hi I’m Evan Carmichael welcome to
another edition of ask Evan today I’m
answering a question from one of my
LinkedIn group members so LinkedIn is
helping knew that I’m getting more and
more involved in and this is part of a
b2b what’s a good b2b social media
market I think something like that and
so Janice wrote in with a question to
say I’d like to learn the quickest way
to learn about social media for business
I’ve been working in communications at a
software company for more than 14 years
I haven’t had to use social media
because the company’s market is very
specialized and when required however
I’m currently looking for another job in
communications and while I have a strong
writing editing background in both
English and French I’ve never done web
2.0 it seems to be a strong requirement
from any communications jobs I see how
do I fill this gap quickly so great
question Janice thanks for it it is
definitely a skill set that is in demand
and that if you’re looking for a job in
communications you’re going to have to
know and the more you can position
yourself as an expert the better in
terms of getting started I do actually
have a worksheet to help entrepreneurs
with their with their social media
skills but I don’t want to turn this
into a sales page you can check that out
if you want to stop my site but my main
strategies for getting started with
social media is first to monitor so if
you can’t use it for your company right
now I would try to look at ways to use
it for yourself
so I’d either look for ways to use it
for your technology company or look for
ways to use it yourself a brain yourself
as an expert and I would first start by
monitoring so monitoring is basically
looking for anybody who mentions your
name your company name your website and
phase one is just recognizing champions
so this is how I got started into social
media my first Avenue was through
Twitter and I thought Twitter was was
really stupid like people are talking
about their cats with you for lunch why
is this relevant to me I did a search my
company name the website and I found
that people were talking about my
business and I wasn’t a part of the
conversation and you want to be wherever
your customers are right so phase one is
just recognizing your champions and
saying thank you you know everything was
good fortunately all the stuff that was
about my web
that being talked about was all good
awesome but you always want to make sure
that you’re involved with your customers
and you’re hanging out where they are so
that’s that’s kind of step one just
monitoring key terms and thanking people
or responding to criticism if you do get
any that are out there the next step is
I try to look for ways to get involved
in the conversations that are happening
and try to position yourself as an
expert so if you’re now trying to get a
job in a new field especially in
communications it would help for them to
see that you really know what you’re
talking about on social media and so you
could become or start becoming a social
media thought leader and you can share
your experiences with how you’re
learning about it you can ask people
questions who are more advanced in the
field so to build a rolodex of contacts
you can potentially interview people who
are really good at it and share their
secrets or interview people who are in
the roles that you want to be at or
we’re having a success at social media
at bigger companies that maybe that’s
where you eventually you want to get to
you’ll not only learn from them but
you’ll you’ll build an expertise set
yourself people will look forward to
seeing the content that you’re creating
here and you’re building a contact list
of people who you can lie on if you have
questions down the line eventually you
want to move from being the one asking
all the questions to being the one also
giving advice and you can either do it
from people asking you questions you may
not have any now so you know all these
videos that I do are coming from
questions from my audience so I don’t
have to kind of make up questions that
come in to me but if you don’t have an
audience yet at the beginning you can
participate in forums or you can look at
other tweets that are happening or other
LinkedIn discussion groups and instead
of answering the question in that forum
you can create a video or you can create
a blog post or you can create a LinkedIn
post and then make it detailed show how
you’re an expert you’re you know what
you’re talking about
and link to it so people can then
comment on it so it can be really scary
if you’ve never done it before just like
any new thing and it can often be
overwhelming and for you know for you
get trying to get into that field it is
a new skill set that you should ideally
pick up again I’d start off really
simple basic put in words relating to
your current company and related to
yourself and just monitor at the start
and then slowly start to get involved in
discussions share what you think might
work but also ask questions and
interview people who are experts in the
field so you have unique content that
you can share and if you’re part of this
b2b social media marketing group that
we’re both members of you can learn a
lot from that group where you can also
for people who you who you meet and
connect with there you can do an
interview with them you can learn from
their success and you can post that
content up on the LinkedIn group and
then as people read it they’ll come to
associate your name with these awesome
interviews and expert thought leadership
around social media one of my favorite
examples of this is a guy named Michael
Dunlop he’s a young entrepreneur in the
UK he started a blog called income diary
that I don’t think he’s a part of
anymore or maybe his brothers writing or
something like that but the start of it
was really good where he was a young
entrepreneur who basically didn’t know
anything about setting up an online
business and so he went out and
interviewed some of the most successful
people people who became his mentors and
guides about how to run an online
business and the first blog posts were
basically just him asking questions and
eventually he became known as a guy to
go to for how to run an online business
and he gained
expert status even though he wasn’t
sharing the information himself he was
pulling it from these other people who
he respected and so in the process he
learned a lot about how to how to be an
expert in that field he made a lot of
great contacts and mentors who he can go
to on going for repeat information
repeat help and then he was eventually
the brand himself as that expert so
people would come to him as he learned
through the process so it’s a great way
to get started to learn quickly by
talking to people who’ve already done
what you’re trying to do and shortcut
your way to success
and that’s that’s kind of how I
recommend you getting started and I’m
excited to hear about your progress and
hopefully you’re posted either on
YouTube or in our LinkedIn group so
thank you for the questions those you
watching if you like the video please
give a thumbs up below makes you want to
do more for you and if you have a
comment about this video or question
about you
own business or challenge you’re facing
feel free leave in the comment section
below I always read those I love seem to
come in and I look forward to be able to
answer them for you so thank you and
I’ll see you on the next episode
