Are Your Online Profiles Customer Ready?
There was a time when making a good first impression in business revolved around having a firm handshake, a well-ironed outfit and a professional voicemail. Ah, yes, those were simpler times. In the current digital age, it’s practically guaranteed that your potential customers have looked at your websites, your blogs and, most importantly, your online profiles multiple times before contacting you directly. Impressions have formed long before shaking your hand.
Online profiles are essential in marketing and sales, but even more so in creating and maintaining positive communication channels with customers. The opinions customers form about you online will carry over into their willingness to trust you as a person and, more importantly, as someone they would like to work with.
Making a good first impression online and starting a cycle of relationship-building communication is not difficult. Heather K. Margolis of Channel Maven Consulting provides the following tips and tricks to ensuring your top three B2B online profiles are 100% complete and ready for new customers to cruise through.
- Largely accepted as the go-to place for first impressions
- Always look at your profile with a critical eye. Is your job title up to date? Is your headshot professional? Have you made your email and Twitter handle available?
- Customize your website links by changing them to descriptive hyperlinks and shorten your public profile link to linkedin.com/in/yourname to make yourself and your company easier to find.
- People are always looking for things they might have in common with you. Be sure to have a brief description using key words under each position you’ve held.
- Make sure your handle is a reasonable length, and is relatively easy to remember and even easier to spell.
- Remember to keep sharing about YOU. Your header photo and brief description should encompass key compelling components of who you and your brand are.
- Tweet a few times before following or interacting with others so people can tell what you will be communicating about.
- Whatever you do, don’t leave the default egg as your profile picture. Building trust is key, and that means putting a face/logo behind the business.
YouTube
- YouTube is the second most searched platform, making it an essential way to share content with current customers while attracting prospects through tags.
- Embed a video from YouTube onto your website or blog to draw people to your channel.
- Watch Heather K. Margoli of Channel Maven’s video on the Partner Demand Center to find out more.
At this point, you may be asking yourself, what about Facebook? How about Google Plus? VMware has partnered with Channel Maven Consulting to create 15 bite-sized videos to navigate your extensive social demand roadmap. Visit the Marketing Resources section of the Partner Demand Center to view these insightful videos, learn some additional marketing best practices, and download tool kits to help build your business.
We would love to hear from you on this topic, as well. Have you found your online profiles have helped you build your customer base and drive relationships?
Sandra Haan is VMware’s Senior Director of Global Partner Marketing Communications. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of The VAR Guy's annual platinum sponsorship.
