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03.25.10 Personalizing A Relationship With Your Potential Clients  By Stacy Karacostas I've been playing in the social networking space for a few years now, and truly believe it's one of the best low-cost marketing tools out there. I've landed new clients, found speakers for my teleseminar series, and been invited to write articles and speak for organizations-all because my profiles resonate with the right people. Sadly, far too many entrepreneurs treat their profile like a resume. It's all formal, third person blah, blah that really isn't interesting to most people. The problem there is that goal of your profile is to make a personal connection. And what kind of personal connection is anyone going to make with you by reading your resume online? Instead you want to look at your social networking profile as a way to introduce yourself and your business. And, ideally get them interested enough to want to learn more about what you do or offer. 10 Guidelines for Creating a Killer Social Networking Profile 1. You can absolutely use the same basic profile info on all your social networking Websites. However, you may want to tweak it to suit certain communities or target markets better-much the same way you tweak a resume to suit each job you apply for. 2. The more complete your profile is, the easier it is for someone to get to know you. So do you best to fill in all the sections. And be sure to add links to your Website (and blog if you have one) right away. 3. Be conversational and relatively informal. Social networking is about building relationships, and it's hard to do that if you sound aloof, academic, or overly formal. Don't be afraid to sound human and even have a little fun! 4. Although it is about you and your business, your profile needs to be written from the perspective of what you do for your clients or customers. Regardless of what the sections of the profile might be called, it's not all about you. It's got to tell something about what's in it for them if they take the time to learn more or they probably won't. 5. Use all the available tools and widgets to optimize your profile. Many social networking sites let you add video, audio, your blog feed, Twitter link, Facebook feed, etc. The more multi-media pieces and interlinked sites on your profile the better. 6. You MUST include a photo. The Web is inherently very impersonal, and you want to make a personal connection here. So a warm, friendly headshot is essential. It's best to use a slightly less formal headshot if you have one. Or, crop your formal business one to make it more interesting somehow. The standard head and shoulders looks old-school on the Web. 7. Use Keywords and Tags (these may be called as categories as well). Whatever they're called, you wanna make sure you include words in those areas that are likely to be what people are searching for online. This helps your profile get found more often by the right people. Keep in mind these are not necessarily the exact same words YOU use to describe yourself and what you do. Continue reading this article.
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EnterprisePersonalization
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