MN Interactive

Using Social Media to brand yourself an expert

In today’s competitive market, it’s imperative to stand not shoulder to shoulder, but one step ahead of your competitors. Social media can to a certain extent help you do that. It can be used for numerous opportunities: to gain a following, promote products and services, and acquire a guru-like status in your industry. The latter is important as most web followers look to find an expert whom they can emulate and learn from.

People are also  more willing to download free eBooks, pay in full for courses, and attend seminars and lectures delivered by ‘experts’ in the industry? Remember though while marketing and media can get you ahead of the pack, it’s knowledge and true expertise which will keep you there. As an expert, you’ll need to continue to learn and grow before being in a position to teach others to do so. But first, let’s examine what you’ll personally gain from an expert status.

The benefits of being an expert are numerous. Apart from the above listed opportunities – promote your products and services, being one step ahead of your competitors, gathering fans and subscribers – you’ll also have the satisfaction of helping others along the way. An expert status helps you:

• Help others
• Become a trusted source
• Stand out from the crowd
• Get publicity for your own business
• Make selling your own products and services just a little bit easier

Social media is key in today’s online world, in helping companies and individual entrepreneurs get their name out there. The following are 5 ways by which to get your name recognized, your status appreciated, and your following built, by using social media tools appropriately.

1. Select a specific niche: Experts have their own niche, around which a keyword rich domain is built. It’s hard to compete with everyone, but easier to select a few to stand out from. Yaro Starak is one such example: in a short while, he built on his niche, bloggers and internet marketers, to become a multi-million dollar success story. Here’s his take on niche building: In today’s e-commerce landscape, content is the driving force behind traffic and purchasing decisions online, so topic selection is a big deal. You have to learn how to choose a niche before even choosing a niche!

2. Be active, daily: This doesn’t mean simply adding daily posts to your blog (though that would help). What it does mean is to work with selected social media sites on a daily basis. This could include a post, a couple of twitter messages, updates on Facebook, a note in MySpace, comments on other blog posts, and chats in forums. The more a person is online, the greater the chances of interacting with newer and targeted audience. Length is not an issue; the focus is not on creating 1000 + worded posts daily, but rather on providing timely and valuable content, even if it’s a 140 character tweet.

3. Learn from the best: To be the best you need to learn from the best and this means reading books and visiting sites of experts in the field. It also pays to participate in forums and chats- ask questions, contribute your own knowledge, and get the ball rolling.

A note here about accreditation: does it really help? Think of all the qualified medical practitioners offering online health and wellness guidance. Certification does help and it’s wise to upgrade knowledge with the latest that’s being offered in your field. There are plenty of online courses and distance education classes available; just ensure you learn from a reputable organization which you’ll be happy to attach your name to.

4. Pay special attention to branding: Branding is a powerful visual tool, which relays the company’s message across all sites. Spend time on creating and designing your brand before you launch the company. Your brand should be consistent across all social media sites (and you can take it offline too), so eventually people will recognize your logo, colors, and images, as much as they do your name.

5. Give as you receive: Experts give back as much as they receive. While the ulterior motive might be to sell your products and services, you can do this only by sharing generously the knowledge you’ve accumulated along the way, via social media sites, and also online courses, videos, and teleconferences. There’s no quicker way to be recognized as an expert, than by acting like one.

It takes a while to gain expert status, but as you work through these steps consistently, you’ll find yourself getting into the swing of things, and as you grow, and your brand gets established, so too will your client base grow. The satisfaction you derive from that, along with the money your company earns, will make it all worthwhile.