Q1 - Networking
Online Opportunities
- Many people on the call have been using Zoom & Teams to keep business connections and relationships going. Having the use of “breakout rooms” on Microsoft Teams is also a notable feature.
- Using online resources has proven to be an excellent way of communicating whilst reducing our Carbon footprint!
- Facebook groups, Instagram and Clubhouse has proved to be worthwhile in certain instances, also giving you more of a visual on business prospects and aspects. This is helpful to sense what peers are doing.
- LinkedIn is valuable to use for supplier engagement, people are buying on LinkedIn and businesses are not only using this resource to extend their business, but they are also using it when thinking of suppliers.
- The groups also discussed paying attention to web leads and asking your clients/customers for referrals, using this as a tool to engage existing clients and to focus on highlighting and displaying what the business does. This will also allow for you to connect at a deeper level.
- Publishing articles on support, what to watch for etc. can help with SEO.
- There was a suggestion of using shieldapp.ai to track engagement on LinkedIn.
Social Media & Engaging Content
A question was raised “How long do you give it on social media before noticing a difference?” – do you start seeing an increase in engagement after logging into LinkedIn and liking/sharing a small number of posts over the space of a week?
The answer.........No, this is a process of commitment which takes months. Members has been actively using LinkedIn for 5-6 months and only at this point and time are they seeing an increase in engagement. Social Platforms take time to build up.
- Communicating through video, as well as text/photo on social platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is essential to draw attention to the business and catch the eyes of those you wish by delivering certain presentations/updating specific topic related statuses and posts.
- Engage with professional bodies to help promote yourself.
- Using twitter, one member uses their personal brand to like news articles, goodwill stories etc and people see this, click on to their personal profile and view their business information/visuals from there. Almost a form of self-promotion, as the person who posted the status you engaged with will notice you too.
- Facebook and Instagram are web pages most suited for consumer brands – aesthetic product, businesses should use this to their advantage to showcase and portray an eye catching visual to draw attention to the business.