Recently I have been working with a branding consultant to help me better clarify who my ideal clients are and how I can more effectively reach them without lots of uninterested folks in the mix.

Thanks to Emilie Downs of Imago Visual (http://www.imagovisual.com/), I have been reflecting on such things as my ideal clients’:

• Values and goals
• Needs and wants
• Key characteristics
• Attitudes and beliefs
• Special requirements and perceptions

In addition to working with Emilie, I have been informally asking people how they would describe the services I offer through my Boomers’ Social Media Tutoring business. This exercise has been eye-opening, as some people perceive me as being oriented toward seniors. The reality is that my focus is mainly on the baby boomer generation, of which only some would be considered “seniors” and even fewer would consider themselves in that category.

Other people have described my services as including social media management, such as tweeting or posting on behalf of my clients. As much as I stress that I am a tutor and trainer and not a manager of other people’s social media accounts, at least some people continue to assume that I provide those services as well.

As we wind down 2014 and look toward 2015, this is a good time for everyone to take stock of their business presence across all social media sites and see how well those sites represent us and how much our efforts in those areas are returning.

 

Tips to Ensure Your Social Presence Accurately Reflects What you Really Do

• Examine the words you use to describe yourself and your services.
  • Are they words your ideal clients relate to and understand?
  • Do you make effective use of key words that your ideal clients would use in doing an internet search for your services?
• Does your profile photo represent you well?
  • For example, if your clients are business professionals, does your photo show you wearing professional attire?
  • How about your cover photo on your Facebook business page or Twitter account?
  • I have come to realize that I need to make some changes in my cover photos, as they have more references to people who look like seniors than to those who are ages 50-65 (the actual age-range of my ideal clients).
• Take a quick scan through photos you have posted on your sites in the last few weeks or months. Are these photos relevant and useful to your ideal clients? In other words, are they images that illustrate what you can do for them, or are they extraneous or even potentially confusing in terms of what your business really does?
• What about the posts you share on your Facebook business page, your tweets on Twitter, status updates on LinkedIn, and/or your blog posts? Are these about subjects your ideal clients are interested enough in to read and apply to their world?
• You might even review some of the posts on your personal Facebook account or the pins you have repinned to your boards on Pinterest. Many of my clients are also my friends on Facebook and many follow me on Pinterest. I take care to keep that fact in mind when I post about my personal life or pin items related to my personal interests.

How About You?

Have your conducted an audit of your social media sites in the context of thinking about how these sites appeal (or don’t) to your ideal clients? If you have done such an audit, did you find any disconnects? If so, how have your altered your social media presence to more accurately reflect what your business really does?

 

About Joyce

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, nonprofit organizations, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.