Facebook’s 1 billion users and 552 million daily visits and LinkedIn’s recent 200 million member milestone (click the image for a full size infographic) and 25 million daily visits have secured their top spot in our online professional and social networking world. They can also be powerful, resourceful ecosystems for business and professional advancement.
The current findings, research and metrics are very substantial, impressive and bare close attention.
Those of us that live and work out of our websites and blogs sometimes forget there are a lot of small businesses and professional consultants who may not be able to afford one or don’t need a full blown website.
This can be achieved using LinkedIn as a landing page and the notes feature on Facebook to blog. Both are acceptable, affordable and effective ways for startups, professional consultants, micropreneurs and solopreneurs to have a professionally branded landing page and a place to blog.
Using LinkedIn as a Landing Page
You can create a personal page as a landing page and highlight your story, services, contact information and professional activity. Or you can create a company page. Linked In has certain requirements for creating a company page, so make sure you meet the criteria first. Both options offer the ability to professionally present and market yourself, your products and services and connect them to other platforms where you engage.
LinkedIn is the professional playground for professional connections, so if you are serious about being taken seriously and meeting business decision makers, then LinkedIn is an amazing, turn-key ecosystem.
Join Groups, Start a Group, Post a Job, Look for a Job
LinkedIn is one of the most comprehensive job search and job posting sites out there today. Need employees, looking for more work, want to change jobs or find a job? It’s all on LinkedIn under jobs.
Get the Latest News, Trends and Articles in the News Center, Tailored Just For You
LinkedIn aggregates the best daily articles and journalists from top news and information sites like CNN, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider and more. You can customize the industry sources you want to receive and then receive them daily. LinkedIn is developing into a major go to publishing machine.
Discover What Skills You Need to Succeed in the Skills & Expertise Area
Learn what you need to know from the thousands of hot, up-and-coming skills LinkedIn tracks daily. This is where you can really create your personal branding statement and fully develop your profile. Here are some great tips for optimizing your SEO on LinkedIn to boost your page and profile visibility and connectivity.
Use the Facebook Notes Feature as a Blog
This is a feature on Facebook most people don’t know about or leverage. Since Facebook is the top social engagement platform of choice, using it to post articles, write articles and share stories is another way you can optimize it and your time on it.
The notes feature is in Microsoft Word format, so its easy for most people to use and allows you to include images and links to other sites. Once you create and save your article, you can easily share them on other social sites and in your email marketing. It’s really a nifty, fun tool.
LinkedIn and Facebook are top social marketing tools, which most people already use and are comfortable with. Used together in tandem, they offer a no cost, low cost option to all of us to professionally brand ourselves and help us move forward with our content marketing.
Andrew
Certainly having content on those 2 powerful sites, Facebook and Linkedin is a good idea. Not sure I agree any self-respecting professional-consultant or otherwise would opt out of having a website in lieu of a social media presence. On the contrary, the social media should be leveraged to drive traffic and authority to a website. Not to take away from any of the other good and practical advice in your article!
Jon DiPietro
“Those of us that live and work out of our websites and blogs sometimes forget there are a lot of small businesses and professional consultants who may not be able to afford one or don’t need a full blown website.”
Who can’t afford $10 per year for a domain registration and $26 per year for WordPress web hosting? Every business should have a domain and website. Period. Nobody should ever put all of their marketing eggs in the social media basket. All of the work you put into LinkedIn and Facebook are temporary in nature, as that content does not belong to you. Both of those services have shown heartless disregard for shutting down features and services without notice. Building a business on a platform you don’t control is foolish and advising them to do so is irresponsible in my opinion.
Social media is a great tool with tremendous value. But it’s like investing: You MUST stay diversified in order to minimize risk.
deborah shane
Jon, thanks for your comments.There are no absolutes anymore, it’s what can work best for a business and the person who runs it. Many small businesses,are not as savvy and hooked in as we are. They just don’t see it the same way, so for some this is a viable option for a professional presence. Building a business on many platforms is the best way to build reach and credibility. I may own my website and blogsite domain name, but all the content I produce is public domain. Foolish and irresponsible? I am simply suggesting options and different ways of using our tools. I could say it’s foolish and irresponsible of you to say “Every business should have a domain and website. Period.”, but I wouldn’t. I welcome all opinions and take on this idea.
deborah shane
I am not saying it takes the place of, I am suggesting it can be an effective landing page and professional presence for some professionals who may not need website. I am seeing it more in professional circles.
TJ McCue
Deborah, great post with provocative, solid ideas. I have advocated the same to my customers. I see Jon’s point and have had this same discussion many times. We have all seen the stats that 50% of small business owners do NOT have a website. This is sad and foolish, as Jon points out, when sites are so affordable.
However, people are stubborn in this life and if they view a site as not worth it, then i would tell them to start a LinkedIn / Facebook landing page as an alternative. Or Slideshare or Pinterest or whatever page gives them SOME presence. Jon is right — it isn’t the wisest decision, but if they get some business from it, then it helps and potentially paves the way for them to build a site. I advocate owners use the free website builders out there (my new free ebook that is almost done). Advisor/consultant types argue that those are foolish, too. As you say — it is an option.
What matters most is how you engage with your audience and if they find you and interact with you in one place, then go there. There are risks, but such is life.
deborah shane
Thanks TJ, great to have you join in. The most important thing is to have a professional presence that can be a place people can find you. There are way too many that don’t or at best have a website that is out-dated is not helpful and they yet they stay in business. So having a website that isn’t current and a tool to mine new customers is not an answer either. Using all the powerful, affordable tools we now have in newer ways can be very effective.
TheRECoach
Sorry Deborah, but I gotta side with Andrew and Jon above. LI and FB are not “Landing Areas”, nor should they be used as such. As Jon indicated above, WordPress can be Extremely affordable as a “beginner” site, and $10 for a domain is nothing.
Your Blog/Site should be your “Hub” and the Social Networks, like FB-LI-Twitter-YouTube, should be your “Spokes”. In this “Hub and Spoke” concept, you create relationships, and “landing spots” from your Spokes, and drive the Consumer to your “Hub”, where you can better communicate with them and share more effectively.
I appreciate your concept of “Simplicity”, but as a Trainer to the Real Estate Industry which has been notoriously slow to adapt to Technology, I believe that it is quite simple to create an effective Online Outline with a Blog/Site as your Hub.
Basically, if my Agents can do it, ANYONE can! =)
Take Care,
Coach
deborah shane
Eric, this is an open forum for us to share ideas, so no need to apologize. Thanks for your comment. The Blog/Site as your hub makes sense to us who live in the marketing world, but it doesn’t compute to everyone who has a business (hard to believe but true). I wish it was that uniform, but it’s not. Your link here lands on Google+, not your Blogsite. I am meeting lots of small businesses and professional consultants who are very open to this approach, so the good news is the willingness to have a professional presence either on a dedicated updated site or social platform, can only help brand and create interest and is a starting point.