20 Ways To Re-Energise Your Training Business – Part 19

Today’s Tip: Get Active on Social Networking

Social networking has been popping up quite a lot in this blog series.

In Part 8 we looked at joining an online network such as Trainer Talk on Linked In

In Part 9 we looked at starting your own Trainer Network and using Linked in or Ecademy to find other freelance trainers in your area

In Part 12 we looked at using Linked In to reconnect with old contacts

In Part 13 we looked at using social networking sites to keep connected with people

In Part 16 we looked specifically at why you should be using Twitter

If you become active on social networking sites I can absolutely guarantee that you will feel re-energised about yourself and your business overnight. As one of my coaching clients commented the the other day ‘Freelance training is a very lonely business’. It doesn’t need to be.

Let’s just recap on why you should use social networking sites :-

1. It’s a great way of connecting with people and building a network fast.

2. You can make meaningful connections with people. Because people share things about their personal lives and you participate in discussions with them you start to get to know the real person – this helps build deeper and stronger relationships.

3. You can keep yourself updated by following leaders,authors and experts in the L and D world.

4. It helps drive traffic to your blog or website. If people start to follow you and like what you are saying they will naturally become interested in your business. People will recommend and refer people they like to others.

5. You can get answers to your business problems. So, you might need some help with your Pc or want a website designer or maybe you’re just having a bad day, whatever it is just post a question and you will find that people are incredibly helpful with their suggestions.

6. It’s fun!

Here are some Tips for Effective Social Networking

1. Keep it simple. Limit the number of social networking sites you join to 2 or 3 otherwise you will be completely overwhelmed. I would recommend sticking to Linked In, Twitter and Facebook.

2. Talk to people. Participate. This may sound obvious but you would be amazed at the number of people who join these groups and then don’t communicate with anyone!

3. Be generous and respectful to others. Answer people’s questions, help out wherever possible. Treat other people as you would like to be treated yourself.

4. Provide good profile information. Your profile or bio is an opportunity to showcase your business. Spend time on your profile and let other people see clearly what it is that you do.

5. Automate some of your networking activities. There are some great tools around that will help ensure you don’t become a slave to your laptop. For example you can connect Facebook and Twitter so that every time you post on Twitter your Facebook status is updated and vice versa. You can also schedule in tweets by using www.tweetlater.com and connect your blog to Twitter by using www.twitterfeed.com

6. Limit the amount of time you spend on social networking. It might be 1 hour a day or 30 minutes a day. Decide what works for you and stick to it.

Hope to see you all soon on Linked In and Twitter.

Follow me on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/sharongaskin
Connect with me on Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/sharongaskin

I’d love to see you there!