With such a wide variety of platforms available, social media has the power to engage prospective clients and draw business referrals to your business. In this Social Media for Small Business podcast, co-hosts Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson speak with Mel Kettle of Kettle Consulting on how to build a professional reputation using social media.
As a communication and social media strategist, a speaker, a blogger, a podcaster and an educator, Mel Kettle has over 20 years of experience in the communications industry. Her favourite social media platforms are Twitter and Instagram, but she shared that the biggest change she experienced using social media as a marketing tool was when she joined Twitter.
In utilising Twitter to build a professional reputation, Mel explains the importance of using social media to build the Know, Like, and Trust factor through simply having conversations with people. She tracked her work referrals from social media and said, “For about three years, 95% of my business was referred to me by someone who knew me via Twitter.”
To grow a reputation on social media, Mel recommends using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for professional referrals. She recommends that small-businesses should pick one platform that caters to your business and target audience. For her, blogging has been a key platform to highlight her expertise online.
Since Mel is a social media consultant, she spends quite a lot of time on a variety of the available platforms but stresses that an active presence can be obtained through a mere half hour a day if you plan and target your audience appropriately.
“If you look at your social media use as a marketing activity, you should be spending at least half a day a week doing marketing for your business, as a business owner. Because otherwise, how do people know about you? And how do people find out about you?”
Mel’s favourite social media platform(s) are:
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Power Up for Small Business Workshop on Video in Social Media
- DISQUS
- Sensis statistics about social media use
- Social Media Marketing World
Learn more about Mel Kettle here.
This post was co-authored by Christy Flom. Christy is completing a journalism internship at HerBusiness. She studies communications at the University of Michigan in the United States.
