Branding your business on social media sites

I have a client (a most excellent electrician) for whom I handle bookkeeping and other assorted tasks. He's been thinking about “dipping his toes” into social media - mostly on his own. I suggested to him that if he does not feel comfortable with a photo to ID himself, then a picture would work too. Lots of people use logos if they have them and if not then a picture which could relate to his identify and that people would recognize as they continue to see posts from him on various platforms.

Of course my ultimate goal is to give him a real presence but for now I wait in the wings while cheering him on in his efforts.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Those of you who specialize in this niche what have you done or not as the case may be, while you watch some of your contacts in this same situation. They have budget challenges of course and some of them just want to know how to do it themselves… they see it as a new challenge.

I feel that as the pressure of their every day business grows, they will slack off or hopefully go the other way – seeing the value of using a VA to assist with social media and things like branding and continued posts of information relative to their business. We all know that social media will keep them on the top of the minds of their contacts whenever an opportunity presents itself for a referral.

Can and should you outsource your social media tasks?

I read with interest a recent blog post on the subject of what a marketing virtual assistant can do to assist clients to maximize their online presence.  Here are some excerpts and suggestions:

• Edit and upload Facebook, LinkedIn, blog posts or other network updates;
• complete profiles and account information on relevant sites;
• edit and distribute articles;
• monitor alerts for your key words and participate appropriately;
• manage social media groups and comments;
• build pages on Facebook, Plaxo, etc.

I have the following additional suggestions:

• Write and/or write and distribute e-newsletters;
• go "mining" for contacts in your target market, i.e. LinkedIn;
• create a database of contacts to assist with all of the above functions.

You would not want your VA to try to fake your personal relationships and respond to friend's posts... only create content relative to your business.

As the blog pointed out - social media is so much about being consistently there.  Sort of like the brick and mortar imperative:  the store has got to be open 7 to 11.  In social media, the time requirement is not so strict, but it's there.  Sporadic updates, long unexplained absences and extended vacations deflate your efforts like an old balloon.

Your social media marketing assistant assures your presence is solid online. For more info visit my website or email me.

I have taken some of the key points in the blog that relate to my services.  For the entire post, please visit Sydni Craig-Hart's guest blog on My Miss Assist blog.  http://mymissassist.com/tag/sydni-craig-hart/