Security Business owners who use social media have to do more than just “be on” social media networks in order to grow their business. There are so many ways to use Social Media. There is more to social media than casually chatting with friends or sharing news items ad infinitum.

In this podcast episode, I share several ways in which you can use social media for your security business.

Business Relationship Building

Business relationship building, more commonly known as networking, is one of the dominating uses of social media. Facebook and LinkedIn are the most common social media networks used for networking. Join groups that focus on your industry and business goals. Connect with like-minded individuals. Now is the time not to be a lurker. Share your knowledge and your history, and learn from others.

Brand building – determine and find your target audience. Conduct searches using Google or Bing and see where your audience hangs their virtual hats. Establish your brand on those social networks and engage your audience. Share your knowledge, skill, and expertise and provide meaningful, valuable content to your audience. The content can be informational, analytical, or help solve a problem. No one wants to see and read promotional posts after promotional posts. You will immediately turn off your audience, so giving more is always better than receiving. Use the 80/20 rule: 20 percent self-promotion, 80 percent providing helpful information. Be conversational and relatable. Your audience will start to understand who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.

Chatting with like-minded individuals

This is probably a given, but it is listed as a business use. Informally, casually chat about a particular problem or news story, help solve a problem, and share your opinions. This helps build your brand and may lead to other networking opportunities.

Pro tip: Find and join Twitter chats called Tweet chats. These are conducted at scheduled times, usually with a host, sometimes with a guest, and have a specific hashtag to follow the conversation.

Customer Support

Several brands use social media for customer service. Nike, Dell, and Blackberry, to name a few, are listening to customers’ issues and rants and trying to help solve their problems. My two experiences were with Comcast and GoDaddy, and both were on Twitter. In the Comcast instance, I was complaining about moving back to Boston and having to deal with Comcast, within minutes, Comcast responded and asked if I had a specific problem with the service, I said no thank you, but you’ll be hearing from me after I move. The GoDaddy instance was more recently when I encountered a problem with my website, and a representative jumped in to help resolve the issue.

Marketing

You often read and hear me speak about marketing on social media because it is very effective if done wisely. Marketing your security business and brand on social media is necessary to control your brand, build trust, solve problems, and share the value of your services. Social media marketing is likened to word-of-mouth marketing on steroids because of the virality of the reach. With one tweet, you can reach hundreds of people who could be potential customers. One Facebook post about the quality of your security services can be shared exponentially by shares and likes.

Learning/Sharing Knowledge

Educators can teach students. Online webinars and live videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are all ways to interact with others visually, “face to face,” to share and gain knowledge.

Research

Social media is awash with statistics. Visit places like Pinterest and look for infographics on particular subjects. Slideshare has tens of thousands of PowerPoint presentations on various subjects. If you are still stuck, go to Twitter and pose a question.

Intelligence/Monitoring

You should monitor what people think of you and say about your security business and competitors. There are many tools to monitor various subjects like your brand, company, keywords, or phrases that keep you updated on news and events in your niche or industry. You can’t just have one, but Mention at a decent price is my top choice. Free tools like Google Alerts and individual social media network searches also work.

Links Mentioned

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook on Amazon

Security Marketing Solutions YouTube Channel

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