you
another edition of ask Evan today I’m
answering a question from one of my
LinkedIn group members so LinkedIn is
helping knew that I’m getting more and
more involved in and this is part of a
b2b what’s a good b2b social media
market I think something like that and
so Janice wrote in with a question to
say I’d like to learn the quickest way
to learn about social media for business
I’ve been working in communications at a
software company for more than 14 years
I haven’t had to use social media
because the company’s market is very
specialized and when required however
I’m currently looking for another job in
communications and while I have a strong
writing editing background in both
English and French I’ve never done web
2.0 it seems to be a strong requirement
from any communications jobs I see how
do I fill this gap quickly so great
question Janice thanks for it it is
definitely a skill set that is in demand
and that if you’re looking for a job in
communications you’re going to have to
know and the more you can position
yourself as an expert the better in
terms of getting started I do actually
have a worksheet to help entrepreneurs
with their with their social media
skills but I don’t want to turn this
into a sales page you can check that out
if you want to stop my site but my main
strategies for getting started with
social media is first to monitor so if
you can’t use it for your company right
now I would try to look at ways to use
it for yourself
so I’d either look for ways to use it
for your technology company or look for
ways to use it yourself a brain yourself
as an expert and I would first start by
monitoring so monitoring is basically
looking for anybody who mentions your
name your company name your website and
phase one is just recognizing champions
so this is how I got started into social
media my first Avenue was through
Twitter and I thought Twitter was was
really stupid like people are talking
about their cats with you for lunch why
is this relevant to me I did a search my
company name the website and I found
that people were talking about my
business and I wasn’t a part of the
conversation and you want to be wherever
your customers are right so phase one is
just recognizing your champions and
saying thank you you know everything was
good fortunately all the stuff that was
about my web
that being talked about was all good
awesome but you always want to make sure
that you’re involved with your customers
and you’re hanging out where they are so
that’s that’s kind of step one just
monitoring key terms and thanking people
or responding to criticism if you do get
any that are out there the next step is
I try to look for ways to get involved
in the conversations that are happening
and try to position yourself as an
expert so if you’re now trying to get a
job in a new field especially in
communications it would help for them to
see that you really know what you’re
talking about on social media and so you
could become or start becoming a social
media thought leader and you can share
your experiences with how you’re
learning about it you can ask people
questions who are more advanced in the
field so to build a rolodex of contacts
you can potentially interview people who
are really good at it and share their
secrets or interview people who are in
the roles that you want to be at or
we’re having a success at social media
at bigger companies that maybe that’s
where you eventually you want to get to
you’ll not only learn from them but
you’ll you’ll build an expertise set
yourself people will look forward to
seeing the content that you’re creating
here and you’re building a contact list
of people who you can lie on if you have
questions down the line eventually you
want to move from being the one asking
all the questions to being the one also
giving advice and you can either do it
from people asking you questions you may
not have any now so you know all these
videos that I do are coming from
questions from my audience so I don’t
have to kind of make up questions that
come in to me but if you don’t have an
audience yet at the beginning you can
participate in forums or you can look at
other tweets that are happening or other
LinkedIn discussion groups and instead
of answering the question in that forum
you can create a video or you can create
a blog post or you can create a LinkedIn
post and then make it detailed show how
you’re an expert you’re you know what
you’re talking about
and link to it so people can then
comment on it so it can be really scary
if you’ve never done it before just like
any new thing and it can often be
overwhelming and for you know for you
get trying to get into that field it is
a new skill set that you should ideally
pick up again I’d start off really
simple basic put in words relating to
your current company and related to
yourself and just monitor at the start
and then slowly start to get involved in
discussions share what you think might
work but also ask questions and
interview people who are experts in the
field so you have unique content that
you can share and if you’re part of this
b2b social media marketing group that
we’re both members of you can learn a
lot from that group where you can also
for people who you who you meet and
connect with there you can do an
interview with them you can learn from
their success and you can post that
content up on the LinkedIn group and
then as people read it they’ll come to
associate your name with these awesome
interviews and expert thought leadership
around social media one of my favorite
examples of this is a guy named Michael
Dunlop he’s a young entrepreneur in the
UK he started a blog called income diary
that I don’t think he’s a part of
anymore or maybe his brothers writing or
something like that but the start of it
was really good where he was a young
entrepreneur who basically didn’t know
anything about setting up an online
business and so he went out and
interviewed some of the most successful
people people who became his mentors and
guides about how to run an online
business and the first blog posts were
basically just him asking questions and
eventually he became known as a guy to
go to for how to run an online business
and he gained
expert status even though he wasn’t
sharing the information himself he was
pulling it from these other people who
he respected and so in the process he
learned a lot about how to how to be an
expert in that field he made a lot of
great contacts and mentors who he can go
to on going for repeat information
repeat help and then he was eventually
the brand himself as that expert so
people would come to him as he learned
through the process so it’s a great way
to get started to learn quickly by
talking to people who’ve already done
what you’re trying to do and shortcut
your way to success
and that’s that’s kind of how I
recommend you getting started and I’m
excited to hear about your progress and
hopefully you’re posted either on
YouTube or in our LinkedIn group so
thank you for the questions those you
watching if you like the video please
give a thumbs up below makes you want to
do more for you and if you have a
comment about this video or question
about you
own business or challenge you’re facing
feel free leave in the comment section
below I always read those I love seem to
come in and I look forward to be able to
answer them for you so thank you and
I’ll see you on the next episode
you
Please follow and like us: