order then you may want to grab my LinkedIn Profile Review service, where I will show you on video what mistakes you are making. Get more information at: http://wwww.GetLinkedInHelp.com/live-profile-review If you failed the quiz, don’t worry, no one ever took the time to explain to you the right way to set up your profile and market on LinkedIn. If you need help creating or revamping your LinkedIn profile then check out these resources:
- My LinkedIn Profile Makeover and Quick Start Program where I do all the LinkedIn foundation work for you. To get more information – contact me today!
- My Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates – I provide you with the structure, format and ideas. All you have to do is plug in the information that’s already inside your mind. Get more information on my templates at http://www.InstantLinkedInMarketingTemplates.com
Category : Improve Your LinkedIn Marketing Efforts &Improve Your LinkedIn Profile &LinkedIn Marketing Blog
