What I am using!
This is for professionals in many industries and trades. Great place to network, you have to request to connect and they need to know you from somewhere else. This lets you control your network. There are many groups you can join and post questions, articles, jobs, etc Great place for a subcontractor to connect with GC’s.
I have a private profile that I use to keep in touch with family and friends. I have also connected with people “I know of”, you can request to be a fan or a friend, and I connected with locals and post painting info occasionally. There are a lot of applications in Facebook; you can play Mafia Wars, send a drink or a rose, a million others. If you are not into that (like me) you can hide them.
I also have a Business Page that is public. I use this to showcase recent jobs and hope to have customers “write on my wall” eventually. It is very easy to add pictures, comments, and videos, think of it as a mini web page!
Creating a YouTube video was much easier than I thought! I just used the software on my computer and some still pictures, created an account and uploaded a video!
I have made a video on New Construction Procedures to give to customers as part of our Proposal Packet. I also made one to show a new product to protect bathtubs during construction and was able to use it to sell the service to a contractor.
Some may think of Twitter as a bunch of teenagers texting about the latest music craze. Not so, I have used Twitter to make connections in my area and share info.
You can choose who you wish to follow, yes, there is twitter spam! The posts in Twitter have to be less than 140 characters, so you get “little bites” or links all day.
With Twitter, I looked for local “Tweeters” and follow them. When you follow someone, they will generally follow you.
I also add the links to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to my signature line in my email, forum signatures and my website. I continue to learn something every day!
I have made some online friends as well, feel free to contact me to network!
By now you are probably asking, “How many leads/customers have you received?”
Well, none that I can directly attribute to these efforts, YET! I hope that by slowly building a presence, along with my website, clean and lettered vehicles, mailers and yard signs will help to brand by company by keeping it visible in the public eye.