Many people grow their business through speaking and training. Sometimes they are paid for these engagements, and other times they do them to solely market their business. Effective use of social media can help you secure more of these engagements.

business conference - people sitting rare and speaker near the screen

Here are some ways to do so using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

Using LinkedIn

  • Include key words such as “speaking,” “training,” and related terms in your LinkedIn profile headline, your summary, and in other parts of your profile.
  • Include video clips from recent speaking engagements in your summary and in the appropriate job listings in your experience section.
  • Create a separate position in your experience section dedicated to the speaking aspect of your business. Use the description portion of that position to list some sample speaking engagements.
  • Get recommendations that attest to how well you performed at specific speaking engagements. Be sure to ask for recommendations to be made for your position you created to showcase these talents, as described in the above point.
  • Remember that you must be connected to each other in order for someone to recommend you.

 

  • Add a variety of terms related to speaking, such as “conference speaking” which I recently added, to your skills and endorsements section. Then reorder them so these skills are toward the top of the list.

Using Facebook

  • Post clips of recent speaking engagements on your Facebook business page. Then reorder the sections on the left side of your page so these videos appear as close to the top as possible.
  • Ask people who have been at these engagements to do a rating for you on Facebook (if you have the type of page that has that feature). Even if you don’t have that feature, they can post about what a great speaker you are directly on your business page.
  • Remember to put up a post on your business page about the speaking engagement, including photos and videos, and to thank whomever made the engagement possible.
  • If you are friends on Facebook with the person who made this engagement possible, consider putting up a post on your personal Facebook page and “tag” this person in your post. That way, the post will also appear on their personal Facebook page.

Using Twitter

  • During your speaking engagement, ask people in the audience to tweet about the event they are attending and to compliment you specifically.
  • After the engagement is over, tweet photos and videos taken during while you were speaking.
  • Be sure to thank the person who helped make the event possible, and “tag” them in your tweet. You don’t have to be following that person on Twitter to be able to tag them.
  • Remember to thank the people who tweet and retweet anything related to your speaking engagements.

How About You?

How have you used LinkedIn, Facebook, and/or Twitter to gain more speaking engagements? Which of these sites has worked the best for you? Do you have any other suggestions for their use?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers' Social Media Tutor

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.