Consultants Leveraging Social Media – Part 1: Facebook

Those who know me and my organization, Treasure Valley Consultants' Network, have seen over the past couple years how I have embraced social media and used it to leverage our brand and promote the profession of consulting to the Boise business community.  At the same time, I have also been advocating for consultants to use social media to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in this unique medium to what can potentially be a global audience.

This post is the first in three that plan to write about social media tools consultants should be using to promote themselves and make connections with those they are, could and should be doing business with.  We’ll look at what I consider the big three of social media:

1. Facebook
2. LinkedIn
3. Twitter

So far, the two best social media tools TVCNet has used and found success with are Twitter and Facebook.  Facebook has been successful for TVCNet because we have used it to promote our events by way of Groups.  Within the last few months, however, we have shut down our Group and converted to a Page. Pages on Facebook offer more flexibility over Groups and allow you to take advantage of engaging third party apps and broadcast your links and updates to the site’s Live Feed, thus increasing your reach and visibility. TVCNet’s objective with our Facebook Page is to act as a host of the topic centered on business-to-business consulting in the Boise area.  Other organizations and companies have found success with Facebook Pages in a similar fashion.  The best example I found of a company using a Page is Mint, the personal finance management site that provides tips to improve your overall financial health. 

Interacting with your “Fans” on your Page is similar to how you would interact with your “Friends” in your Personal Profile.  If you build a Page, you can expect to see a steady growth of fans with your page as long as you provide original content or thought-provoking links to the Page that engages your followers in a conversation or prompt them to a call to action.  Remember, you ultimately want to develop a business relationship with your followers, not just collect Fans.  When you intend to use Facebook as part of your overall social media plan for your consulting business, give careful thought as to how you plan to use it.  You have to think beyond the Facebook Page and strategize what you want your Fans to do once they become dedicated followers.  First and foremost, you want to connect with other people who have interest in who you are and what you do.  How you engage them is the next important step.

So, how does all of this sound to you?  Are you ready to give this a try yourself?  If so, keep the following in mind.  In the time that I’ve been on Facebook personally, I have see others make moves on this social media platform that has left me scratching my head.  Consider the following tips and pitfalls to avoid before you begin:

• Businesses creating a Personal Profile when they really should be creating a Page.
• Businesses setting up a Group when they should be setting up a Page for their business. 
• People not posting their personal photo to their Personal Profile if all they really want is a Personal Profile.  Instead, they post a picture of their cat, their dog or a superhero.  Please remember – it’s called “Facebook”, it’s your face you need to show for people to recognize.  Let people get to like, know and trust the real you.

If you’re still confused, it essentially breaks down like this on Facebook:

• Personal Profile = great for an individual who wants to develop a personal brand.
• Business Page = great for building a brand identity.
• Group = great for promoting a concept, idea or cause.

So, if you are a consultant, it makes sense to create a Personal Profile about you, your likes and interests.  Then, create a Page for your consulting business to promote your company and your services.  For instance, my consulting business PinPoint Performance Solutions, provides training and workplace performance improvement. 

For many people in consulting, social media tools such as Facebook, used to promote consulting, can be foreign territory.  There is some confusion out there about how to use it, but most of them are free to use and there is little to no risk in experimenting.  If it doesn’t work out, you can always shut it down and try something different.  With careful planning and clear objectives though, it can become your best marketing tool.