Looking for a cost effective and simple way to grow your practice? Social media is continuing to grow in popularity – and it doesn’t seem like the trend is going to end anytime soon. You already know how important it is to ‘connect’ with your clients, but maybe you don’t quite know HOW you effectively do this through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – or any of the other channels out there.

There are endless social media resources available to you! With just 30 minutes a day focusing your attention to your online social media users and using these simple tips, you can build your online reputation.

Here are a few of our favorite tips.

1. Focus on quality, never quantity:

– It’s okay to be a little ‘picky’ with who you connect with online. Quality people and information are what gains trust in client/clients. No one wants to feel like ‘just another number’ nor “cluttered” with useless information.

2. Respond – (return the favor)?

– If someone takes the time to personally reach out to you, in a positive way OR negative, never ignore them! It feels good to be heard, so be sure to always respond to every message individually and in a timely matter to display the upmost care for your clients.

3. Encourage

– Get your online clients to “share” “follow” or “like” etc. by including links to each social media channel on your website. You could even provide a benefit for the person connecting. For instance, “Facebook friends get 10% off”.

– Initiate conversations, with individuals or within communities. Offer tips and other insightful, relevant information about your practice or news about the industry you are in.

4. Blog

– Show off your voice and your expert advice. A blog is a great way to improve your online reputation by articulating well-researched information to your clients gaining trust that you are in fact an expert in your field. (You’re reading ours, aren’t you?!)

Social Network-Specific Tips

1. Facebook – Page Insights

– This tool provides measurements about your page’s performance to help you better understand how people are engaging with your page/content. Note: you must first have more than 30 people “like” your page (and it must be a Business page) for this tool to become available. You’ll see the “See Insights” button appear on the top right.

2. Twitter – Stay up to date with lingo

– Stay current! Post about the things people care about. Twitter has a special lingo used when effectively “tweeting”. Check out Twitter’s glossary to be sure you’re connecting. OR – Get serious. Using the Twitter website can get frustrating after a while. Instead, it’s easier to use a program like TweetDeck or HootSuite to manage your tweets. Doing this will make your posting a lot more efficient!

3. LinkedIn- Pro Site costs money

– OFunnel is a new tool to help you keep up with your LinkedIn network. It alerts you when someone in your network connects with someone new. Easy to try and use.

– Use Sync.ME  to synchronize contacts with your LinkedIn and Facebook contacts and ensures that you have the most up to date information about them!