As
the number of businesses that outsource their Social Media activity
continues to increase, I find I am asked more and more for advice on how
to get into it. I started as a
freelance Social Media Manager & Consultant almost
2 years ago (feels like way longer). Back then, I found businesses were
still warming to the idea of using SM but now it’s a different story.
Every single business has a need for SM in some form or another and now
Social Media Managers are becoming essential allies for SME’s.
I’m constantly asked where to start and
how to become a Social Media Professional so I’ve put together a list of 9 steps I would advise anyone to take when starting from scratch.
1. Ask yourself if Social Media Management is right for you.
Be
honest with yourself and ask if you can honestly see yourself doing
this job. Can you represent businesses in Social Media platforms, add
value and enjoy the process?
The late Steve Jobs had a great
quote “Get a job as a busboy or something until you work out what you’re
passionate about”. If you're passionate about Social Media you’ll
succeed in a Social Media Manager.
2. Get the foundation knowledge.
You
don’t have to know it all when you’re just starting out BUT you need to
know enough. It’s impossible to know it all when it comes to Social
Media as it is constantly in a state of flux and there is always
something new to learn. “Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail” is my moto.
Get to know the platforms, read as much as you can and watch videos. At
the end of the day you are selling yourself and what you know about
Social Media as a service so make sure your product is quality.
I’d really advise you to learn “Relationship Marketing”.
Relationship Marketing is really the only way of marketing that can be truly successful in Social Media.
3. Get your hands dirty and get some experience.
The
way I did it was to offer to handle the Social Media for my employers
at the time, Lexus (not for the whole Lexus organisation, just for our
Dealership).
Quick story – When I was a Car Salesman at Lexus
in Liverpool we where told about a special deals weekend we where having
that week and shown a mailer that would be sent out. It cost the
dealership almost 5K to send this great looking, glossy mailer out to
the same database of 1000 people that we mailed all the time. That
weekend we were all ready with balloons on the cars and wearing special
t-shirts for the event . . .nobody came in.
After some
ear-bending and fuelled by the failure of the mailer the GM allowed me
to set up a FB page, Twitter feed and take over his LinkedIn profile
(he’d done nothing with it since setting it up). I began to find local
prestige car owners and fans through Facebook and Twitter and talk about
our company car deals/savings in LinkedIn groups. That week I created
several appointments of which over half bought cars and made the
dealership over 8K. . . we didn’t spend a penny. That was my first taste
of turning Social Media activity into profit and I got some experience
under my belt.
You could even offer your services for free to a
local business. You’ be gaining experience and building a portfolio to
lead to more business and referrals.
4. Get your own Social Media Watertight.
This
is where people will go to check you out first and it’s a good place to
showcase your expertise. Its doesn’t matter about having thousands of
fans or followers just yet (they will come organically and it takes a
little time). What’s important is that your Social Media is well
organised, regularly updated, engaging and providing good content.
5. Be the Expert in LinkedIn.
LinkedIn
is by far my favourite Social Media Platform. It gives you the
opportunity to sell yourself. It’s unlikely you’ll get to connect with
the decision makers who hold the purse strings of a company's marketing
budget through Facebook. However with LinkedIn you can. It’s a place
where the one man band working from home can attract attention and look
like the “Go to Guy” in a given field even if their competitors are huge
companies with big budgets.
6. Network, Network, Network.
Networking
events are a great place to start to get new Social Media Management
business. Go to as many as possible. Business Breakfasts, Cocktail
evenings, Networking Clubs etc.
This is were I first started to
get noticed and put myself out there as the Local Social Media Manager
and it’s a great way to get referrals. You’ll find that once you get
your first few clients you’ll get referred and referred to more
businesses.
7. Offer a Free Social Media “Health Check”.
This
technique opened lots of doors for me. Promote the service through your
Social Media platforms and in the networking events. You can use free
online tools to give the business a percentage score (Use sites like
Klout and tools offered by
Hubspot)
Just by offering this free analysis and highlighting areas where the
business can improve in SM platforms will give you an ”in” to get the
Social Media Management work.
8. Put on a local Seminar/Webinar.
Make
the first one a Free Social Media in Business seminar and invite
businesses from your locality. I used this technique to offer some good,
usable content for them to take away but also to show how much is
involved and why they would be better off OUTSOURCING to you!
I
had 30 local businesses at my first one (I held it in a local coffee
shop at no charge because the guy would sell lots more coffee and cake
than usual) You can use these seminars to showcase your knowledge and
expertise in your field, win Social Media Management and Consulting jobs
and (my favourite SM income stream by far) sell tickets to your paid
seminars. These paid seminars could be on a variety of different
subjects e.g. LinkedIn Success, Using Facebook as a Small Business,
Social Media for Legal industry etc. I charge $150 (£89) per delegate
for my half day courses. It’s a great way to top up your income. The
content I use for our seminars is available at
Get Pro Social
9. Partner up with PR & Digital Marketing Companies.
I
have gotten some of my best clients by partnering up wit other local
Digital Marketing Companies. Contact some local SEO, Media Buying, PR
and Web design companies. These companies would already have clients
that need Social Media Management. Offer to provide your service on a
“White Label” basis i.e. working under the name of that company. The
quote that stuck in my head from an SEO company that outsource to us was
“You scratch an itch for us”. Go out and scratch the Social Media itch
for some companies.
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With
all of the advertising, commericals, and public perception
influencing consumer spending these days, its hard to determine what
causes us to make certain decisions when it comes to spending money.
While many people enter into a money spending situation with the best of
intentions, it is very easy for some of us to “rationalize” our
purchases to a point at which they are not in line with our original
intent. Often, we tell ourselves “little white lies” in the heat of the
moment to make ourselves feel better about certain purchases. Some of
these rationalizations include the following:
